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Gates still world's richest man, but his lead narrows as Microsoft stock swoons |
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June 17, 2000
NEW YORK, (AP) - Even though his personal fortune shrank by a third this past year, the dlrs 60 billion bankroll of Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates is still the world's richest man, according to Forbes magazine's rankings.
The gap between Gates and his challengers is narrowing, however, thanks to the booms and busts of the high-tech world he helped create.
The world's billionaires' club expanded this year to 482 from 465, pushing the combined wealth of the richest 200 working people in the world upwards of dlrs 1.1 trillion - a dlrs 100 billion increase from 1999, the magazine reported Thursday. The rankings appear in the July 3 issue of Forbes, which reaches newsstands Friday.
The 14th annual list of the working rich ranks Oracle Corp. founder Larry Ellison as the world's second-richest man with dlrs 47 billion. Last year, Ellison ranked No. 30 on the list with dlrs 9.5 billion.
That's a much tighter margin between the top two spots - about dlrs 13 billion - than a year ago, when Gates' dlrs 90 billion personal fortune trumped No. 2 Warren Buffett's dlrs 36 billion. This year, Buffett fell to third place in a tie with Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen at dlrs 28 billion.
There was a three-way tie for the No. 5 spot: German retailers Theo and Karl Albrecht; Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud of Saudi Arabia, a global investor; and S. Robson Walton, whose family started Wal-Mart, at dlrs 20 billion each. Several other Walton heirs also are billionaires but are not included in the working rich list because they are no longer active in the business.
Japanese software magnate Masayoshi Son ranked No. 8 with dlrs 19.4 billion, well below his dlrs 68.5 billion peak reached in mid-February. The wealth figures were estimated on the basis of share prices and foreign exchange rates as of May 22, following Wall Street's sharp retreat from record heights.
In the case of fortunes from privately held businesses, Forbes estimated what the companies would be worth if they were publicly traded.
Michael Dell, founder of Dell Computer Corp., was No. 9 at dlrs 17.8 billion, followed by Canadian media magnate Kenneth Thomson of Thomson Corp. at No. 10 with dlrs 16.1 billion.
Five of the top 10 among the working rich are 47 years old or younger: Gates, Allen, Prince Alwaleed, Son and Dell. The highest-ranking working woman was American Abby Johnson of Fidelity Investments with dlrs 7.4 billion.
The magazine said stock market fluctuations were behind many of the changes in the rankings for the year 2000.
After flirting with dlrs 120 a share late last year, Microsoft dropped as low as dlrs 60 last month during the government's antitrust challenge. That stock swoon, combined with a 500 percent increase in the value of Oracle shares, occasionally pushed Ellison ahead of Gates during the spring, just on the basis of their holdings in their own companies. Gates, however, has extensive outside investments.
Microsoft's overall presence on the list has diminished as its stock tumbled. Chief executive Steve Ballmer, who last year ranked No. 4 with dlrs 19.5 billion, fell to No. 12 this year with dlrs 15.5 billion.
Other high-tech billionaires also felt the pinch of the selloff in technology shares.
After ranking No. 25 with dlrs 10.2 billion last year, Priceline.com founder Jay Walker did not crack the top-200 list this year, although he still is a billionaire.
Perhaps most dramatic: Japanese mobile phone mogul Yasumitsu Shigeta's fortune collapsed from dlrs 39 billion in February to dlrs 1.7 billion in late May, according to Forbes.
Forbes identifies the "World's Working Rich" as those who made their own fortune or are working with their inheritance. Their wealth also must be liquid, or easy to cash out.
In another list, Forbes ranked the estimated net worth of what it called the world's "Kings, Queens and Dictators." Leading that category were Saudi Arabia's King Fahd Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud with dlrs 30 billion, who is third in the overall standings, Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan of the United Arab Emirates with dlrs 23 billion, Kuwaiti Amir Jaber Al-Ah»Âzæº-*JÚb3'¼+sabah with dlrs 18 billion and Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei with dlrs 16 billion.
Iraq's President Saddam Hussein had dlrs 7 billion and Britain's Queen Elizabeth has dlrs 450 million according to Forbes - or dlrs 16 billion, if you also count the Royal Collection, which includes the crown jewels and is held by the Queen in trust for the nation.
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