Google – AFP, 3 March 2014
 |
Bill Gates
answers questions during an interview on January 21, 2014 in
New York
(AFP/File, Don Emmert)
|
Washington
— The surging price of Microsoft shares returned US tech tycoon Bill Gates back
to the top of Forbes's world's billionaires list, with his $76 billion beating
out Mexico's Carlos Slim's $72 billion.
The annual
list, released Monday, counted 1,645 men and women as billionaires, with an
average wealth of $4.5 billion and a collective wealth of $6.4 trillion, up $1
trillion from a year ago.
Gates,
co-founder of the US software firm, showed his staying power at the top -- the
world's richest man for 15 of the past 20 years, according to Forbes -- despite
spending recent years giving away large sums of money to global health and
anti-poverty programs.
Gates owns
about 4.4 percent of Microsoft, making up less than 20 percent of his total
fortune.
But the
company's share price has risen 25 percent over the past year, and, along with
gains in other assets, he has added $7 billion to his fortune since a year ago,
according to Forbes.
Slim, with
a hand in everything from telecommunications (America Movil) to mining, finance
and industry (Grupo Carso), to retailing and real estate across the Americas
region, was worth $1 billion less than a year ago, hit in part by sagging
markets in South America.
In third
was Spain's Amancio Ortega, whose pockets have filled with profits from
fashion: his hugely successful Inditex garment empire, parent of popular chains
Zara, Pull & Bear, and Bershka. More recently, Ortega heavily invested in
real estate in Europe and the United States; his worth was put at $64 billion.
A familiar
cast of mega-wealthy filled out the rest of the top ten: US investment guru
Warren Buffett ($58.2 billion); software group Oracle's founder and chief
executive Larry Ellison ($48 billion); US industrialists and brothers Charles
and David Koch (each with $40 billion); Las Vegas casino king Sheldon Adelson
($38 billion); Walmart heiress Christy Walton ($36.7 billion) and her brother
Jim Walton ($34.7 billion).
.jpg) |
Graphic
showing key moments in the life of Bill Gates (AFP)
|
Together
the $507 billion held by the top ten is larger than the entire size of the
economy of Norway, or Belgium or Poland in 2012.
- 31
billionaires under 40 -
US
billionaires dominated the list, with 492, followed by 152 from China and 11
from Russia.
Forbes said
two-thirds of them made their own fortunes, while 13 percent inherited. The rest
took fortunes they received and built them up to the $1 billion-plus level.
The biggest
climb on the list in the year came from Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg. The public
sale of the company's stock more than doubled his net worth to $28.5 billion,
leaving him at number 21, just behind Hong Kong's venerable tycoon Li Kashing
and just ahead of Italian chocolatier Michele Ferrero.
Zuckerberg,
29, led a group of 31 billionaires under 40 years old. Youngest, at age 24, was
Perenna Kei -- also known as Ji Peili -- the 85 percent shareholder of real
estate company Logan Property Holdings, which went public in Hong Kong in
December. Her father Ji Haipeng is chairman and chief executive of the company.
Saudi
investor Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, a nephew of the oil giant's king, was
likely to remain unhappy with Forbes after blasting it last year for allegedly
understating his wealth.
Forbes put
his fortune this year at just $20.4 billion -- enough for a ranking of number
30 -- compared to $20 billion a year ago.
Defending
itself last year, Forbes said the prince "systematically exaggerates"
his wealth.
Last week
Alwaleed sent out a press release noting that the Bloomberg Billionaires Index,
a rival of Forbes, put his fortune at $30.5 billion.
In the
statement, he assailed Forbes for "use of incorrect data" and said
its approach "seemed designed to disparage Middle Eastern financial
institutions such as the Saudi stock exchange."
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