Mexican telecommunications mogul Carlos Slim has retained the title of the world’s richest billionaire on Forbes‘ annual list of the world’s richest people, after his fortune surged a staggering $20.5 billion to $74 billion.
Slim, whose fortune is based in Central and South America – his America Movil SAB has 225 million wireless subscribers and also controls Mexico’s largest landline phone carrier and companies in Colombia and Peru – is now $18 billion ahead of his nearest rival, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, whose fortune increased $3 billion to $53 billion.
Legendary investor Warren Buffett is again in third spot after his fortune rose $3 billion to $50 billion.
In fourth is luxury goods magnate Bernard Arnault, whose fortune surged $13.5 billion to $41 billion thanks to a strong rise in the value of his company LVMH, which owns brands including Louis Vuitton and Moët.
Rounding out the top five was Oracle founder Larry Ellison, whose fortune surged 11.5 billion to $39.5 billion thanks to a 30% jump in the value of Oracle shares.
The highest-ranked Australian citizen on the list was mining mogul Gina Rinehart, who ranked 100th with a fortune of $9 billion.
Fellow iron ore minder Andrew Forrest ranked 145th with a $6.7 billion fortune and Westfield founder Frank Lowy was ranked in 244th place with a $4.4 billion fortune.
The highest place woman was WalMart heir Christy Walton, who has a fortune of $26.5 billion.
The big rise in the fortunes of the men at the top of the list helped the total wealth on the list surge from $3.4 billion to a record $4.5 billion.
There are now a total of 1,210 billionaires in the world in 2011, up from 1,011 last year. Of those, 102 are women, up from 89 in 2010.
The big story on the list is the rise of a new generation of entrepreneurs connected to social networks.
Mark Zuckerberg is now worth $13.5 billion, up from $4 billion last year, thanks to the recent valuation of Facebook at $50 billion in a recent capital raising.
As Forbes points out, Zuckerberg is now almost twice as rich as Australian-born media legend Rupert Murdoch, whose fortune is estimated at $7.6 billion.
Zuckerberg’s co-founder, the rather lesser known Dustin Moskovitz, who at 26 years of age is the youngest billionaire on the list with $1.4 billion.
Fellow Facebook shareholders Peter Thiel, Sean Parker, Eduardo Saverin and Yuri Milner also join the billionaire’s list for the first time.
James was the editor and publisher of SmartCompany and LeadingCompany for five years. He is now the Australian Financial Review‘s companies & markets editor, and a former BRW editor.
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