The global ranks of billionaires grew by 199 people in the past year, but none came close to unseating Carlos Slim, the world's richest man, who added $20.5 billion to his coffers, according to Forbes magazine's annual tally.
The number of people on Forbes' list climbed to 1,210 billionaires, setting a record with combined wealth of $4.5 trillion, up from $3.6 trillion a year ago. While the biggest slice of that wealth, $1.5 trillion, is controlled by people in the U.S., the publication said more than half of the new billionaires came from Brazil, Russia, India and China. In China, there are now 115 billionaires; the richest among them is Robin Li, who is worth $9 billion.
At the top of the list for the second year in a row is Mexican telecom magnate Slim, whose fortune climbed to $74 billion on strength in the Mexican stock market, a stronger peso and successful business spinoffs, Forbes said. The majority of his net worth comes from his holdings in America Movil, Latin America's largest phone service provider.
No. 2 on the list is Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft Corp. and now a fulltime philanthropist, who has a net worth of $56 billion. Forbes noted that Gates, once the world's wealthiest man, has given $30 billion to The Gates Foundation.
The rebound in the stock market helped investor Warren Buffett's wealth increase to $50 billion. The return of people's appetite for luxury goods pushed LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault up to No. 4 on the list from No. 7, with a net worth of $41 billion.
While there was some jostling for position, the makeup of the top 10 on Forbes' list was almost unchanged. Christy Walton, whose father-in-law Sam Walton and his brother founded Wal-Mart Stores Inc., displaced Germany's Karl Albrecht as No. 10. Walton, one of 102 women on the list this year, saw her net worth climb to $26 billion.
Albrecht, who owns a discount supermarket company called Aldi Sud, saw his wealth increase to $25.5 billion, putting him at No. 12.
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of the popular social networking site Facebook, had the fastest-growing net worth, Forbes said - it more than tripled to $13.5 billion, earning him the No. 52 spot on the list. Another Facebook employee, Dustin Moskovitz, made his debut as the youngest billionaire on the list, with $2.7 billion, putting him at No. 420. He is 26 years old.
Overall, Forbes said 648 of the billionaires' wealth increased in the past year, while 160 of the world's wealthiest had declining fortunes. The rest were unchanged.
---
© 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.