Forbes billionaires 2009

The World's Richest People -- Forbes Billionaires 2009

The richest people in the world have gotten poorer, just like the rest of us. Last year the world had 1,125 billionaires. Today there are 793. A mammoth 83% of those moguls saw their net worth shrink. Only 44 of them got richer. All considered, $2 trillion vanished.

Bill Gates lost $18 billion, but regained his title of the world's richest man. Warren Buffett, last year's richest, lost $25 billion and fell to second place. Mexican telecom titan Carlos Slim Helu lost $25 billion and fell to third. In sum, the 20 richest people on earth are worth $416 billion, more than a third less than last year's sum.

One member of the former billionaires club is 24-year-old Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg --once the youngest billionaire in the world, he must now settle with being simply a multi-millionaire. Zuckerberg lost at least $600 million out of a fortune estimated in 2008 at $1.5 billion.

World's richest not so rich

Microsoft Corp founder Bill Gates is the richest man again, overtaking investor Warren Buffett, as the global financial meltdown wiped out $2 trillion from the net worth of the world's billionaires, Forbes Magazine said on Wednesday.

The number of billionaires in the world fell by nearly a third to 793 in the past year, with large numbers dropping off the list in Russia, India and Turkey.

Bill Gates regained his title as the richest man in the world, with $40 billion after slipping to third last year when he was worth $58 billion. Warren Buffett, last year's richest man, fell to second place with $37 billion, down from $62 billion. Mexican telecommunications tycoon Carlos Slim took third place with $35 billion, down from $60 billion.

Collectively, the top three billionaires lost $68 billion in the year to February 13, when Forbes took a snapshot of wealth around the world to compile its annual list of billionaires.

For a complete ranking, bios of all the world's billionaires, and much more detail, visit www.forbes.com/billionaires.

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