Which people regularly make it onto the forbes list?
A billion dollars just doesn’t go as far as it used to. For the first time, it takes more than $1 billion earn a spot on Forbes magazine’s list of the 400 richest Americans. The minimum net worth for inclusion in this year’s rankings released Thursday was $1.3 billion, up $300 million from last year. The new threshold meant 82 of America’s billionaires didn’t make the cut. Collectively, the people who made the rankings released Thursday are worth $1.54 trillion, compared with $1.25 trillion last year. The very top of the list was unchanged: Microsoft Corp. founder Bill Gates led the list for the 14th straight year, this time with a net worth estimated at $59 billion. He was followed by Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. in second place with an estimated $52 billion and casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, No. 3 with an estimated worth of $28 billion. Larry Ellison of Oracle Corp. maintained his ranking at No. 4, with an estimated net worth of $26 billion. But the list showed some notab
A controversial list of the 100 most powerful women in the world has only two Britons on it. Of those one was the Queen – although even she has tumbled from 23rd position to 58th – and the other was architect Zaha Hadid, although she was actually born in Iraq. The intriguing list – which omits Harry Potter author J K Rowling – is the fifth of its kind to be published by US business magazine Forbes. Forbes’s choices include a handful of TV newsreaders unknown outside the United States, and the vast majority of its pick are either based in the US, or are Americans running companies in other parts of the world. There are only two Britons – but four Chinese women appear on the list, which is based on press exposure and economic clout, as well as three Frenchwomen and two Australians. German Chancellor Angela Merkel was chosen as the most powerful woman in the world for the third year running because of her efforts to streamline Europe’s biggest economy, increase the national retirement age
