Bill Gates remains US richest billionaire
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E-mail Agencies via Shanghai Daily, September 20, 2012
Microsoft Corp co-founder Bill Gates remains America's richest man by far, as the tech and philanthropy giant took the top spot on the Forbes 400 list for the 19th year running, with a net worth of US$66 billion.
Investor Warren Buffett, the head of Berkshire Hathaway Inc, again took second with US$46 billion, while Oracle Corp co-founder Larry Ellison remains third with US$41 billion and brothers Charles and David Koch, co-owners of Koch Industries Inc, tied for fourth with US$31 billion.
Forbes yesterday said the rich mainly got richer in 2012, with net worth rising for 241 members of its list and shrinking for only 66. Rising stock prices, a rebound in real estate values and rare art prices helped.
More members of the Walton family, the founders of Wal-Mart Stores, moved up into the top 10, displacing investor George Soros and Las Vegas Sands Corp founder Sheldon Adelson. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is also back with the top dogs at No. 10 with an estimated net worth of US$25 billion.
Social media moguls took the biggest hit. Zynga Inc's Mark Pincus and Groupon Inc's Eric Lefkofsky dropped off the list entirely. Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg was the biggest dollar loser in Forbes' latest ranking of the 400 wealthiest Americans. The company's lackluster IPO in May resulted in a huge drop in market value that cut the value of his shareholdings almost in half, costing him US$8.1 billion in net worth. That dropped Zuckerberg from No. 14 to No. 36.
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