"Forbes" magazine released the latest list of the world's richest people today. Warren Buffett's net worth soared by US$10 billion to US$62 billion due to the surge in the stock price of his Berkshire Hathaway holdings, surpassing Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates' US$58 billion to become the world's richest man.
, Gates has been the richest man for the past 13 years.
For a long time, the number 13 has been considered an unlucky number by superstitious people around the world.
This statement is fitting for Bill Gates, who ended his reign as the world's richest man this year after 13 consecutive years at the top of the world's richest list.
Although Gates' fortune is currently valued at $58 billion, $2 billion more than last year, he is now only the third richest person in the world, behind his friend and philanthropic partner Warren Buffett
His net worth soared by US$10 billion to US$62 billion, making him the richest man in the world.
(All stock prices and net asset values ??are as of February 11).
Ranked second is Mexican telecommunications magnate Carlos Slim Helú, whose wealth doubled in just two years to $60 billion.
There is no doubt that a new era has arrived.
But it's not just Gates' stature that's slipping.
The 22nd annual ranking of the World's Billionaires reflects all the major changes in the composition of the list.
Two years ago, half of the world's 20 richest people were from the United States; now there are only four.
India has won an absolute advantage, occupying 4 seats among the 10 richest people, ranking first among all countries.
The number of billionaires identified by Forbes has exceeded four digits for the first time, reaching 1,125.
The combined net worth of all billionaires is $4.4 trillion, an increase of $900 billion from the previous year.
Despite the turmoil in the U.S. market, U.S. billionaires still account for 42% of the world's total number of billionaires and 37% of total assets. These two proportions dropped by 2 and 3 percentage points respectively from the previous year.
Sixteen years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia has become the new second-ranked country with 87 billionaires, behind the United States and far ahead of Germany (59), which has held the second position for six years.
The ranking includes 226 new entrants.
There are 77 new faces from the United States, half of whom gained huge wealth through financing and investment, including John Paulson and Philip Falcone, who became rich by shorting subprime mortgages.
Another one-third of the new billionaires on the list are from Russia (35), China (28) and India (19).
The two most noteworthy newcomers are Patrice Motsepe from South Africa and Aliko Dangote from Nigeria, the first black Africans to join the world's richest list.
Dangote is also the first Nigerian billionaire.
This year, the number of young billionaires has also reached a record high. Forbes announced 50 billionaires under the age of 40, 25 of whom are new to the list.
68% of these giants under the age of 40 started from scratch and created billions of wealth, including Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, former Enron trading staff,
John Arnold who now runs a hedge fund, Sameer Gehlaut who founded online brokerage Indiabulls in India, and last but not least Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook.
At 23, Zuckerberg may be the youngest self-made billionaire in history.
Due to his young age and superior social skills, Zuckerberg may become the most talked about newcomer of the year, and this year's list has many attractive new entrepreneurs, covering all ages.
Among the higher profile names are China's Gao Dekang, one of the world's largest producers of down jackets and down vests; Portugal's Americo Amorim, who turned his grandfather's small cork workshop into the world's largest cork producer; and Brazil's
Eike Batista, before finding success in iron ore, made and then lost a gold mining fortune.
Now he is the world's richest mining billionaire.
Given all of the positive press about the past year and overall growth, it's easy to overlook the instability that's been taking a toll on these fortunes on a daily basis for months.
For example, in the 37 days from January 4 to February 11, Hong Kong's richest man Li Ka-shing's net worth fell by US$5.5 billion due to publicly traded stocks.
Meanwhile, the net worth of 26-year-old Yang Huiyan, the richest man in mainland China, fell to US$7.4 billion on the list from US$17.3 billion in September.
In the past year, Google co-founder Sergey Bure's assets reached US$25.5 billion, but now they have fallen to US$18.7 billion.