Bill Gates tops Forbes’ Richest People In The World List for second year

Bill Gates has topped Forbes magazine’s list of Richest People In The World for the second year.

The Microsoft founder once again beat Mexican businessman Carlos Slim to the top spot.

Bill Gates’ net worth rose by just over $3 billion in the year to February 13, to $79 billion.

There are a record 1,826 billionaires in the world, Forbes magazine said, an increase of 181 in the past 12 months.

Bill Gates has now been top of the list for 16 of the last 21 years, Forbes added.

Warren Buffett regained third place in the list with a net worth of $72.7 billion, from Amancio Ortega, the founder of Spanish fashion chain Zara.

The funds required to make it into the top 20 in the list have fallen by $2 billion to $29 billion this year.

The founders and chief executives of US technology firms dominated the list again, accounting for six of the top 20 richest men in the world.

The first woman on the rich list is Christy Walton, the widow of John Walton, one of the heirs to the Wal-Mart retail empire.

She has been declared the richest woman in the world for five of the last six years by Forbes.

Mark Zuckerberg moves up five places in the rankings to number 16, with a net worth of $33.4 billion. This is the first time he has been included in the list if the world’s 20 richest people.

The youngest billionaire in the world is 24 year-old Evan Spiegel, the co-founder of messaging app Snapchat, with a fortune of $1.5 billion.

Silicon Valley has produced 23 new billionaires this year including co-founders of car-hailing service Uber, Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp, and their first employee, Ryan Graves.

Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of blood-testing firm Theranos, has debuted on the global list as the youngest self-made woman at age 31, with a fortune of $4.5 billion.

The US also dominates the top 20 with 15 of the world’s richest people coming from America.

This list includes 290 newcomers, 71 of whom come from China. There is also a new record of 46 billionaires under the age of 40.

One 138 people from 2014 list dropped out of the ranks altogether. Most notable of these is current Ukrainian President and former “chocolate king” Petro Poroshenko.

Meanwhile, Guatemala has a billionaire for the first time in Mario Lopez Estrada, who owns Comcel, which has about half of the mobile phone market in the country. He ranks as 1741 on the list.

1. Bill Gates
   Net Worth: $79.2 billion
   Source of wealth: Microsoft
   Carlos Slim Helu & family
   Net Worth: $77.1 billion
   Source of wealth: telecom
   3. Warren Buffett
   Net Worth: $72.7 billion
   Source of wealth: Berkshire Hathaway
   4. Amancio Ortega
   Net Worth: $64.5 billion
   Source of wealth: Zara
   5. Larry Ellison
   Net Worth: $54.3 billion
   Source of wealth: Oracle
   6. Charles Koch
   Net Worth: $42.9 billion
   Source of wealth: diversified
   6. David Koch
   Net Worth: $42.9 billion
   Source of wealth: diversified
   8. Christy Walton & family
   Net Worth: $41.7 billion
   Source of wealth: Wal-Mart
   9. Jim Walton
   Net Worth: $40.6 billion
   Source of wealth: Wal-Mart
   10. Liliane Bettencourt & family
   Net Worth: $40.1 billion
   Source of wealth: L’Oreal

Source Forbes magazine