NEW YORK: billionaire Bill Gates is no longer the world's richest man. That title now belongs to Mexico's telecom titan Carlos Slim Helu, according to Forbes magazine's annual list of the world's richest people unveiled on Wednesday.
Forbes says the improving global economy has pushed up the number of billionaires from 793 last year to 1,011 in 2010.
Carlos Slim added $18.5 billion (USD) to his fortune last year and has a net worth of $53.5 billion (USD), according to the list. This is the first time since 1994 that a person from outside the United States has held the title of "world's richest person".
"Carlos Slim is very dominant in the Mexican economy. He foresaw the rise of communications, so cell phones he embraced, but he's also into more nitty gritty businesses like cement, and he's put together quite an empire," says Steve Forbes, the magazine's editor-in-chief.
Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates slips to number two on the list with a net worth of $53 billion (USD), and Berkshire Hathaway's Warren Buffett comes in at number three with a net worth of $47 billion (USD). Both Gates and Buffett have given billions of dollars to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
"The gap between Bill Gates and Carlos Slim is a very narrow one. Carlos Slim is ahead by about 500 million, which in that atmosphere is pretty close, about 53 and a half billion to 53 billion. But if Bill Gates was truly interested in just being number one, he would not have given away so much money, same with Warren Buffett. They have given away tens of billions of dollars, and Warren Buffett has made it very clear that in the years ahead most of his wealth is going to go to the foundation that was started by Bill Gates and his wife," said Forbes.
India's Mukesh Ambani and Lakshmi Mittal round out the top five with a net worth of $29 billion (USD) and $28.7 billion (USD) respectively.
Ambani's Reliance Industries Limited is the largest private business in India, dealing in petrochemicals, oil and gas, and Lakshmi's ArcelorMittal is one of the world's biggest steel companies.
Forbes magazine generated its billionaire's list on February 12, 2010. Forbes says the list is a global snapshot of where money is being made and where it is being lost.
"The Forbes billionaire list, the ups and downs, the expansions and subtractions reflect what is happening in the economy. These represent entrepreneurs around the world, most of them are people who created their own businesses," said Forbes.
55 countries are represented on the billionaire list, with Pakistan and Finland adding their first billionaires and Iceland losing its super wealthy, says Forbes.
The United States continues to have the most billionaires at 403.
Crediting the improving global economy, Forbes says 97 new billionaires were added to the list this year, including 62 new billionaires from Asia.
"I think even though we knew Asia and some other countries were relatively doing better than the United States, this makes it very graphic, when you see the number of billionaires in South Korea go from 4 to 11, Turkey from 13 to 28, China 28 to 64, Taiwan 5 to 18, underscores that this is a region that is once again on the move," added Forbes.
The world's youngest billionaire is 25 year old Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg with a net worth of $4 billion (USD).
Forbes says Zuckerberg's net worth has quadrupled in the past year. His Facebook social networking website is valued at more than 15 billion (USD).
This is the 24th year of the annual list.
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