Buffett ends Gates’ reign at the top of the Forbes rich list

Source: Exec Digital USA

Date :3/6/2008 3:10:15 AM

Warren Buffett has ousted his bridge partner Bill Gates to top Forbes magazine’s annual ranking of the world’s billionaires.

The Nebraska-based investor, known as the “Sage of Omaha”, saw his fortune swell $10 billion from a year ago to $62 billion last year, after taking advantage of depressed stock markets and turbulent credit markets to buy companies, invest in undervalued shares, and launch his own bond insurer.

Shares in Berkshire Hathaway, Mr. Buffett’s investment vehicle, have risen more than 20 percent in the year to February 11, Forbes’ cut-off date for its 2008 Rich List.

Unlucky 13

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates (pictured), the richest man in the world for the past 13 straight years, came third on the list with $58 billion, behind the Mexican telecoms tycoon Carlos Slim, who has an estimated fortune of $60 billion.

Gates is up $2 billion from a year ago, but would have been perhaps as rich- or richer- than Buffett had Microsoft not made an unsolicited bid for Yahoo! at the beginning of February, causing Microsoft's shares to fall 15 percent.

New arrivals

The youngest billionaire is Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg. Zuckerberg, 23, who set up the social networking website in his college dormitory four years ago, is worth $1.5 billion.

This year’s list also includes the first black billionaires. Nigerian sugar merchant Aliko Dangote was one of the first four black Africans to make the list. Others are Sudan-born Mo Ibrahim, the founder of mobile firm Celtel International, and South Africa’s Patrice Motsepe, a minerals boss.

March 06, 2008