Bill Gates regains World`s Richest status

Microsoft founder chairman Bill Gates has regained the top spot in Forbes magazine's annual ranking of billionaires worldwide, even as the worldwide economic recession slashed the number of billionaires to 793 from 1,125 last year. It was the first time since 2003 that the number of people on the world's richest list declined, and the biggest drop since the magazine began the ranking 23 years ago.

Gates, 53, had a net worth of US$40bn, down from US$58bn in 2008. Berkshire Hathaway chairman Warren Buffett, 78 - who last year ended Gates's 13 year reign atop the Forbes' richest list - slipped to second place. His net worth dropped to US$37bn from US$62bn.

The total net worth of the billionaires on Forbes' list shrank to US$2.4 trillion from US$4.4 trillion last year, with the average billionaire worth US$3bn, down from US$3.9bn. The top three wealthiest people in the world - Gates, Buffett and Mexican telecom tycoon Carlos Slim - lost a combined US$68bn.

"The global economy’s being battered by a financial hurricane that has wrought devastating damage on the world’s financial systems," Forbes CEO Steve Forbes said in a press conference in Manhattan yesterday. "It’s no surprise that billionaires have been battered along with the global economy."

Slim, 69, who controls Telefonos de Mexico SAB, fell to third from second as his net worth dropped to US$35bn from US$60bn. Larry Ellison, 64, CEO of software major Oracle Corp., rose to fourth from 14th, even though his net worth dropped to US$22.5bn from US$25bn.

The net worth of 656 billionaires on the list fell from a year earlier. Only 44 gained.

Last year's biggest gainer turned out to be this year's biggest loser. The net worth of Anil Ambani, 49, declined by US$31.9bn to US$10.1bn, still good enough for 34th place. In last year's ranking, his fortune had increased by US$24bn.

India lost more than half of its billionaires, while Russia lost two-thirds. The US had the most billionaires on the list, with 359, down from 469 last year. Europe had 196, Asia-Pacific had 130, the Middle East and Africa 58, and the Americas outside the US had 50.

The number of new billionaires fell to 38 from 226 last year. There were 355 people who dropped off the list. There are 72 women on the list, down from 99 last year. The average age rose to 63.7 years from 61 last year, partly because of the losses in Russia and China, where the average age of billionaires last year was in the 40s.

World's Richest - Forbes List 2008

1. Warren Buffett
2. Carlos Slim Helu
3. William Gates III
4. Lakshmi Mittal
5. Mukesh Ambani
6. Anil Ambani
7. Ingvar Kamprad
8. KP Singh
9. Oleg Deripaska
10. Karl Albrecht
11. Li Ka-shing
12. Sheldon Adelson
13. Bernard Arnault
14. Lawrence Ellison
15. Roman Abramovich
16. Theo Albrecht
17. Liliane Bettencourt
18. Alexei Mordashov
19. Prince Alwaleed
20. Mikhail Fridman

New Richest Indian ... world's richest too ?

Reliance Power Ltd`s IPO, the country`s biggest, has helped the promoter Anil Ambani whiz past elder brother Mukesh and NRI tycoon Lakshmi Mittal at the top of India`s richie-rich club, with his wealth soaring to more than 60 billion dollars.

As per a list of richest Indians put out by renowned business magazine Forbes late last year, Mittal and Mukesh Ambani were ranked at the top two positions, followed by Anil at the third position.

At Rs 450 a share IPO that was concluded last week, Anil`s stake in Reliance Power, to be listed in early February, would amount to about 13 billion dollars. Even before the issue, Anil`s fortune was on an upswing while those of Mukesh and Mittal fell since the Forbes list was announced.

Forbes had calculated Lakshmi Mittal`s wealth at 51 billion dollars, based on the value of his shareholding in the world`s largest steelmaker Arcelormittal as on November 2.

However, a plunge in Arcelormittal`s market value since then (about 20% down in past three months) as well as a small drop in his shareholding has cut down his wealth by close to 12 billion dollars.

Mittal`s current holding in Arcelormittal stands at 623.62 million shares or 43.04%, down from 44.79% in November, giving him a net worth of 39.1 billion dollars, on the basis of the company`s closing share price of 62.7 dollars on Friday in New York.

According to Forbes list, the net worth of Mukesh and Anil Ambani stood at 49 billion dollars and 45 billion dollars, respectively, as on November 2. However, since that date, the total market capitalisation of Mukesh Ambani Group has dropped by 2.95% from Rs 5,19,557.33 crore to Rs 5,04,316.24 crore as on January 18.

During the same period, the total market value of five Anil Ambani Group companies has increased by 4.63% to Rs 2,92,474.64 crore from Rs 2,79,536.41 crore on November 2.

Assuming that the net worth of the two billionaires have increased in same ratio as that of their groups` market value, Mukesh Ambani has lost about 1.5 billion dollars, while Anil`s fortunes soared by about 2.1 billion dollars. This would put elder Ambani`s worth at 47.5 billion dollars, still a shade higher than Anil`s 47.1 billion dollars.

However, the situation might change drastically after the listing of reliance power, whose IPO closed with record demand of close to 190 billion dollars.

The company has fixed the IPO price at Rs 450 per share, taking the total proceeds to Rs 11,700 crore and giving the company an initial market capitalisation of Rs 1,15,841 crore.

This values Anil Ambani`s holding of about 45% in the company at Rs 52,128 crore (13.2 billion dollars), while his total net worth would rise to 60.3 billion dollars.

Besides, marketmen expect reliance power to list at a significant premium over the IPO price, which if happens, would further inflate Ambani`s wealth.

On the prospects of he becoming the richest man after the IPO, Anil Ambani had earlier talked about the legacy of his father and reliance founder Dhirubhai Ambani who had created wealth for shareholders.

Mukesh Ambani Richest!

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani on Monday became the richest person in the world, surpassing American software czar Bill Gates, Mexican business tycoon Carlos Slim Helu and famous investment guru Warren Buffett, courtesy the bull run in the stock market.

Following a strong share price rally on in his three group companie, India's most valued firm Reliance Industries, Reliance Petroleum and Reliance Industrial Infrastructure Ltd, the net worth of Mukesh Ambani rose to $63.2 billion (Rs 2,49,108 crore).

In comparison, the net worth of both Gates and Slim is estimated to be slightly lower at around $62.29 billion each, with Slim leading among the two by a narrow margin.

Warren Buffett, earlier the third richest in the world, also dropped one position with a net worth of about $56 billion.

Ambani's wealth of about Rs 2,49,000 crore includes about Rs 2,10,000 crore from RIL (50.98 per cent stake), Rs 37,500 crore from RPL (37.5 per cent) and Rs 2,100 crore from RIIL (46.23 per cent).

Slim's wealth has been calculated on the basis of his stake in companies like America Movil (30 per cent), Carso Global (82 per cent), Grupo Carso (75 per cent), Inbursa (67 per cent), IDEAL (30 per cent) and Saks Inc (10 per cent).

According to information available with the US and Mexican stock exchanges where these companies are listed, Slim currently holds shares worth a total of $62.2993 billion, with more than half coming from Latin American mobile major America Movil. Slim is closely followed by Gates with a net worth of $62.29 billion currently.

Earlier last month, US business magazine Forbes had named Gates as the richest American with a net worth of $59 billion, calculated as on August 30. The magazine had said that a movement of two dollars in the share price for Microsoft, the world's biggest software maker, could "add or subtract a billion dollars" from his wealth.

Since August-end, Microsoft's share price has risen by $6.58 (based on yesterday's closing on Nasdaq at $35.03), which results into a gain of $3.29 billion in Gates' wealth based on Forbes assumption.

Besides a stake in Microsoft, Gates' wealth also includes the commission and license fees earned by him and gains through his shares in an investment holding company that invests across the market.

Gates is followed by Buffett at the fourth place in the league of the world's richest with a net worth of $55.9 billion through his holding in his investment vehicle Berkshire Hathaway and in other companies. At the end of August, Buffett's wealth stood at $52 billion, as per the Forbes magazine. Berkshire Hathaway's share price has gained by about 7.5 per cent since then.

Earlier on September 26, Ambani had overtaken steel czar Lakshmi Mittal to become the richest Indian in the world.

Mittal currently ranks as the fifth richest in the world with a net worth of $50.9 billion through his 44.79 per cent stake in world's biggest steel maker ArcelorMittal.

While most of Mittal's wealth comes from his steel empire, though he has also spread his wings into businesses like oil and real estate, those of Ambani and Gates are mostly through petrochemicals and software respectively. However, Buffett and Slim are making money from investments across a host of sectors.