Forbes 400: Bill Gates Tops Rich List With $59B
Microsoft co-founder, Bill Gates, has topped Forbe's magazine list of America's 400 wealthiest men and women for 2011.
Forbes reported that Bill Gates watched his earnings increase to $5 billion dollars since last year. His total net worth is reportedly $59 billion. Microsoft's chief executive officer Steve Balmer also made the list at No. 19 with $13.9 billion.
A wide range of more notable names made the list behind Gates. Although Berkshire Hathaway Inc. chief executive Warren Buffett's wealth shrank by $6 billion from a year ago, he still placed second with a net worth of $39 billion. Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle, came in at third place with a reported net worth of$33 billion. This is a $6 billion increase from his previous year's net worth.
Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg made the list at numbers 13 and 14, respectively. Bezos has a net worth of $19.1 billion while Zuckerberg comes in with $17.5 billion.
A big surprise on the list came in the form of pop star Lady Gaga knocking long time talk show host Oprah Winfrey off the Celebrity 100 List. Forbes says Gaga reached the top spot on the list because of the $90 million she earned on her recent tour. Also taken into consideration was her 32 million Facebook fans and 10 million Twitter followers that purchased a million digital downloads of her recent single "Born This Way" within a five day span.
George Soros, a Hungarian-American financier and businessman, made his very first entry into the Forbes list by ranking at number seven. His net worth is reported to be $22 billion.
Three family descendants of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton made it into the top 10 rankings of Forbes list.
Other names included American investor Paul Allen at number 23 with $13.2 billion and co-founder and chairman of Nike Phil Knight at number 24 with $13.1 billion.
