Bill Gates gets some competition

SAN FRANCISCO: Bill Gates increased his fortune by some US$400 million last year to about US$50 billion, according to the annual rich list published on Thursday by Forbes magazine.
But the Microsoft founder is facing increased competition as the list grew to a record 793 billionaires, up 15 per cent from a year ago, with rising numbers of the super rich coming from India, Russia, Brazil and the Middle East.
The magazine estimated the combined net worth of the world's billionaires at 2.6 trillion dollars and said that the increase was largely due to soaring stock, oil and commodities prices.
Gates was followed on the list by investor Warren Buffett at US$42 billion, Mexican industrialist Carlos Slim at US$30 billion and Sweden's Ikea founder Ingvar Kamprad at US$28 billion.
Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal was fifth at US$23.5 billion, followed by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen at US$22 billion and French luxury goods king Bernard Arnault at US$21.5 billion.
Saudi business magnate Prince al-Waleed bin Talal al-Saud had US$20 billion dollars for eighth place, followed by Canadian publisher Kenneth Thomson at US$19.6 billion dollars and Hong Kong property magnate Li Ka-shing at US$18.8 billion.
"Why is this list growing?" asked Forbes chief executive and editor-in-chief Steve Forbes, himself a billionaire. "The global economy has been growing the last two years at rates not seen since World War II, fuelled by a commodities boom with a whiff of inflation."
India's magnates experienced the highest growth, adding 10 names to the list for a total of 23. With a combined net worth of US$99 billion, the group passed the US$67 billion net worth of Japan's 27 billionaires, for the largest concentration in Asia.
Russia added seven new members to the list for a total of 33, with a total net worth of US$172 billion, up from US$91 billion a year ago.
Brazil doubled its number of billionaires to 16, while in the Middle East and Africa, including Turkey, there were 56 billionaires, up from 29 last year.
Among the strong performers were Turkey with 21 billionaires, up eight from last year, and Saudi Arabia, whose 11 billionaires were worth US$68 billion, compared to US$42 billion for its seven billionaires a year ago.
Other notable appearances on the list were oil mogul and Chelsea football club owner Roman Abramovich, whose US$18.2 billion saw him jump 10 places to 11th in the global ranking.
"Why is the list growing? The answer is an obvious one - the global economy is growing," said Steve Forbes.