Founders, Chief Executives of Technology Firms dominate Forbes list of the World’s Richest
The founders and chief executives of technology firms have once again dominated Forbe’s list of the World’s Richest accounting for six of the top 20 richest men in the world.
Bill Gates has been declared the richest man in the world for the 16th time in a span of 21 years by Forbes magazine’s annual ranking of global billionaires.
The Microsoft founder once again beat Mexican businessman Carlos Slim to the top spot. Mr Gates’ net worth rose by just over $3bn (£1.94bn) in the year to 13 February, to $79bn.
Carlos Slim Helu who owns a phone and construction firm in Mexico came in second. He is worth $77.1bn.
Larry Ellison, founder and CTO, Oracle data storage technology took the fifth position. He is worth $54.3bn
The first woman on the rich list is Christy Walton, the widow of John Walton, one of the heirs to the Wal-Mart retail empire. She has been declared the richest woman in the world for five of the last six years by Forbes.
Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg moves up five places in the rankings to number 16, with a net worth of $33.4bn. This is the first time he has been included in the list of the world’s 20 richest people.
The youngest billionaire in the world is 24 year-old Evan Spiegel, the co-founder of messaging app Snapchat, with a fortune of $1.5bn.
Silicon Valley has produced 23 new billionaires this year including co-founders of car-hailing service Uber, Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp, and their first employee, Ryan Graves.
Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of blood-testing firm Theranos, has debuted on the global list as the youngest self-made woman at age 31, with a fortune of $4.5bn.
