What recession? Despite the moribund economy in the U.S. and abroad, virtually all of the wealthiest technology chieftains managed to increase their net worth to nose-bleed elevations last year, according to Forbes’ latest list of the world’s billionaires.
However, primarily due to his penchant for philanthropy, Microsoft’s Bill Gates was knocked from his familiar perch as the “world’s wealthiest man.” But don’t feel too bad for Gates: he’s now worth only an estimated $53 billion.
Executives from Google, Amazon, Dell and Apple did quite well for themselves, too. Oracle’s Larry Ellison checked in at No. 6 on the list with a net worth of $28 billion.
Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin checked in at $17.5 billion, each.
DevX takes a closer at look at this year’s list and how, despite the bad economy, the
average net worth of all billionaires was up $500 million in the last year.
Forbes released its annual list of the world’s billionaires Thursday, and technology companies are well represented, even though Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates is no longer the world’s richest person.
That honor now belongs to Mexican telecom mogul Carlos Slim Helu, who edged out Gates for the top spot by $500 million in net worth. Gates, worth $53 billion, slipped to number two.
Of the world’s top 100 billionaires, however, nine run information technology companies.
