According to Forbes Magazine’s The World’s Billionaires List 2008, the World’s Richest Man is magnanimous investor and Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett. His fortune is an estimated $62 billion, up $10 billion from last year.
#1. Warren Buffett
Age: 77Fortune: self madeSource: Berkshire HathawayNet Worth: $62.0 bilCountry Of Citizenship: United StatesIndustry: InvestmentsMarital Status: widowed, remarried, 3 children
Warren Buffet soared past friend and bridge partner Bill Gates as shares of Berkshire Hathaway climbed 25% since the middle of last July. Son of Nebraska politician delivered newspapers as a boy. Filed first tax return at age 13, claiming $35 deduction for bicycle. Studied under value investing guru Benjamin Graham at Columbia. Took over textile firm Berkshire Hathaway 1965. Today holding company invested in insurance (Geico, General Re), jewelry (Borsheim’s), utilities (MidAmerican Energy), food (Dairy Queen, See’s Candies). Also has noncontrolling stakes in Anheuser-Busch, Coca-Cola, Wells Fargo. Insurance operations flourished in 2007. Had long promised to give away his fortune posthumously. Irrevocably earmarked the majority of his Berkshire shares to charity in 2006, mostly to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Gift was valued at $31 billion on day of announcement; donation will far exceed that sum so long as Berkshire shares continue to rise.
#2. Carlos Slim Helu & family
Age: 68Fortune: self madeSource: telecomNet Worth: $60.0 bilCountry of Citizenship: MexicoIndustry: CommunicationsMarital Status: widowed, 6 children
Second-richest man in the world this year, thanks to strong Mexican equities market and the performance of his wireless telephone company, America Movil. The son of a Lebanese immigrant, Slim made his first fortune in 1990 when he bought fixed line operator Telefonos de Mexico (Telmex) in a privatization. In December, America Movil struck a deal with Yahoo to provide mobile Web services to 16 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. In recent years, he has donated close to $7 billion worth of cash and stock to fund education and health projects, and to the revitalization of Mexico City’s downtown historical district.
#3. William Gates III
Age: 52Fortune: self madeSource: MicrosoftNet Worth: $58.0 bilCountry of Citizenship: United StatesIndustry: SoftwareMarital Status: married, 3 children
Harvard dropout and Microsoft visionary is no longer the world’s richest man. Blame Yahoo: Microsoft shares have fallen 15% since the company boldly attempted to merge with the search engine giant to better fight Google for Internet dominance. Gates is preparing to give up day-to-day involvement in the company he co-founded 33 years ago to spend more time focused on his philanthropic endeavors. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has $38.7 billion in assets, donates to causes aimed at bringing financial tools to the poor, speeding up the development of vaccines (for AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis), bettering America’s lagging high schools. Sells 20 million Microsoft shares every quarter, proceeds going to private investment vehicle Cascade; more than half of net worth now outside of Microsoft.
#4. Lakshmi Mittal
Age: 57Fortune: inherited and growingSource: steelNet Worth: $45.0 bilCountry of Citizenship: IndiaIndustry: ManufacturingMarital Status: married, 2 children
Head of world’s largest steelmaker, $105 billion (sales) ArcelorMittal, which accounts for 10% of all crude steel production. Currently the company’s largest shareholder with 44% stake. Longtime resident of London.
#5. Mukesh Ambani
Age: 50Fortune: inherited and growingSource: petrochemicalsNet Worth: $43.0 bilCountry of Citizenship: IndiaIndustry: ManufacturingMarital Status: married, 3 children
Asia’s richest resident heads petrochemicals giant Reliance Industries, India’s most valuable company by market cap.
#6. Anil Ambani
Age: 48Fortune: inheritedSource: diversifiedNet Worth: $42.0 bilCountry of Citizenship: IndiaIndustry: DiversifiedMarital Status: married, 2 children
Currently closing the gap with estranged brother, Mukesh, who ranks one spot ahead of him. He recently raised $3 billion from the highly anticipated initial offering of his Reliance Power, the biggest in India’s history.
#7. Ingvar Kamprad & family
Age: 81Fortune: self madeSource: IkeaNet Worth: $31.0 bilCountry of Citizenship: SwedenIndustry: RetailingMarital Status: married, 4 children
Owns furniture retailer Ikea, with stores in 40 countries around the world.
#8. KP Singh
Age: 76Fortune: inherited and growingSource: real estateNet Worth: $30.0 bilCountry of Citizenship: IndiaIndustry: Real EstateMarital Status: married, 3 children
Now the world’s richest real estate baron after listing his real estate development company DLF in 2007 which helped triple his fortune to $30 billion in 2008, up from $10 billion.
#9 Oleg Deripaska
Age: 40Fortune: self madeSource: Russian AluminumNet Worth: $28.0 bilCountry of Citizenship: RussiaIndustry: DiversifiedMarital Status: married, 2 children
His holding company, Basic Element, now owns Russian Aluminum (United Company Rusal), automobile manufacturer GAZ, aircraft manufacturer Aviacor and insurance company Ingosstrakh.
#10. Karl Albrecht
Age: 88Fortune: self madeSource: AldiNet Worth: $27.0 bilCountry of Citizenship: GermanyIndustry: RetailingMarital Status: married, 2 children
Germany’s richest man, owner of discount supermarket giant Aldi which now has more than 8,000 stores and $67 billion in sales.
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