Bill Gates is 2009 World’s Richest Man

After losing his title to Warren Buffet in 2008, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has now regained back his title as the world’s richest man.

In the latest ranking produced by Forbes, Gates disposed off Buffet into 2nd place, with Mexican billionaire, Carlos Slim Helu trailing in third. Last year, Helu was 2nd behind Buffet and ahead of Gates.

The top three are occupied by the same people, albeit with changes in positions.

Lawrence (or Larry) Ellison, co-founder and CEO of Oracle Corporation, climbed up 10th place from 14th to 4th place, helped by aggressive series of mergers and acquisition made by the company in the last couple of years.

IKEA icon, Ingvar Kamprad jumped from 7th place to 5th. Kamprad founded IKEA more than 50 years ago, whose store name bears the initials of his first and last name. IKEA now can be found literally in any country worldwide.

If the year 2008 saw four Indian nationals made it to the top ten ranking, only 2 remain this year – Mukesh Ambani and Lakshmi Mittal.

In general, the billionaires featured in the top-ten list collectively suffered losses in their net worth, which would not come as a major surprise amid the deteriorating global economy. In addition, this time around, there are only 793 billionaires around the world as compared to last year which stood at 1,125 people.

Other posts you may want to read:

1. 10 World’s Richest Men (2009)
2. The World’s Richest Men 2008 (1-10)
3. Ananda & Kuok Richest Men in Malaysia
4. 100 Richest Men in the World 2008
5. Infosys Buys British IT Firm Axon

Author's bio: Zul is the founder and principal contributor for the SKOR Career blog. He is the author of two books, The Malaysian Job Seeker's Dilemma and Buat Duit Tanpa Kerja Makan Gaji (How to Make Money Without a Job), available in major book stores nationwide. You can reach him at zulkiflimusa[at]gmail.com.