Despite Microsoft's relative decline in the tech world, its founder and former CEO has once again been declared the world's richest man. Bill Gates tops Forbes billionaire's list for the second year running.
Gates has now topped the poll for 16 of the 21 years of its existence. Mexican mobile phone magnate Carlos Slim held the title from 2010 to 2013, but was dethroned last year and must once again settle for second place. Gates' net worth rose by just more than $3 billion in the year to Feb. 13, to a staggering $79 billion.
Forbes reports that Bill Gates has actually sold one-third of his Microsoft shares in the past year, "a gift of shares worth $1.5 billion to The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in November 2014, which brought his lifetime giving up to $29.5 billion." If it wasn't for his generosity his bank balance could well be tipping $100 billion.
Gates, of course, no longer runs Microsoft and spends most of his time working on philanthropic issues with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Earlier this year Gates was overtaken by another former CEO, Steve Ballmer, as Microsoft's largest shareholder. Gates also stepped down as chairman of the Microsoft board in February 2014 and now has the title of technical adviser.
The only man other than Gates and Slim to ever top the list was legendary U.S. investor Warren Buffett in 2008. Buffet regained third place on the list this year with a net worth of $72.7 billion, taking it back from Amancio Ortega, the founder of Spanish fashion chain Zara.
Other big tech names making the list include: Oracle's Larry Ellison (5th), Amazon's Jeff Bezos (15th), Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg (16th), Google's Larry Page (19th) and Sergey Brin (20th), Alibaba's Jack Ma (33rd) and Microsoft's Steve Ballmer (35th).
There are a record 1,826 billionaires in the world, Forbes said, an increase of 181 in the past 12 months. The United States still dominates the list, contributing seven of the top ten. However, in what may be a sign of the times, 71 names, or 25 percent of the new billionaires, come from China -- that's 12 more than from the U.S. Arguably the most famous sports name on the list is Michael Jordan, billionaire #1,741, who's brand empire gives him a net worth of $1 billion.
