NEW YORK (AP) — Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is once again the world’s richest person.
Forbes
magazine announced its ranking of the world’s billionaires Monday.
Gates, who led the list for 15 of the past 20 years, won the spot back
from Mexican telecom mogul Carlos Slim Helu, who had topped the list for
the past four years. Gates’ net worth is estimated at $76 billion; Slim
Helu follows at $72 billion.
Spanish clothing magnate Amancio
Ortega, known for the Zara retail chain, maintained his No. 3 spot and
came out ahead of famed U.S. investor Warren Buffett, who ranked fourth.
Larry Ellison of Oracle came in fifth.
Forbes says a record 1,645
billionaires made the list this year, with an average net worth of $4.7
billion. That’s up from 1,426 billionaires last year with a net worth
of $4.2 billion. Total net worth of this year’s list was $6.4 trillion,
up from $5.4 trillion last year.
The magazine said that 1,080 of
the billionaires were self-made, 207 inherited their wealth and 352
inherited a portion but are still growing it.
The largest net
worth gainer on the list was Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, who more than
doubled his fortune to $28.5 billion as the value of his company’s stock
soared. He ranks 21st on the list.
The social media giant helped
bring a few notable newcomers to the list, including Facebook’s Chief
Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg and WhatsApp founders Jan Koum and
Brian Acton, who recently sold their business to Facebook for $19
billion.
Forbes said 268 billionaires were new to the list,
beating out a prior high of 226 newcomers in 2008. And a record number
of women made the list this year, with 172 women joining, up 25 percent
from last year.
Altogether 100 people dropped out of the rankings, while 16 passed away.
The
U.S. was the country with the greatest number of billionaires at 492,
followed by China with 152 and Russia with 111. Billionaires from four
new countries joined, adding Algeria, Lithuania, Tanzania and Uganda to
the geographic mix.
Glance: A list of the top 10 Forbes billionaires
NEW YORK (AP) — A list of the world’s 10 richest people, according to the latest annual tally by Forbes
magazine.
| Net Worth | |||
| 1. | Bill Gates (Microsoft) | $76 billion |
|
| 2. | Carlos Slim Helu (telecom) |
$72 billion | |
| 3. | Amancio Ortega | (Zara retail chain) | $64 billion |
| 4. | Warren Buffett (Berkshire Hathaway) |
$58.2 billion | |
| 5. | Larry Ellison (Oracle) | $48 billion | |
| 6. | Charles Koch | $40 billion | |
| 7. | David Koch | $40 billion | |
| 8. | Sheldon Adelson (Las Vegas Sands) | $38 billion | |
| 9. | Christy Walton (Wal-Mart) |
$36.7 billion | |
| 10. | Jim Walton (Wal-Mart) | $34.7 billion |
A list of the top 10 female billionaires in the world:
| Net Worth | ||
| 1. | Christy Walton (Wal-Mart) | $36.7 billion |
| 2. | Liliane Bettencourt (L’Oreal) |
$34.5 billion |
| 3. | Alice Walton (Wal-Mart) | $34.3 billion |
| 4. | Jacqueline Mars (candy) | $20 billion |
| 5. | Gina Rinehart (mining) | $17.7 billion |
| 6. | Susanne Klatten (BMW, Pharma) |
$17.4 billion |
| 7. | Abigail Johnson (Fidelity Investments) | $17.3 billion |
| 8. | Anne Cox Chambers (Cox Enterprises) |
$15.5 billion |
| 9. | Iris Fontbona (mining) | $15.5 billion |
| 10. | Laurene Powell Jobs (Apple, Disney) | $14 billion |
____
Online: www.forbes.com/billionaires
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights
reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed.
