Amazon chief Jeff Bezos is now the world’s richest
person, having snatched the top spot from Microsoft
founder Bill Gates who slips to second place, according to
Forbes magazine’s annual billionaires list published
Tuesday.
US President Donald Trump’s ranking on the list fell to
766th place from 544th in the last edition, his wealth now
being estimated at $3.1 billion, $400 million less than a
year ago.
Thanks to a 59-percent rise in Amazon shares over the
past 12 months, Bezos almost doubled his fortune, taking
it to $120 billion, way ahead of Gates’s $90 billion — the
biggest gap ever between the number one and two spots,
Forbes said.
Legendary investor Warren Buffett held on to his number
three ranking, followed by French industrialist Bernard
Arnault, who jumped to fourth-richest person from his
previous number 11 spot, mostly thanks to euro strength
against the dollar, the magazine said.
Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg was fifth on the list.
Two Chinese billionaires rose to be among the 20 richest
people in the world: Ma Huateng, CEO of Chinese internet
giant Tencent who is the richest person in Asia and
number 17 in the world, and Alibaba founder Jack Ma.
There are now a record 2,208 billionaires in the world,
Forbes counted, and their combined worth is $9.1 trillion,
up 18 percent from last year.
The US has the most billionaires (585), followed by
mainland China (373).
Forbes’ list contains 259 newcomers, including the first-
ever cryptocurrency billionaires.
Falling fortunes or political headwinds, meanwhile,
pushed 121 people out of the illustrious list, including all
10 Saudi Arabians, the magazine said.
No comments:
Post a Comment