Once every year, Forbes does the legwork for you to compile the authoritative list of richest people in this world. In the newly published 2005 list, 691 billionaires share a total wealth of $2.2 trillion.
Take a look at the top 20 (below). A billion dollars is a lot (compared to MM's meager ambition to collect the first million bucks), but one will need $12 billion to make to page 1.
|
Rank |
Name |
Age |
Worth ($bil) |
|
1 |
William Gates III |
49 |
46.5 |
|
2 |
Warren Buffett |
74 |
44.0 |
|
3 |
Lakshmi Mittal |
54 |
25.0 |
|
4 |
Carlos Slim Helu |
65 |
23.8 |
|
5 |
Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud |
48 |
23.7 |
|
6 |
Ingvar Kamprad |
78 |
23.0 |
|
7 |
Paul Allen |
52 |
21.0 |
|
8 |
Karl Albrecht |
85 |
18.5 |
|
9 |
Lawrence Ellison |
60 |
18.4 |
|
10 |
S Robson Walton |
61 |
18.3 |
|
11 |
Jim Walton |
57 |
18.2 |
|
11 |
John Walton |
59 |
18.2 |
|
13 |
Alice Walton |
56 |
18.0 |
|
13 |
Helen Walton |
85 |
18.0 |
|
15 |
Kenneth Thomson & family |
81 |
17.9 |
|
16 |
Liliane Bettencourt |
82 |
17.2 |
|
17 |
Bernard Arnault |
56 |
17.0 |
|
18 |
Michael Dell |
40 |
16.0 |
|
19 |
Sheldon Adelson |
71 |
15.6 |
|
20 |
Theo Albrecht |
83 |
15.5 |
Bill Gates, my boss' boss's boss's boss's boss's boss, holds firm in his top spot. You might, too, imagine every one in the top 10 list is a familiar face, but if you compare this list with last year's top dogs (PFBlog coverage here), you will notice a few new names. Lakshmi Mittal, the 54-year old India steel tycoon, is world's No. 3 with a fortune of $25 billion. The Mexico telecommunication giant Carlos Slim Helu, with a wealth of $23.8 billion, settled for the fourth on the list.
The youngest in the top 10 list, Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud, is 48 this year. Barring any surprising change of fortune, in two years, the top-ten list will be fully occupied by people over 50. To some extent, this reminds us that the quest to be the richest man is partially a longevity game. Still young and want to make the list some day? Try Forbes' Do You Have What It Takes To Be A Billionaire? quiz. Full disclosure: out of a perfect 100, I scored 56. Admittedly, working toward a billion dollars is completely a different game from becoming a millionaire.
P.S. Please feel free to add your Billionaire-potential rating to the comments -- we will be proud of you when your name appears on Forbes' list :-)
