Once again, Bill Gates is world's richest billionaire

NDTV Profit Desk

04 Mar 2014, 12:56 PM IST

Once again, Bill Gates is world's richest billionaire

Bill Gates has returned to the top of Forbes magazine's annual list of the world's richest people, as rising stock markets swelled the ranks of billionaires, which included a record number of women.

With a net worth of $76 billion (4,71,200 crore, the Microsoft Corp co-founder reclaimed the top spot after a four-year hiatus, toppling Mexico's telecommunications mogul Carlos Slim Helu, who placed second at $72 billion (Rs 4,46,400 crore), Forbes said in announcing the list on Monday.

Amancio Ortega, the Spanish founder of clothing conglomerate Inditex SA, which includes the Zara fashion chain, ranked third at $64 billion (Rs 3,96,800 crore).

Investing icon Warren Buffett, who runs Berkshire Hathaway Inc and is a frequent bridge partner for Gates, was fourth at $58.2 (Rs 3,60,840 crore) billion. Oracle Corp chief Larry Ellison came in fifth at $48 billion (Rs 2,97,600 crore)

Mukesh Ambani, chairman of India's Reliance Industries, emerged as the richest Indian with a net worth of $18.6 billion (Rs 1,15,320 crore), followed by ArcelorMittal's Lakshmi Mittal with a net worth of $16.7 billion (Rs. 103,540 crore) in global rankings, Ambani ranked 40th while Mittal ranked 52nd.

Gates has topped the list in 15 of the last 20 years.

A record 1,645 billionaires with a total net worth of $6.4 trillion made Forbes' list, up from 1,426 last year.

Just over 10 per cent were female, with 172 women compared with 138 a year earlier.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc heiress Christy Walton was the highest-ranking woman, in ninth place, at $36.7 billion. France's Liliane Bettencourt, who got much of her wealth from cosmetics company L'Oreal SA, was next among women at $34.5 billion, and ranked 11th overall.

The Internet was well-represented. Google Inc founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin ranked 17th and 19th, worth a respective $32.3 billion and $31.8 billion, while Amazon.com Inc's Jeff Bezos was between them at $32 billion.

Facebook Inc founder Mark Zuckerberg, 29, more than doubled his net worth to $28.5 billion, and ranked 21st.

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who left office two months ago, was 16th at $33 billion, built mainly through his eponymous media company.

Forbes said the year's biggest loser was Brazilian tycoon Eike Batista, whose net worth fell below $300 million from $10.6 billion as his oil and natural resources empire collapsed amid too much debt and falling output.

Roughly two-thirds of the world's billionaires, or 1,080, were self-made. The United States had the most billionaires, with 492, followed by China at 152 and Russia at 111. Algeria, Lithuania, Tanzania and Uganda joined the list with one each.

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