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Warren Buffet tops Forbes' richest list8 March, 2008 Warren Buffett, 77, US investor and philanthropist, has become the world’s richest man. Buffett has wrested the title from his friend and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates after 13 years. In the Forbes business magazine’s 2008 list of rich people, Warren Buffett came first, with his wealth increasing by $10 billion in 2007 to $62 billion. In the same period, Bill Gates’ wealth rose by $2 billion, making his total fortune worth $58 billion, but slipping to the third place on the rich-list. The second place went to Carlos Slim Helu, Mexican communications magnate, whose net worth of $60 billion doubled in the past two years, according to Forbes magazine. Lakshmi Mittal, the India-born steel magnate, is the United Kingdom’s richest resident, with $45 billion, placing him fourth on the list behind Bill Gates. The Forbes 2008 list of billionaires includes a record number of 1,125 individuals with a combined net worth of $4.4 trillion. Two-thirds of those on the Forbes list have been classified as self-made billionaires. And, of them, 50 are under the age of 40.
Mark Zuckerberg, 23, founder of the
social networking site Facebook, is
the world’s youngest billionaire.
Zuckerberg’s fortune of $1.5 billion
makes him Patrice Motsepe finds a place in the Forbes list as South Africa’s first black billionaire, with a net worth of $2.4 billion. Liliane Bettencourt, chief of L'Oreal, of France, is the world’s richest woman – occupying the 17th place on the list, with a net wealth of $22.9 billion. A total of 35 citizens of the United Kingdom are billionaires in dollar terms, but the United Kingdom is home to 49 billionaires, with 36 of them calling themselves Londoners, according to Forbes. J K Rowling, author of Harry Potter series of books, is Britain’s only woman on the list, coming 1,062nd, with $1 billion. Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor, Duke of Westminster, is the richest Briton, taking the 46th place, with $14 billion. Among the other Britons in the list are retailers Philip and Cristina Green (in the 107th place with $8.4 billion) and Richard Branson, chairman of the Virgin group of companies (in the 236th place with $4.4 billion). The others in the Forbes super-rich list include Bernie Ecclestone, boss of Formula One ($3.7 billion), David Sainsbury, supermarket owner ($1.7 billion), Oprah Winfrey, US chat-show host ($2.5 billion), and Donald Trump, property tycoon ($3 billion). Steve Forbes, chief executive of Forbes magazine, was quoted by BBC as saying, “The reason for this explosion in wealth is that we’re in the midst of a phenomenal global boom. Never before in human history have so many people in so many parts of the world advanced so quickly economically as has happened in recent years.” According to economic analysts, Bill Gates might have maintained his top spot had his company Microsoft Corporation not made an unsolicited bid for rival Yahoo! In February 2008, Microsoft shares had dipped to 15% in the two weeks following the bid. Warren Buffett has stakes companies such as Coca-Cola, Proctor & Gamble, and Tesco. According to Forbes, Warren Buffett first filed his first tax return at the age of 13, claiming a $35 tax deduction for his bicycle. After studying economics at the Columbia Business School in New York, the United States, under renowned investment expert Benjamin Graham, Buffett began buying shares in the textile firm Berkshire Hathaway in 1962 before buying a controlling stake in 1965. The company’s stock price jumped to a record $150,000 a share in December 2007, just before Forbes formulated its 2008 list of the super-rich. Two years ago, Warren Buffett had pledged most of his shares in Berkshire Hathaway to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the charitable foundation founded by Bill Gates and Melinda Gates in 2000 with the primary objectives of enhancing healthcare and reducing poverty globally as well as expanding educational opportunities and giving access to information technology.
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