Billionaires

Stunney sieteuno at mediaone.net
Mon Jun 21 00:28:46 PDT 1999


World's billionaires club

grows

June 20, 1999

Web posted at: 6:03 PM EDT (2203 GMT)

NEW YORK (AP) -- A booming

stock market and newly created

Internet wealth have expanded the

world's billionaires club and pushed

the collective net worth of the richest

200 working people beyond $1

trillion, Forbes magazine says in its

latest ranking of billionaires around

the globe.

With $90 billion to his name,

Microsoft Corp. co-founder and

chairman Bill Gates tops the list of 465 billionaires counted in the magazine's

July 5 issue, the 13th annual World's Billionaires list.

Just as the Internet has sped up the pace of life today, hastening everything

from stock trading to travel planning, it also has accelerated the creation of

more wealth -- particularly among the richest individuals.

The magazine says the total wealth of the Top 200 working rich not only

surpassed $1 trillion this year, but their collective net worth is more than

double the $463 billion that the top 200 billionaires had 10 years ago. Also,

Gates alone has as much money as the top 9 on the list 10 years ago.

Forbes has a separate list for what it calls the "World's Working Rich," those

who made their own wealth or are working with their inheritance.

Gates remains by far the world's richest man as his net worth nearly doubled

from $51 billion last year, briefly touching $100 billion in April before the

stock market retrenched somewhat.

Microsoft boosted two others into top five ranking. Co-founder Paul Allen

was in the No. 3 spot, with a $30 billion net worth, behind investor Warren

Buffet's $36 billion. Microsoft president Steven Ballmer was in fourth place,

with $19.5 billion.

In fifth place were the Oeri, Hoffman and Sacher families of Switzerland with

$17 billion from the Roche pharmaceuticals conglomerate.

Tied for sixth place with a net worth of $16.5 billion were oil, rail and

telecommunications magnate Philip Anschutz and Dell Computer Corp.

chairman Michael Dell, who at 34 was the youngest among the top 10.

The top 10 list is actually a top 11, because the next four spots, eight

through 11, are held by members of the Walton family, heirs of the late

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. founder Sam Walton. Forbes estimated their wealth at

$16 billion each.

Dot-com billionaires from around the globe were catapulted onto this year's

list.

Jay Walker, founder of Priceline.com, and Pierre Omidyar, founder of eBay,

went from nowhere into the Top 50. Walker was No. 25 with a net worth of

$10.2 billion, while Omidyar was 36th with $10.1 billion.

In another list, Forbes ranked the estimated net worths of what it called the

world's "Kings, Queens and Dictators." Leading that category were the

Sultan of Brunei, with $30 billion in wealth, Saudi Arabia's King Fahd with

$28 billion, Iraq's President Saddam Hussein with $6 billion, Queen Beatrix

of the Netherlands with $5.2 billion and Syria's President Hafez Al-Assad

with $2 billion.

Britain's Queen Elizabeth has either $450 million or $16 billion, depending

on whether you count the Royal Collection, which includes the crown jewels

and is held by the Queen in trust for the nation.



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