FORBES BILLIONAIRE LISTS GETS

BIGGER AND BIGGER!

By Orla Conway and Corrie Bowes!

A NEW RECORD! This year Forbes has uncovered a record

1,426 billionaires. That is 200 more than we found in 2012, another record breaking year. It’s also nearly 10 times as many as Forbes pinned down in 1987, the year we began tracking fortunes around the world.

MONEY, MONEY, MONEY! The group is worth $5.4 trillion which is

a 17 per-cent jump from a year ago. The average net worth of a Forbes billionaire is $3.8 billion, $100 million more than a year ago. More than two-thirds of the world’s richest added to their fortunes. Only 259 from last year’s list are poorer than a year ago. Sixty dropped out of the ranks, including Zynga’s Mark Pincus and former Chesapeake Energy CEO Aubrey McClendon. Another eight passed away.

THE TOP 10 RICHEST PEOPLE

IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD:

According to Forbes Magazine

NO. 1: CARLOS SLIM HELU & FAMILY Net Worth: $73 billion Source: Telecom From: Mexico World's richest man for the fourth year in a row. Pan-Latin American mobile telecom outfit America Movil

remains his most valuable holding at $36.3 billion; the company spread its wings to Europe in the past year, buying pieces of Dutch telecom company KPN and Telekom Austria

Bought a majority of struggling Spanish soccer team Real Oviedo.

Latin America’s most generous person, his foundation pledged to translate into Spanish 1,000 videos from the Khan Academy education nonprofit website. Slim also hosted Bill Gates in late February; the two men announced they are funding research to improve farmers' yields and reduce hunger.

NO. 2: BILL GATES Net worth: $67 billion Source: Microsoft From: U.S.A

World's biggest philanthropist has given away $28 billion, the vast majority of it to his foundation, which is working to eradicate such diseases as polio and malaria.

Net worth is up by $6 billion vs. March 2012 due to gains in his investment portfolio. Holdings include tech hygiene firm Ecolab and Mexican Coke bottler FEMSA, both up more than 20% in the past year.

Microsoft stock --he owns about 5% of the company -- accounts for just 18% of his net worth.

NO. 3: AMANCIO ORTEGA Net worth: $57 billion Source: Zara(Clothes and Fashion Retailer) From: Spain Year’s biggest gainer: fortune up $19.5 billion Driving the jump is a more than 50% rise in value

of Inditex shares; Ortega, who stepped down as the firm’s chairman in 2011, still owns nearly 60% of the shares.

He also has real estate portfolio, estimated to be worth more than $4 billion, that includes iconic Torre Picasso, a 43-story skyscraper in Madrid (Google is a tenant), plus properties in Madrid, London, Chicago, San Francisco and New York.

NO. 4: WARREN BUFFETT Net worth: $53.5 billion Source: Berkshire Hathaway From: U.S.A.

Investors applaud his dealmaking savvy, and this year was no exception as he made a couple of notable moves: in February, announced a deal with Brazilian billionaire Jorge Paulo Lemann's 3G Capital to snap up iconic ketchup producer H.J. Heinz Co. for $23.2 billion; bought Oriental Trading in November 2012.

World’s second most generous person, he gave $1.5 billion to the Gates Foundation in July 2012, bringing his lifetime giving to nearly $17.3 billion. On his birthday in August 2012 Buffett pledged $3 billion of stock to his children's foundations.

NO. 5: LARRY ELLISON Net worth: $43 billion Source: Oracle From: U.S.A. Software mogul is $7 billion richer than a

year ago, thanks to more than 20% jump in the value of Oracle stock.

In June he bought 98% of Hawaiian island of Lanai from billionaire David Murdock for a reported $500 million.

Just recently bought Island Air, a Hawaiian airline. Purchase price was not disclosed.

Continues to buy property in Malibu.

NO. 6: CHARLES KOCH/ NO. 6: DAVID KOCH (TIE)Net worth: $34 billionSource: diversifiedFrom: U.S.A.

World’s richest siblings added $9 billion apiece to their fortunes over the past year.

They own a combined 84% of Koch Industries, country’s second largest private company with $115 billion in estimated sales, up 15% in the past year

Also got boost from improving operations at Georgia Pacific, maker of Angel Soft and Quilted Northern toilet paper, Brawny paper towels, and Dixie cups. Sold more than $1 billion worth of toilet paper in 2011.

David, who runs the chemical technology side of Koch Industries, is the richest New Yorker.

Things didn’t go so well on the political front as brothers failed in their quest to unseat Barack Obama from the White House ("Bitterly disappointing," he told Forbes in an interview after the election).

NO. 8: LI KA-SHING Net worth: $31 billion Source: diversified From: Hong Kong Once again Asia’s richest person and the only one from the

region among the world’s top 20 richest. His fortune jumped $5.5 billion to $31 billion, as shares of

his biggest holdings, Cheung Kong, Hutchison Whampoa and Husky Energy, all rose more than 10%. He also received 2012 dividends of $860 million.

Li's businesses employ 260,000 people around the world in 52 countries.

Li-controlled companies bought British gas supplier Wales & West Utilities for $1 billion in October; his third utilities acquisition in the U.K. in 24 months. He now supplies gas to a quarter of all Brits.

Investor in such tech outfits as Facebook, spotify, and social TV platform Stevie.

NO. 9: LILIANE BETTENCOURT Net worth: $30 billion Source: L’Oreal From: France Heiress to L’Oreal cosmetics fortune, there

was a more than 30% rise in the price of L’Oreal stock.

Now the world’s richest woman. ettencourt’s assets were placed under the

guardianship of her daughter in 2011 after a three-year legal battle. Bettencourt, widowed and age 90, suffers from dementia. Her grandson, Jean-Victor Meyers, took her spot on the L’Oreal board in February 2012.

NO. 10: BERNARD ARNAULT Net worth: $29 billion Source: LVMH From: France Forbes now values his direct stake in Christian

Dior, which in turn has a 41% stake in LVMH and trades at a near 20% discount to the underlying shares; previously we had valued the shares in LVMH.

LVMH shares rose more than 6%; U.S. sales grew at a faster rate than sales in Asia region in the fourth quarter

t was announced in October that he will be knighted for his services in the U.K.

THANK YOU FOR READING