“After 13 years on top, Bill Gates is no longer the richest man in the world. That honor now belongs to his friend and sometimes bridge partner Warren Buffett,” Forbes reports in their annual list of The World’s Richest Billionaires.
“Riding the surging price of Berkshire Hathaway stock, Buffett has seen his fortune swell to an estimated $62 billion, up $10 billion from a year ago,” Forbes reports.
“Gates is now worth $58 billion and is ranked third richest in the world. He is up $2 billion from a year ago, but would have been as rich–or richer–than Buffett, had Microsoft not made an unsolicited bid for Yahoo! at the beginning of February. Mexican telecom mogul Carlos Slim Helú now ranks as the world’s second richest person with a net worth of $60 billion,” Forbes reports.
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Note: Apple CEO Steve Jobs is ranked 189th with $5.4 billion. One question: Why is only Steve Jobs’ bio sensationalized with Forbes taking as many cheap shots as possible? Go ahead look at some of the other bios (even Gates’) and compare them with Forbes’ take on Jobs.
Forbes’ description of Jobs, riddled with inaccuracies (NBC had nothing to do with Apple TV 1.0’s success or failure, is the sale of nearly 1 million Apple TV units sold in the first 11 months really a flop? Etc.), reads as follows:
Hailed as the “igod” on magazine cover for advent of iPhone—slickest, most-hyped gadget ever. Black-clad digi-god suddenly a Dark Angel falling to earth. His creation sells a million units in 10 weeks at $600; instant $200 price cut riles disciples. Then gets a Tinseltown takedown when he tries to muscle Hollywood as he did music biz; NBC Universal pulls shows from iTunes. Result: iFlop for Apple TV. New novel “Options” by “FakeSteve” (a FORBES writer) depicts him as narcissistic jerk. Adopted by working-class couple, dropped out of Reed College, starts Apple in proverbial garage. Fired 1985. Best revenge: One year later he buys Pixar graphics startup from Star Wars creator George Lucas for $10 million. Sells it to Disney 20 years later for $7.4 billion—thanks to heavenly hit list (Toy Story, Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles). In interim had second coming at Apple 1996. Now Mickey’s largest individual holder. Never mind the setbacks. Still coolest tech superstar ever.
