The new economy may have slumped but it failed to take Bill Gates down with it. The Microsoft founder remains the world's richest man, worth $58.7 billion, according to Forbes Magazine, as it published its annual list of the world's richest people.
Barons of the high-tech world who took the list by storm in recent years suffered serious setbacks with the bust of the new economy.
Prudent investor Warren Buffet supplanted Oracle founder Lawrence Ellison in the number two spot. Ellison, with $28 billion, sank to fourth place, his fortune significantly downsized from $58 billion last year.
Buffet's fortune was valued at $32.3 billion, edging out Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen's $30.4 billion nest egg in third place.
Masayoshi Son of Japan, the founder of Softbank, saw his fortune shrink from $76 billion last year to $5.6 billion this year.
Gates, 45, topped the list for the seventh consecutive year, losing just $4 billion over the year, Forbes reported. In its fifteenth edition, the list of the world's richest men and women counted 538 people whose combined income was more than $1.73 trillion, larger than the gross domestic product of France.
Eight of the top 10 fortunes belong to Americans; one is German - the Albrecht family that owns Aldi stores - and one belongs to Saudi Arabia's Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal. Inheritors of the US retail chain Wal-Mart fill slots seven through 10.
Fortunes made in media or leisure were the best represented, by 62 megabillionaires. Financiers were next (61) and 57 information technology wizards made the list despite Nasdaq's slide.
Just 37 women feature on the list of 500, with Wal-Mart heirs Alice and Helen Walton making the top 10. Outside the US, the world's richest woman is Johanna Quandt of Germany, a scion of BMW.
The Forbes list has been published every year since 1987, compiling data bases, stock market information, interviews and its own research.
