Bill Gates tops Forbes’ list of billionaires

Microsoft co-founder, Bill Gates, on Monday topped Forbes magazine’s list of richest people in the world.
Forbes said in the report that Gates, who had been in the 16th position in the past 21 years, had an estimated fortune of $79.2 billion.
It added that “that is 3.2 billion dollars more than last year’s.”
It noted that his net worth grew in spite of a gift in November of $1.5 billion of shares in Microsoft to his charity, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
“Telecommunications magnet, Carlos Slim of Mexico is in the second spot again, while star U.S. investor, Warren Buffett, is third.”
The magazine, which compiled the list for 29 years, said it found a record 1,826 billionaires in the world in 2014 and
290 were newcomers, including 71 from China.
The average net worth of people on the list is $3.86 billion, which the magazine says is down $60 million from the 2014 average.