Top 10 World’s Billionaires in 2008. After 13 years as number one Bill Gates ceded the title of richest man on the planet to his friend Warren Buffett. But who’s counting? Almost all their wealth is going to the same charitable ends.
For the first time, the number of billionaires we identified topped 1,000. On Feb. 11, our counting day, the combined net worth of all billionaires was $4.4 trillion, up $900 billion from last year.The club includes 226 newcomers, 70% of whom come from the U.S., Russia, India or China. Despite the stock market turbulence of late, the 469 Americans account for 37% of the money and 42% of the list’s slots; those shares are down three and two percentage points, respectively, from last year. Russia is the new number two country, with 87 billionaires.The average billionaire is worth $3.9 billion, $250 million more than last year. The superrich are also becoming younger. The average age is 61, down from 62 last year, thanks in part to big gains in Russia (average age: 46) and China (48).We have eliminated regional rankings in favor of a complete alphabetical listing that starts on page 146 and includes citizenship, net worth and rank. Bios on all 1,125 billionaires are available at www.forbes.com/billionaires.The 20 richest people on the planet are worth a total of $661.4 billion, or at least $20.8 billion apiece, $3.3 billion more than last year’s minimum. New faces include 3 Russians and 1 Indian. Two years ago half of the top 20 were from the U.S. Now only 4 are; India and Russia also have 4 apiece.
Here is a List of Top 10 World’s Billionaires in 2008
- Warren Buffett – $62.0 billion
- Carlos Slim – $60.0 billion
- Bill Gates – $58.0 billion
- Lakshmi Mittal – $45.0 billion
- Mukesh Ambani – $43.0 billion
- Anil Ambani – $42.0 billion
- Ingvar Kamprad – $31.0 billion
- Kushal Pal Singh – $30.0 billion
- Oleg Deripaska – $28.0 billion
- Karl Albrecht – $27.0 billion
