Billionaires

It takes 31 years, 251 days, 7 hours, 46 minutes, and 39 seconds to count to 1 billion one second at a time. A billionaire is someone who has accomplished this momentous task by accumulating a billion or more of a currency often within a fraction of the time it would take to count it.

A billionaire, in countries that use the short scale number naming system, is a person who has a net worth of at least one billion units of a currency, usually the United States dollar, Euro, or Pound sterling. Forbes magazine updates a complete list of U.S. dollar billionaires around the world every year. There were 1,210 such people on its 2011 list.[1]
The 2010 Credit Suisse Research Institute in Global Wealth Report states that there are more than 1,000 billionaires globally, 500 are in North America, 245 in the Asia Pacific region and 230 in Europe.
Based on the Forbes report released on March 2011, there are 1,210 U.S. dollar billionaires worldwide, boasting a total worth of $4.5 trillion as of February 14, 2011. The United States had 413 billionaires with a total net worth of $1.5 trillion; Asia had 332 (nearly three times the number two years previously), 115 of whom were in the People's Republic of China); Europe had 300; and the rest of the world had 165. The oldest average age was the U.S. with 66.

Riding surging prices of his various telecom holdings, including giant mobile outfit America Movil, Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim Helu has beaten out Americans Bill Gates and Warren Buffett to become the wealthiest person on earth and nab the top spot on the 2010 Forbes list of the World's Billionaires

Mark Elliot Zuckerberg (born May 14, 1984) is an American computer programmer and Internet entrepreneur. He is best known as one of five co-founders of the social networking site Facebook. Zuckerberg is the chairman and chief executive of Facebook, Inc.

Born and raised in New York state, he took up writing software programs as a hobby in middle school, beginning with BASIC, with help from his father and a tutor (who called him a "prodigy"). In high school, he excelled in classic literature and fencing while studying at Phillips Exeter Academy.

He later attended Harvard University, majoring in computer science and psychology. In his sophomore year, he wrote a program called Facemash as a "fun" project, letting students on the college's network vote on other students' photo attractiveness. It was shut down within days, but would become a template for his writing Facebook, a program he launched from his dormitory room. With the help of friends, he took Facebook to other campuses nationwide and soon after moved to Palo Alto, California. By 2007, Zuckerberg was a billionaire at the age of 23. By 2010, Facebook had an estimated 500 million users worldwide. Zuckerberg has since been involved in various legal disputes initiated by others who have claimed a share of the company's profits due to their help in setting it up.

Since 2010, Zuckerberg has been named among the 100 wealthiest and most influential people in the world by Time magazine's Person of the Year. In 2010 a fictionalized account of Zuckerberg creating Facebook while in college and its later start-up phase was made into a movie dramatization, The Social Network

Rank Name Net Worth Age Source Country of Citizenship

41

Michael Dell

$15.9 B 47 Dell United States

41

Vladimir Lisin

$15.9 B 56 steel, transport Russia

41

Azim Premji

$15.9 B 67 software India

44

Steve Ballmer

$15.7 B 56 Microsoft United States

45

Alexey Mordashov

$15.3 B 47 steel, investments Russia

46

Vladimir Potanin

$14.5 B 51 metals Russia

47

Phil Knight

$14.4 B 74 Nike United States

48

Paul Allen

$14.2 B 59 Microsoft, investments United States

48

German Larrea Mota Velasco & family

$14.2 B 59 mining Mexico

50

Carl Icahn

$14 B 76 leveraged buyouts United States

50

Birgit Rausing & family

$14 B 88 packaging Sweden

52

Forrest Mars, Jr.

$13.8 B 81 candy United States

52

Jacqueline Mars

$13.8 B 73 candy United States

52

John Mars

$13.8 B 76 candy United States

52

Joseph Safra

$13.8 B 73 banking Brazil

56

Vagit Alekperov

$13.5 B 62 Lukoil Russia

57

Mikhail Fridman

$13.4 B 48 oil, banking, telecom Russia

58

Mikhail Prokhorov

$13.2 B 47 investments Russia

59

Susanne Klatten

$13 B 50 BMW, pharmaceuticals Germany

59

Francois Pinault & family

$13 B 76 retail France

61

Mohammed Al Amoudi

$12.5 B 67 oil, diversified Saudi Arabia

61

Anne Cox Chambers

$12.5 B 92 media United States

61

John Paulson

$12.5 B 56 hedge funds United States

64

Robert Kuok

$12.4 B 89 diversified Malaysia

64

Luis Carlos Sarmiento

$12.4 B 79 banking Colombia

64

Viktor Vekselberg

$12.4 B 55 oil, metals Russia

67

Antonio Ermirio de Moraes & family

$12.2 B 84 diversified Brazil

68

Roman Abramovich

$12.1 B 46 steel, investments Russia

69

Donald Bren

$12 B 80 real estate United States

69

Jorge Paulo Lemann

$12 B 73 beer Brazil

69

Ronald Perelman

$12 B 69 leveraged buyouts United States

72

Len Blavatnik

$11.9 B 55 diversified United States

72

Leonid Mikhelson

$11.9 B 57 gas, chemicals Russia

74

Leonardo Del Vecchio

$11.5 B 77 eyewear Italy

75

John Fredriksen

$11.3 B 67 shipping Cyprus

76

Aliko Dangote

$11.2 B 55 sugar, flour, cement Nigeria

76

Stefan Quandt

$11.2 B 46 BMW Germany

78

Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor & family

$11 B 60 real estate United Kingdom

78

Harold Hamm

$11 B 66 oil & gas United States

80

Savitri Jindal & family

$10.9 B 62 steel India

81

Andrey Melnichenko

$10.8 B 40 coal, fertilizers Russia

82

James Simons

$10.7 B 74 hedge funds United States

83

Ernesto Bertarelli & family

$10.6 B 47 biotech, investments Switzerland

84

Jack Taylor & family

$10.4 B 90 Enterprise Rent-A-Car United States

85

Abigail Johnson

$10.3 B 50 Fidelity United States

86

Robin Li

$10.2 B 43 Technology China

86

Eliodoro, Bernardo & Patricia Matte

$10.2 B - paper Chile

88

Ray Dalio

$10 B 63 hedge funds United States

88

George Kaiser

$10 B 70 oil & gas, banking United States

88

Johanna Quandt

$10 B 86 BMW Germany

88

Hans Rausing

$10 B 86 packaging Sweden

88

Tadashi Yanai & family

$10 B 63 retail Japan

93

Serge Dassault & family

$9.9 B 87 aviation France

93

Ananda Krishnan

$9.9 B 74 telecoms Malaysia

95

Klaus-Michael Kuhne

$9.8 B 75 shipping Germany

96

Pallonji Mistry

$9.7 B 83 construction Ireland

97

Alejandro Santo Domingo Davila

$9.5 B 35 beer Colombia

98

Horst Paulmann & family

$9.3 B 77 retail Chile

99

Gennady Timchenko

$9.1 B 59 oil & gas Russia

100

Laurene Powell Jobs & family

$9 B 48 Apple, Disney United States

100

David & Simon Reuben

$9 B 69 investments, real estate United Kingdom

100

Dmitry Rybolovlev

$9 B 45 fertilizer Russia

100

Harold Simmons

$9 B 81 investments United States

104

Oleg Deripaska

$8.8 B 44 aluminum, utilities Russia

105

German Khan

$8.5 B 51 oil, banking, telecom Russia

106

Steve Cohen

$8.3 B 56 hedge funds United States

106

Charles Ergen

$8.3 B 59 EchoStar United States

106

Lee Kun-Hee

$8.3 B 70 Samsung South Korea

106

Rupert Murdoch

$8.3 B 81 News Corp United States

110

Petr Kellner

$8.2 B 48 banking, insurance Czech Republic

110

Richard Kinder

$8.2 B 68 pipelines United States

110

Iskander Makhmudov

$8.2 B 48 mining, metals, machinery Russia

113

Liang Wengen

$8.1 B 55 manufacturing China

113

Sunil Mittal & family

$8.1 B 55 telecom India

113

Hansjorg Wyss

$8.1 B 77 medical devices Switzerland

116

Kumar Birla

$8 B 45 commodities India

116

Henry Sy & family

$8 B 88 diversified Philippines

118

Anil Ambani

$7.8 B 53 diversified India

118

August von Finck

$7.8 B 82 investments Germany

120

Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken

$7.7 B 58 Heineken Netherlands

121

Galen Weston & family

$7.6 B 71 retail Canada

122

Ralph Lauren

$7.5 B 73 Ralph Lauren United States

122

Alain & Gerard Wertheimer

$7.5 B - Chanel France

124

Dilip Shanghvi

$7.4 B 57 pharmaceuticals India

125

Ivan Glasenberg

$7.3 B 55 Commodities Australia

125

James Goodnight

$7.3 B 69 SAS Institute United States

127

Giorgio Armani

$7.2 B 78 fashion Italy

127

Hasso Plattner

$7.2 B 68 SAP Germany

127

Masayoshi Son

$7.2 B 55 Softbank Japan

127

Patrick Soon-Shiong

$7.2 B 60 pharmaceuticals United States

131

Leonard Lauder

$7.1 B 79 Estee Lauder United States

131

Samuel Newhouse, Jr.

$7.1 B 84 Conde Nast United States

133

Mohamed Bin Issa Al Jaber

$7 B 53 real estate, hotels Saudi Arabia

133

Philip Anschutz

$7 B 72 investments United States

133

Andrew Beal

$7 B 59 banks, real estate United States

133

Dhanin Chearavanont & family

$7 B 73 Food Thailand

133

Shashi & Ravi Ruia

$7 B 68 diversified India

138

Eric Schmidt

$6.9 B 57 Google United States

139

Nicky Oppenheimer & family

$6.8 B 67 diamonds South Africa

139

Miuccia Prada

$6.8 B 63 Prada Italy

141

Mikhail Gutseriev

$6.7 B 54 oil, real estate Russia

141

Alexei Kuzmichev

$6.7 B 50 oil, banking, telecom Russia

141

Pierre Omidyar

$6.7 B 45 Ebay United States

144

Curt Engelhorn

$6.6 B 86 pharmaceuticals Germany

144

Michael Kadoorie & family

$6.6 B 71 diversified Hong Kong

146

Leonid Fedun

$6.5 B 56 Lukoil Russia

146

R. Budi Hartono

$6.5 B 71 Banking, tobacco Indonesia

146

Antonia Johnson

$6.5 B 69 diversified Sweden

146

Suleiman Kerimov

$6.5 B 46 investments Russia

146

Joseph Lau

$6.5 B 61 real estate Hong Kong

146

Tsai Wan-tsai & family

$6.5 B 83 finance Taiwan

146

Zong Qinghou

$6.5 B 67 beverages China

153

Charles Butt

$6.4 B 74 supermarkets United States

153

Bidzina Ivanishvili

$6.4 B 56 investments Georgia

153

Donald Newhouse

$6.4 B 82 Conde Nast United States

153

Kushal Pal Singh

$6.4 B 81 real estate India

157

Eli Broad

$6.3 B 79 investments United States

157

Michael Hartono

$6.3 B 73 tobacco, banking Indonesia

157

Jim Kennedy

$6.3 B 64 media United States

157

Blair Parry-Okeden

$6.3 B 61 media United States

161

Chung Mong-Koo

$6.2 B 74 Hyundai South Korea

161

He Xiangjian

$6.2 B 70 appliances China

161

Hiroshi Mikitani

$6.2 B 47 online retailing Japan

161

Idan Ofer

$6.2 B 57 inherited Israel

161

Tsai Eng-Meng

$6.2 B 55 food Taiwan

166

Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen

$6 B 64 Lego Denmark

166

Paolo & Gianfelice Mario Rocca

$6 B - pipes Italy

166

Vladimir Yevtushenkov

$6 B 64 telecom Russia

169

Sulaiman Al Rajhi & family

$5.9 B 92 banking Saudi Arabia

169

Silvio Berlusconi & family

$5.9 B 76 media Italy

169

Kunio Busujima & family

$5.9 B 87 gaming Japan

169

Beny Steinmetz

$5.9 B 56 mining, diamonds, real estate Israel

173

Andrew Forrest

$5.8 B 50 Mining Australia

173

Hui Ka Yan

$5.8 B 54 real estate China

173

Edward Johnson, III.

$5.8 B 82 Fidelity United States

173

Liu Yongxing

$5.8 B 64 agribusiness China

173

Eyal Ofer

$5.8 B 62 inherited Israel

178

Graeme Hart

$5.7 B 57 investments New Zealand

178

Lui Che Woo

$5.7 B 82 gaming Hong Kong

178

Sergei Popov

$5.7 B 41 banking, coal Russia

178

Marcel Herrmann Telles

$5.7 B 62 beer Brazil

178

Wu Yajun & family

$5.7 B 48 real estate China

183

Viktor Rashnikov

$5.6 B 64 steel Russia

184

David Geffen

$5.5 B 69 movies, music United States

184

Terry Gou

$5.5 B 62 electronics Taiwan

184

Dietmar Hopp

$5.5 B 72 SAP Germany

184

Stephen Schwarzman

$5.5 B 65 investments United States

184

Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi

$5.5 B 68 Drinks Thailand

189

Alexander Abramov

$5.4 B 53 steel, mining Russia

189

Gautam Adani

$5.4 B 50 commodities, infrastructure India

189

Thomas Peterffy

$5.4 B 68 discount brokerage United States

189

Ira Rennert

$5.4 B 78 investments United States

193

Johann Graf

$5.3 B 65 gaming machines Austria

193

Jeffrey Hildebrand

$5.3 B 53 Oil United States

193

Dietrich Mateschitz

$5.3 B 68 Red Bull Austria

196

Lee Shin Cheng

$5.2 B 73 palm oil Malaysia

196

Carlos Alberto Sicupira

$5.2 B 64 beer Brazil

196

Reinhold Wurth

$5.2 B 77 fasteners Germany

199

Carlos and Alejandro Bulgheroni

$5.1 B - Energy Argentina

199

John Malone

$5.1 B 71 cable television United States

199

Ludwig Merckle

$5.1 B 47 pharmaceuticals Germany

199

Johann Rupert & family

$5.1 B 62 luxury goods South Africa

199

Nassef Sawiris

$5.1 B 51 construction Egypt

199

David Tepper

$5.1 B 55 hedge funds United States

205

Richard DeVos

$5 B 86 Amway United States

205

Ray Lee Hunt

$5 B 69 oil, real estate United States

205

James & Arthur Irving

$5 B - Diversified Canada

205

Karl-Heinz Kipp

$5 B 88 retail Germany

205

Richard LeFrak & family

$5 B 67 real estate United States

205

Shiv Nadar

$5 B 67 information technology India

205

Denis O'Brien

$5 B 54 telecom Ireland

205

Teh Hong Piow

$5 B 82 banking Malaysia

205

Olav Thon

$5 B 89 real estate Norway

205

Dennis Washington

$5 B 78 construction, mining United States

205

Yoovidhya Family

$5 B - Drinks Thailand

216

Jean-Claude Decaux & family

$4.9 B 74 advertising France

216

Sergei Galitsky

$4.9 B 45 retail Russia

216

Hank & Doug Meijer

$4.9 B - supermarkets United States

216

Gordon Moore

$4.9 B 83 Intel United States

216

Sam Zell

$4.9 B 71 real estate, private equity United States

221

Isak Andic & family

$4.8 B 59 Mango Spain

221

Robert Rowling

$4.8 B 59 investments United States

223

Micky Arison

$4.7 B 63 Carnival Cruises United States

223

Ma Huateng

$4.7 B 41 internet China

223

James Packer

$4.7 B 45 Gaming Australia

223

Juan Roig

$4.7 B 63 supermarkets Spain

223

Dieter Schnabel

$4.7 B 66 chemicals Germany

223

Karl Wlaschek

$4.7 B 95 retail Austria

223

Yang Huiyan

$4.7 B 31 real estate China

230

Charles Cadogan & family

$4.6 B 75 real estate United Kingdom

230

Richard Chandler

$4.6 B 53 Investments New Zealand

232

Michael Herz

$4.5 B 69 coffee Germany

232

Wolfgang Herz

$4.5 B 61 coffee Germany

232

Charles Johnson

$4.5 B 79 financial services United States

232

Bruce Kovner

$4.5 B 67 hedge funds United States

232

John Menard, Jr.

$4.5 B 72 Retail United States

232

Rosalia Mera

$4.5 B 68 Zara Spain

232

Xavier Niel

$4.5 B 45 internet, telecom France

232

Dorothea Steinbruch & family

$4.5 B - steel Brazil

232

Peter Woo & family

$4.5 B 66 real estate Hong Kong