Buoyed by soaring iron ore prices, massive orders from several Chinese steel mills and upbeat announcements by his company, Twiggy was the country’s richest man at the end of the year (on paper). A post-Christmas surge in Fortescue shares, including an 18 per cent rise yesterday, helped catapult Twiggy’s 38 per cent stake in the company to more than $9 billion. But in a nick of time the Spanish anchovy aficionado was offered the executive chairmanship at Packer’s Consolidated Media Holdings and the deputy’s chair at the newly listed Crown casino company for a tidy $3 million a year. Veteran BHP Billiton chief executive of four years Chip Goodyear , meanwhile, announced his retirement, with an estimated $57 million shareholding in the company. Former Rinker chairman John Morschel made one of the best calls of the year by recommending shareholders accept a revised takeover bid from the Mexican cement company Cemex. The company also leapfrogged the crane company Boom Logistics as the worst performing stock on the ASX 200 for the year. read more