|
Gates still world's richest
|
 |
June 22, 2001: 2:00 p.m. ET
Warren Buffett, Paul Allen far behind Microsoft founder on Forbes list
|
NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Despite the beating taken by technology stocks during the past year, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is still the richest person in the world, according to Forbes magazine.
Gates' net worth of $58.7 billion, however, dropped from $60 billion last year, when he also topped Forbes' annual list of the world's billionaires.
| |
|
|
Bill Gates has reason to smile � he's still the world's richest person | |
This year's tally counts 538 billionaires from 46 countries, with an average net worth of $3.2 billion. According to the magazine, about 46 percent saw their fortunes increase in the last year, while 37 percent suffered a loss.
Perhaps the best sign of the technology downturn is the ascendance of Warren Buffett to second place, past Paul Allen, the other Microsoft (MSFT: down $0.35 to $69.49, Research, Estimates) co-founder, who came in third.
Buffett, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, saw his net worth increase to $32.3 billion from $25.6 billion last year. Allen's total value also increased in the past year, from $28 billion to $30.4 billion.
The bursting of the Internet bubble was felt strongly by Larry Ellison, founder of Oracle Corp. (ORCL: down $0.04 to $17.86, Research, Estimates), whose net worth plummeted from $47 billion in 2000 to $26 billion this year, mirroring the plunge in Oracle's stock price. Ellison dropped from second place last year to fourth this year.
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
Call it the worldwide humbling of the billionaires.
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
Forbes magazine,
on the effect of falling stock prices |
|
Forty-six members of last year's list have fallen off the chart, with many of them technology casualties. "Call it the worldwide humbling of the billionaires," the magazine said.
According to an Associated Press report, this year marked the first time Forbes included all billionaires, not just those whom the magazine referred to as the "working rich" � billionaires who ran businesses as opposed to those who simply lived off their wealth.
German retailers Theo and Karl Albrecht, Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud of Saudi Arabia, and various members of the Walton family, owners of the Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT: down $0.35 to $50.10, Research, Estimates), rounded out the Top 10.
After Alice and Helen Walton, the next woman on the list is Johanna Quandt, No. 12, whose family owns 50 percent of luxury car manufacturer BMW. France's Liliane Bettencourt, daughter of the founder of L'Or�al, made No. 15 on the list, with a net worth of $15.6 billion.
Aspiring New York City mayoral candidate Michael Bloomberg came in at No. 82, with a net worth of $4.5 billion.
Click here for a complete list of the world's wealthiest people
The magazine also notes that, just 10 years after the fall of communism, eight billionaires from Russia are included on the list, all of whom have made at least part of their fortune from the oil and gas industry.
The rankings appear in the July 9 issue of Forbes, which reaches newsstands Friday. 
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
