Gates, Buffett again top Forbes billionaires list

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Gates, Buffett again top Forbes billionaires list


The world now has a record 793 billionaires, up 15 percent from a year ago, with a rising number in India, Russia, Brazil and the Middle East as well as more women, Forbes magazine said on Thursday.

Soaring stock, oil and commodities prices increased their combined net worth to $2.6 trillion as 114 individuals joined the exclusive club, including 10 more women for a total of 78.

"A billion just isn't what it used to be," said Forbes Associate Editor Luisa Kroll, presenting the 20th annual list at a New York news conference.

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates topped the list for a record 12th year in a row with a net worth estimated at $50 billion, followed by perennial No. 2 Warren Buffett, the famed investor of Berkshire Hathaway, worth $42 billion.

Mexican industrialist Carlos Slim moved into the No. 3 spot at $30 billion, just ahead of Sweden's Ikea founder, Ingvar Kamprad, at $28 billion.

Moving into the top 10 are French luxury goods mogul Bernard Arnault at No. 7, Canadian publishing magnate Kenneth Thomson and family, and Li Ka-shing, head of the Hong Kong conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa.

The complete list is available on http://www.forbes.com/billionaires and in the magazine due out on Friday. Calculations were based on asset prices and exchange rates as of February 13.

"Why is this list growing? The global economy has been growing the last two years at rates not seen since World War II, fueled by a commodities boom with a whiff of inflation," said Forbes Chief Executive and Editor-in-Chief Steve Forbes.

The list is a source of great speculation and criticism each year, with some of those named laughing off the estimates of their net worth as wildly low or high.

Kroll acknowledged the difficulty of the task since many billionaires refuse to cooperate, but defended the information, gathered by 30 reporters in seven countries, as unrivaled.

"Some people show us their spreadsheets showing the positive side of their business, so we have to ask what motivates them. Are they going to sell a business?" Kroll said.

Others are about to divorce and want to appear as being worth less, she said. "We always try to be on the more conservative side," she added.

STAR OF INDIA

India added 10 names to the list for a total of 23, but only three of them based on software or technology. Their combined net worth of $99 billion passed the net worth of Japan's 27 billionaires, estimated at $67 billion, for the largest concentration in Asia.

Russian added seven new members to the list for a total of 33, based largely on oil and gas prices, and that list's net worth grew to $172 billion, up from $91 billion a year ago.

"Russia continues to astound us," Kroll said.

One Russian oil tycoon who fell off the list was Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the former YUKOS chief executive imprisoned in Siberia for fraud and tax evasion.



"We figure he still has somewhere below $500 million," Kroll said.

Brazil doubled its number of billionaires to 16 with the help of some massive public offerings.

In the Middle East and Africa, including Turkey, there were 56 billionaires, up from 29 last year, with a combined worth of $167 billion, up from $103 billion a year ago.

Turkey added eight new people to the list for a total of 21, based largely on telecommunications, media and banking.

Great concentration of wealth occurred in oil-rich Saudi Arabia, whose 11 billionaires were worth $68 billion compared to $42 billion for its seven billionaires a year ago. The Middle East also produced the overall list's youngest billionaire, Hind Hariri, 22, who inherited $1.4 billion from her slain father, the former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri.





2006 Reuters Limited