Buffett tops Forbes’ list of richest people, replacing Gates

Buffett’s wealth increased US$10 billion to about US$62 billion in the 12 months through Feb. 11, mostly from a gain in his company’s shares, Forbes said in a statement released Wednesday.

The fortune of Gates, 52, rose US$2 billion to US$58 billion. The Microsoft chairman fell to third on the list behind Mexican telecommunications mogul Carlos Slim, 68, who has an estimated net worth of US$60 billion.

Forbes’s list shows wealth expanding in emerging markets around the globe, with Russia overtaking Germany as the second- richest country in terms of billionaires, and 70 percent of newcomers from Russia, India, China and the U.S. In 2006, half of the top 20 billionaires came from the U.S. This year there were only four Americans.

Buffett, 77, is the biggest holder of Berkshire Hathaway’s stock with about 32 percent of the Class A shares as of July and 18 percent of the Class B shares as of Dec. 31, according to Bloomberg data.

The company’s Class A shares rose 28 percent in the 12 months ended Feb. 11. They now sell for US$139,000 each, the most expensive on the New York Stock Exchange. The S&P 500 declined 6.9 percent in the period.

Gates donation

Berkshire Hathaway has a market value of US$215 billion, ranking it 10th among the 500 largest companies by that measure, according to Bloomberg data.

Buffett built Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire Hathaway during the past four decades by investing premiums from insurers such as Geico Corp., National Indemnity Co. and General Reinsurance Corp. Buffett filed his first tax return at age 13, claiming a US$35 deduction for the bicycle he used to deliver newspapers, Forbes said.

Gates in November donated US$695 million worth of his Microsoft stake to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Shares of Microsoft, the world’s largest software maker, of which Gates owned 9.2 percent as of November, declined 2.7 percent during the period covered by the list. Microsoft has a market value of US$262 billion, ranking it seventh among the 500 largest companies.

Slim, Mittal, the Ambanis

Slim, the son of Lebanese immigrants to Mexico, amassed his fortune building Latin America’s largest telecommunication carriers, according to Forbes.

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