Who was the richest man in the world in 1937?

Asaf Jah VII (Osman Ali Khan Bahadur), the Nizam of Hyderabad. "During his days as Nizam, he was reputed to be the richest man in the world, having a fortune estimated at $2 billion in the early 1940s. He was featured on the cover of TIME magazine, portrayed as such. It should be noted that in 1950, the newly independent Union government of India's treasury reported annual revenue of merely $1 billion." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osman_Ali_Khan,_Asaf_Jah_VII http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19370222,00.html