Bill Gates once again world’s richest man; Trump slips

NEW YORK: Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates once again topped the Forbes magazine list of the world’s more than 2,000 billionaires, while US President Donald Trump slipped more than 200 spots, the magazine said Monday.

Gates, whose wealth is estimated at US$ 86 billion, led the list for the fourth straight year, and has been ranked as the richest person in the world for 18 of the past 23 years.

Among the top 10 billionaires, a group heavily dominated by Americans, many from the technology sector, Gates was followed by Berkshire Hathaway chief Warren Buffett, with wealth was estimated at US$ 75.6 billion, a US$ 14.8 billion jump from the 2016 list, despite his pledge to give away 99 per cent of his wealth.

Others in the top 10 included Amazon founder Jeff Bezos who moved up to number three with the biggest gain of any person on the planet, a US$ 27.6 billion increase to his fortune of US$ 72.8 billion. Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg was number five and Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison was number seven.

There are 183 tech billionaires in all with a combined 1 trillion in wealth, Forbes said.

The global population of billionaires jumped 13 per cent from last year to a record 2,043, the biggest annual increase in the 31 years since the magazine began compiling the list, Forbes said.

The US had the most billionaires with 565, a product of the swelling value of the American stock market since Trump’s November 2016 election.

China was second with 319 billionaires, and Germany was third with 114. Trump slipped 220 spots on the list to 544 with an estimated US$ 3.5 billion, a decline of US$1 billion from last year. Forbes attributed Trump’s drop to sluggishness in the midtown Manhattan real estate market which is responsible for a disproportionate amount of his wealth.

Rounding out the Forbes top 10, Amancio Ortega of Spanish apparel chain Zara was fourth; Mexican telecom tycoon Carlos Slim was sixth; the Koch brothers, US conservative political activists Charles and David, were eighth and ninth; and former New York City mayor and Bloomberg News founder Michael Bloomberg was 10th. — AFP