Bill Gates is the richest person in the world again - Forbes

American billionaire Bill Gates has been ranked as the richest person in the world for a fourth consecutive year in a row and for the 18th time in the last 23 years, with a net worth of $86 billion up from $75 billion in the previous year, according to the latest Forbes list of the world's billionaires.


Gates, the philanthropic co-founder of Microsoft Corp is followed by Berkshire Hathaway Inc Chairman Warren Buffett, at $75.6 billion in No. 2 up from No. 5 a year ago, and Amazon.com Inc founder, Jeff Bezos, at $72.8 billion, ranked No. 3 overall and his highest ranking ever. Spanish clothing retailer Amancio Ortega is ranked No. 4 with a net worth of $71.3 billion, and Facebook’s founder, Mark Zuckerberg moved up to No. 5 for the first time with a net worth of $56 billion  after his fortune rose $11.4 billion in 12 months.

US president is ranked at No. 544 with a net worth of $US3.5 billion which is roughly a third of what he claimed during his election campaign for the US presidency, dropping more than 100 spots from last year.

The magazine's 31st annual list ranked a record 2043 billionaires in 2017, a record year for the richest people on earth, as the number of billionaires jumped 13% from 1,810 last year with 233, making it the first time ever that Forbes has listed out more than 2,000 ten-figure-fortunes. 

Meanwhile former world's richest man, Carlos Slim Helu from Mexico, fell to number six, the first time he’s been out of the top five in more than 12 years.

Facts about the new list 
- The new ranking saw 195 newcomers. 
- Mainland China had the most new ten-figure fortunes with 76 and the U.S. was second with 25.
- Notable newcomers include Patagonia sportswear founder Yvon Chouinard; Viking Cruises founder Torstein Hagen of Norway; U.S. hedge fund tycoon Cliff Asness and two of his partners; and John and Patrick Collison, Irish citizens who co-founded San Francisco-based Stripe, which enables online payments. 
- John Collison, age 26, is now the world’s youngest self-made billionaire, just two months younger than Snapchat’s Evan Spiegel. 
- The Collisons are two of just four self-made billionaires in their 20s (the other two are the Snapchat cofounders). 
- There are 56 billionaires under age 40, down from 66 last year, after some aged out and others dropped below the $1 billion mark.
- There are 15 new self-made women, all but one of whom are from Asia Pacific. That includes 10 from China and the first ever from Vietnam, Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao, who took her budget airline, VietJet Air, public in February 2017. 
- The sole American self-made woman newcomer is Thai Lee, who was born in Thailand but moved to the U.S. as a child and now runs tech reseller SHI, reportedly the nation’s largest woman-owned business by sales. 
-There are 227 women on list, including 10 who cofounded or own businesses with a spouse or a brother and thus share the fortune.
- The U.S. continues to have more billionaires than any other nation, with a record 565, up from 540 a year ago. 
- China is catching up with 319. (Hong Kong has another 67, and Macau 1.) 
- Germany has the third most with 114 and India, with 101, the first time it has had more than 100, is fourth.

- Seventy-eight people fell off the list, including 33 from China, 7 Americans and 9 who are still super wealthy but share their wealth among extended family members and therefore are not eligible for these ranks. 
- 20 billionaires died in the past year, including Enterprise car rental founder Jack Taylor and Michael Ilitch, who launched Little Caesar’s pizza with his wife, Marian.

Click here to view full list. 
Source: Forbes.com