Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is still the richest man in the world, according to Forbes magazine, which confirms the steady rise of the Internet giants.
William Henry Gates 3rd (61 years old) is first in the ranking for the fourth consecutive year and for the 18th of the last 22 years, with a personal fortune estimated at 86 billion dollars.
Gates, who embarked on the Microsoft adventure at the age of 19, dropping out of his second year at Harvard, now owns about 2,5% of the venture capital he co-founded in 1975 with Paul Allen.
Apart from the new Internet fortunes, the only one who has somewhat disrupted the hierarchy is the Frenchman Bernard Arno, president and CEO and founder of the LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moet Henessy) luxury goods group, which ranks 14th to 11th.
His fortune increased by 22% in one year, to $ 41,5 billion. She now leads her compatriot Lillian Betancourt, heir to the $ 39,5 billion cosmetics empire L'Oreal.
Second in the ranking is also a very close friend of Bill Gates, the American investor Warren Buffett, who follows him at a distance with a fortune estimated at $ 75,6 billion.
The financial guru who made a fortune as head of the holding company Berkshire Hathaway, took the place of the Spaniard Amanthios Ortega, founder of the textile company Inditex and the main brand of the group, Zara.
The 80-year-old businessman fell to fourth place, with a personal fortune estimated at $ 71,3 billion, just behind Jeff Bezos, president, CEO and founder of Internet giant Amazon.
The 53-year-old Bezos, with his shaved head and penetrating gaze, owns about 17% of the share capital of his group, which has not stopped successfully diversifying and now has a capitalization of over $ 400 billion.
Thanks to the euphoria of the New York Stock Exchange, as well as a very sustainable growth, Amazon saw its share price jump, increasing Jeff Bezos' personal fortune by 61% in just one year, to reach now $ 72,8 billion.
Another notable rise is that of Mark Zuckerberg, president and CEO and founder of Facebook, who at just 32 now heads a $ 56 billion fortune, placing him fifth in the rankings.
Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos and co-founders of another Internet giant, Google, Larry Page and Sergey Brin (both 43 years old) are the only ones in the top twenty under the age of 60.
The Greeks of Forbes
Three Greek names, those of Filippos Niarchos, Aristotelis Mystakidis and Spyros Latsis, with a total fortune of $ 6,5 billion, stand out among the richest people on the planet.
The richest Greek (814th place) is Filippos Niarchos, with a fortune of about 2,5 billion dollars. According to Forbes, Mr. Niarchos is one of the richest shipowners in the world, but also the owner of a very important collection of works of art (Van Gogh, Picasso, Warhol et al.).
The second richest Greek (973rd place) is Aristotelis Mystakidis with a fortune of 2,2 billion dollars. Mr. Mystakidis, with Greek and British citizenship, is a director and shareholder (3%) of the mining company Glencore.
In the 1.098th position of the richest people on the planet is also the name of the shipowner Spyros Latsis, who has, in addition to 12 large oil tankers and liquefied gas vessels, investments in the Swiss bank 'EFG International', the energy group 'Hellenic Petroleum' and 'Lamda Development' real estate development, investment and management company.
Source: news.in.gr