New York, US: US tycoons are back on top with Microsoft founder Bill Gates again the world’s richest man in a year when even billionaires felt the heat of the global recession, Forbes magazine said Wednesday.

The wealthy few did not escape big shocks this year, with net worth on the list of 793 billionaires – down from 1,125 billionaires in 2008 – plummeting to US$2.4 trillion  from US$4.4 trillion, Forbes said.

The annual rich list put Gates back on top with a net worth of US$40 billion, although he saw his bank balance lose US$18 billion over the last 12 months. In second came investor Warren Buffett with US$37 billion, despite losing US$25 billion this year in the value of his Berkshire Hathaway shares.

Also losing US$25 billion, Mexican telecoms king Carlos Slim still managed to come in third with US$35 billion. The US surge sent billionaires from India, Russia and Turkey into retreat. US rich fill 10 of the 20 top spots and New York replaced Moscow as home to most billionaires, with 55 to 27. London comes in second with 28.

Russia, where wealth is closely tied to commodity prices, lost two thirds of its billionaires, down to 32. Two Indians appear in the top 20, but not one from Russia, which had four in the previous year’s list.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg was notable as the only top 20 member to see a net gain. That was not because of his salary, which is a symbolic dollar a year, but thanks to re-evaluation of Bloomberg financial news agency after the mayor bought a 20 percent stake from Merrill Lynch last year for US$4.5 billion dollars.

What goes up, comes down fast

Other developing countries that saw fast growth in previous years were hit hard as well, including Turkey, where the number of billionaires fell to 13 from 35, partly due to the collapse in the value of the lira currency, and India.

Indian businessman Anil Ambani, the biggest gainer on last year's list, was the biggest loser this time, with US$32 billion wiped out over the last 12 months. Ranked sixth last year, he fell to 34 with an estimated wealth of US$10.1 billion.

"India took a huge whack," Kroll said, noting that last year Indians held four of the top 10 spots and now only two, and the number of Indian billionaires more than halved to 24.

Of those who remained or returned to the list, 656 saw their net worth fall, 52 held even and only 44 managed to expand their wealth.

The only person in the top 20 who did not lose money was New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, whose net worth was revised up to US$16 billion from US$11.5 billion because of a revaluation of his media company, Bloomberg LP, Forbes said. He is now the richest man in New York, jumping from 65 in the world to 17.

Forbes Senior Editor Matthew Miller said that, in the current climate, those who lost only 20 percent of their wealth were doing relatively well; for example members of the Walton family which founded discount retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

"They lost US$5 billion each, but Wal-Mart stock hasn't completely fallen off the cliff like everything else," he said.

Another discount retailer riding out the storm was Japan's Tadashi Yanai. His firm Fast Retailing, known for its Uniqlo stores, helped push him from 296th last year to 76th and raised his net wealth to US$6 billion from US$3.6 billion.

Others who managed to get richer were investors George Soros and Ronald Perelman, as well as short-seller John Paulson, who has profited from the fall in financial stocks, and entertainer Oprah Winfrey who jumped to 234 from 462.

Among those conspicuous by their absence from the list was Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, one of last year's stars when he became the youngest self-made billionaire to make the list.

Also dropping out were big name casualties of the financial crisis on Wall Street - former American International Group Inc chief executive Maurice "Hank" Greenberg and former Citigroup Inc chief executive Sanford Weill.

Allen Stanford, the Texan accused of an US$8 billion fraud by U.S. regulators, was also booted off the list.

Crime, however, did not disqualify one notable new entry to the list - Mexican drug lord Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman, who is among the world's most wanted men and now worth US$1 billion.

"He is not available for interviews," Kroll said. "But his financial situation is doing quite well."

For further details on the Forbes billionaires list, go to www.forbes.com/billionaires

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