Bill Gates is once again the richest person on the planet, a title he's held for 16 of the past 21 years. His fortune grew $3.2 billion since last year to $79.2 billion, despite a gift of $1.5 billion in Microsoft MSFT -0.47% shares to The Bill &Melinda Gates Foundation in November 2014.
Carlos Slim Helu of Mexico comes in again at No. 2 while revered American investor Warren Buffett took back the No. 3 spot from Spain's Amancio Ortega(now No. 4); not even the largest IPO in history was enough to beat the Oracle of Omaha this year. Buffett was the list's biggest gainer, up $14.5 billion to $72.7 billion, thanks to Berkshire HathawayÂ?s rising share price.
Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg moves up 5 spots to number 16, his first time ranked among the world's 20 richest. Ma and three other Chinese are among the biggest gainers and appear among the 50 richest on the list. Zuckerberg is also the leader in a youth revolution that has minted 46 billionaires under the age of 40.
The youngest billionaire on the planet is Evan Spiegel, 24, co-founder of photo- messaging app Snapchat. California, driven by Silicon Valley tech companies, has spawned 23 new billionaires, including cofounders of car- hailing service Uber cofounders Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp, and their first employee Ryan Graves. Elizabeth Holmes, who runs blood-testing firm Theranos, debuts on the global list as the youngest self-made woman at age 31. The state now has 131 individuals with 10-figure net worths, more than any other country besides China and the U.S.
The year's biggest loser in dollar terms is Aliko Dangote of Nigeria, whose fortune dropped to $14.7 billion from $25 billion last year, propelled downward by a weaker Nigerian currency and shrinking demand for cement, his largest asset. He still retains the title of Africa's richest man. The country that was lost the most ground by far was Russia, which now has 88 billionaires down from 111, less than not just the U.S. and China but now also Germany and India.
One hundred thirty-eight people from the 2014 list dropped out of the ranks altogether including fashion designer Michael Kors, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, Zulily's Mark Vadon and many Russians. Guatemala has a billionaire for the first time, and Iceland returns to the ranks after a five-year absence, the result of a comeback by Thor Bjorgolfsson, who's now the only billionaire in Iceland's history.
Mike Adenuga, Folorunsho Alakija, Femi Otedola and Abdulsamad Rabiu also made the list.
See the comprehensive list after the cut:
1. Bill Gates Net Worth: $79.2 B Source of wealth: Microsoft
2. Carlos Slim Helu & family Net Worth: $77.1 B Source of wealth: telecom
3. Warren Buffett Net Worth: $72.7 B Source of wealth: Berkshire Hathaway
4. Amancio Ortega Net Worth: $64.5 B Source of wealth: Zara
5. Larry Ellison Net Worth: $54.3 B Source of wealth: Oracle
6. Charles Koch Net Worth: $42.9 B Source of wealth: diversified
6. David Koch Net Worth: $42.9 B Source of wealth: diversified
8. Christy Walton & family Net Worth: $41.7 B Source of wealth: Wal-Mart
9. Jim Walton Net Worth: $40.6 B Source of wealth: Wal-Mart
10. Liliane Bettencourt & family Net Worth: $40.1 B Source of wealth: LÂ?Oreal
11. Alice Walton Net Worth: $39.4 B Source of wealth: Wal-Mart
12. S. Robson Walton Net Worth: $39.1 B Source of wealth: Wal-Mart
13. Bernard Arnault & family Net Worth: $37.2 B Source of wealth: LVMH
14. Michael Bloomberg Net Worth: $35.5 B Source of wealth: Bloomberg LP
15. Jeff Bezos Net Worth: $34.8 B Source of wealth: Amazon.com
16. Mark Zuckerberg Net Worth: $33.4 B Source of wealth: Facebook
17. Li Ka-shing Net Worth: $33.3 B Source of wealth: diversified
18. Sheldon Adelson Net Worth: $31.4 B Source of wealth: casinos
19. Larry Page Net Worth: $29.7 B Source of wealth: Google
20. Sergey Brin Net Worth: $29.2 B Source of wealth: Google
21. Georg Schaeffler Net Worth: $26.9 B Source of wealth: ball bearings
22. Forrest Mars Jr Net Worth: $26.6 B Source of wealth: candy
22. Jacqueline Mars Net Worth: $26.6 B Source of wealth: candy
22. John Mars Net Worth: $26.6 B Source of wealth: candy
25. David Thomson & family Net Worth: $25.5 B Source of wealth: media
26. Jorge Paulo Lemann Net Worth: $25 B Source of wealth: beer
27. Lee Shau Kee Net Worth: $24.8 B Source of wealth: real estate
28. Stefan Persson Net Worth: $24.5 B Source of wealth: H&M
29. George Soros Net Worth: $24.2 B Source of wealth: hedge funds
29. Wang Jianlin Net Worth: $24.2 B Source of wealth: real estate
31. Carl Icahn Net Worth: $23.5 B Source of wealth: investments
32. Maria Franca Fissolo & family Net Worth: $23.4 B Source of wealth: Nutella, chocolates
33. Jack Ma Net Worth: $22.7 B Source of wealth: e-commerce
34. Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud Net Worth: $22.6 B Source of wealth: investments
35. Steve Ballmer Net Worth: $21.5 B Source of wealth: Microsoft
35. Phil Knight Net Worth: $21.5 B Source of wealth: Nike
37. Beate Heister & Karl Albrecht Jr. Net Worth: $21.3 B Source of wealth: supermarkets
38. Li Hejun Net Worth: $21.1 B Source of wealth: solar power equipment
39. Mukesh Ambani Net Worth: $21 B Source of wealth: petrochemicals, oil & gas
40. Leonardo Del Vecchio Net Worth: $20.4 B Source of wealth: eyeglasses
41. Len Blavatnik Net Worth: $20.2 B Source of wealth: diversified
41. Tadashi Yanai & family Net Worth: $20.2 B Source of wealth: retail
43. Charles Ergen Net Worth: $20.1 B Source of wealth: Dish Network
44. Dilip Shanghvi Net Worth: $20 B Source of wealth: pharmaceuticals
45. Laurene Powell Jobs & family Net Worth: $19.5 B Source of wealth: Apple, Disney
46. Dieter Schwarz Net Worth: $19.4 B Source of wealth: retail
47. Michael Dell Net Worth: $19.2 B Source of wealth: Dell
48. Azim Premji Net Worth: $19.1 B Source of wealth: software
49. Theo Albrecht Jr & family Net Worth: $19 B Source of wealth: Aldi, Trader Joe's
50. Michael Otto & family Net Worth: $18.1 B Source of wealth: retail, real estate
67. Aliko Dangote Net Worth: $14.7 B Source of wealth: cement, sugar, flour
393. Mike Adenuga Net Worth: $4.2 B Source of wealth: telcom, oil
949. Folorunsho Alakija Net Worth: $1.9 B Source of wealth: oil
1741. Femi Otedola Net Worth: $1 B Source of wealth: oil and gas
1741. Abdulsamad Rabiu Net Worth: $1 B Source of wealth: cement, sugar, flour
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