With $74.9 billion in net worth, Bill Gates is once again the richest person on planet Earth, according to Bloomberg. The news outlet’s latest list of the world’s richest people shows that the Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) founder displaced Mexican Telecom magnate Carlos Slim at the top of the richest 100 list.
The research shows that Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) founder Mark Zuckerberg is worth $24.5 billion. The tech luminary is still the youngest billionaire on the list, and that’s not all; Zuckerberg was also the biggest gainer since last December. The CEO of Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) more than doubled his wealth from December 2012 to September 30, the day the snapshot for the research was taken.
Bill Gates at the top
Bill Gates managed to retake the top spot after second-place Carlos Slim lost more than 10% of his fortune since last December. Slim’s worth comes in at around $65.5 billion in the Bloomberg report. North America had the greatest number of billionaires – the continent had 40 billionaires, including 37 in the United States.
Europe had 35 billionaires on September 30, while Asia had 18, Africa and Australia both had one, and 5 billionaires were based in South America.
Bill Gates has stepped back from his place at the top of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) in recent years, but he still sits at the head of the company’s board. A large amount of his wealth is still sitting in shares in the company, and its fortunes play a huge role in his net worth.
World’s richest people
Bloomberg calculated the level of wealth of the richest people in the world by taking a total of the assets they held during the period studied. The data estimates that the top 100 wealthiest people hold a total of about $2.1 trillion between them. The number has increased by more than 10%, or $200 billion, since the last study was done in December of 2012.
The youngest billionaire was Mark Zuckerberg at 29, the oldest was Karl Albrecht at 97. The Waltons, who benefit from the success of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT), are the biggest family of billionaires, with four members of the family in the list. The Kochs are one of the wealthiest families out there, with two members of the family in the top ten.
