Gates Tops Forbes' Richest List; Google Founders Move Up
-Google Inc.'s (GOOG) mammoth initial public offering has netted its two co-founders an interesting side benefit: an entree into the upper echelons of Forbes magazine's list of the 400 richest Americans.
Bill Gates, Microsoft Corp.'s (MSFT) co-founder and chairman, was the wealthiest person in the U.S. for the 11th straight year with a net worth of $51 billion, followed again by Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRKA) Chairman and Chief Eecutive Warren Buffett's $40 billion, according to Forbes, which released its annual rankings Thursday.
Perhaps more noteworthy is the ascent of Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, who were ranked 16th by Forbes with $11 billion each, up from No. 43 last year when they each had a net worth of $4 billion.
Google went public last year, but the Internet search engine returned to the capital markets this month with a follow-up offering of shares that raised $4.18 billion. The company has earned $1 billion since going public.
According to Forbes, whose reporters assembled the list through a series of interviews and company filings with the Securities and Exchange Commisssion, Brin's and Page's post-IPO wealth is accruing at speeds faster than Gates' wealth after Microsoft went public.
Collectively, the top 10 richest Americans saw their collective net worth climb $125 billion, the magazine said. The poorest members of the list each had a net worth of $900 million.
Paul Allen, a childhood friend of Gates who co-founded Microsoft in 1975, was third wealthiest with $22.5 billion, while Dell Inc.'s (DELL) chief executive and co-founder Michael Dell was fourth with $18 billion and Lawrence Ellison, chief executive of Oracle Corp. (ORCL), was No. 5 with a net worth of $17 billion.
The rest of the top 10 were members of the Walton family, relatives of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) founder Sam Walton. Jim Walton and Christy Walton have $15.7 billion, while Forbes says S. Robson Walton has $15.6 billion. Alice Walton has $15.5 billion and Helen Walton has $15.4 billion.
Others on the Forbes 400 list to enjoy the fruits of high-tech and the Internet included Steven Ballmer, Microsoft's chief executive who was No. 11 with $14 billion, and Amazon.com Inc.'s (AMZN) Jeff Bezos who has $4.8 billion and ranked 42nd.
But a significant number of Forbes 400 members also found there is money to be made in sports. Twenty-seven members of the list are sports investors, including owners of basketball and U.S. football teams as well as an English soccer team.
For example, Allen owns the NBA's Portland Trail Blazers and the NFL's Seattle Seahawks. And Malcolm Glazer, who ranks No. 258 with $1.3 billion, gained fame in the U.S. but infamy in Britain this past spring after he bought a controlling stake in Manchester United, one of the world's best-known soccer teams.
比尔?盖茨继续雄踞《福布斯》富豪榜首
Google Inc. (GOOG)规模巨大的首次公开募股(IPO)为它的两位联合创始人带来了一个有趣的意外收获－跻身《福布斯》(Forbes)全美400富豪排行榜的前列。
据《福布斯》杂志周四公布的最新年度榜单，微软公司(Microsoft Corp.)联合创始人兼董事长比尔?盖茨(Bill Gates)以□资产510亿美元连续第十一年雄踞全美富豪排行榜榜首；Berkshire Hathaway Inc.)董事长兼首席执行长沃伦?巴菲特(Warren Buffett)以400亿美元再度紧随其后。
更加值得一提的或许是Google两位创始人Sergey Brin和 Larry Page排名的上升。两人以每人110亿美元净资产双双跃居排行榜的第十六位；两人去年的排名为第四十三位，净资产为每人40亿美元。
Google于去年上市，但这家互联网搜索引擎公司本月重返资本市场，通过后续发股融资41.8亿美元。自上市以来，该公司已赚得10亿美元。
《福布斯》杂志称，Brin和Page在Google上市后财富累积的速度快于微软上市后盖茨财富增长的速度。《福布斯》的记者通过采访和参考各家公司向美国证券交易委员会(Securities and Exchange Commisssion)递交的文件编制出榜单。
盖茨的儿时好友、1975年与他共同创建微软的Paul Allen以225亿美元的资产排名第三；戴尔公司(Dell Inc.)首席执行长兼联合创始人迈克尔?戴尔(Michael Dell)以180亿美元排名第四；甲骨文公司(Oracle Corp.)首席执行长Lawrence Ellison排名第五，净资产170亿美元。
