Billionaire List for 2009
Forbes released its annual richest people list and the number of billionaires is down over last year. According to the report the average worth of the world's 793 billionaires is $3 billion (which is down by 23% over last year).
What I find surprising is that the US billionaire contingent went up accounting for 44% of the worth represented through 45% of the people on the list despite the terrible economic conditions being experienced by the United States. Even more surprising is that last year there were 1,125 billionaires in 2009, there are 793 with $1.4 trillion vanishing.
For those interested, Bill Gates tops the list with a net worth of $40 billion. The top 5 look like this:
1 |
William Gates III |
United States |
53 |
40.0 |
United States |
2 |
Warren Buffett |
United States |
78 |
37.0 |
United States |
3 |
Carlos Slim Helu & family |
Mexico |
69 |
35.0 |
Mexico |
4 |
Lawrence Ellison |
United States |
64 |
22.5 |
United States |
5 |
Ingvar Kamprad & family |
Sweden |
83 |
22.0 |
Switzerland |
The richest Canadian on the list is David Thomson & Family holding down the number 24 position with a net worth of $13 billion. For the record, the Google Guys, Sergey Brin and Larry Page can be found in positions 26 and 27 each with an estimated net worth of $12 billion. Not bad for a couple of guys who's business is barely 10 years old.
Other notable "online" related billionaires:
- Michael Dell - of Dell worth $12.3 billion
- Steve Ballmer - CEO of Microsoft worth $11 billion
- Jeffrey Bezos - Amazon worth $6.8 billion
- Hiroshi Yamauchi - of Nintendo fame worth $4.5 billion
- Eric Schmidt - Google worth $4.4 billion
I find these lists fascinating to see how all of these people have acquired these massive fortunes of wealth (some easier than others). Look for our richest Canadian post soon.
Forbes Billionaire List 2009
Labels: Forbes billionaire list 2009
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