Billionaire roundup

Last year was “a record year for the richest people on Earth”, says Forbes, with the number of billionaires jumping 13% to 2,043, and their total net worth rising by 18% to a record $7.67trn. Leading the pack, for the fourth year in a row, was Microsoft founder Bill Gates, with a fortune of $86bn. Here are some other highlights:

Amazon’s Jeff Bezos “had the best year” of any billionaire, adding $27.6bn to a fortune now worth $72.8bn, and moving into “the top three in the world” for the first time. Warren Buffett, at No. 2 on the list, had the second-best year, adding $14.8bn – largely thanks to the huge stock market gains made since the US election.

The Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim Helú, once the world’s richest man, was a rare loser, falling out of the top five for the first time in a dozen years.

The US continues to have more billionaires than any other nation (565), but China (with 319) is catching up. Of the 195 newcomers to the list, 76 were Chinese compared with just 25 Americans.

There were 15 new self-made women billionaires; all but one of them from the Asia-pacific region. The sole US contender, Thai Lee, who runs tech reseller SHI, was born in Thailand.