Gates, founder of Microsoft, was the richest person in the United States for the 17th year in a row with an estimated worth of $54 billion, up $4 billion from last year. |
Things are on the up for US billionaires with more than half of them adding to their net worth in a year which once again saw Bill Gates as the richest of them all, Forbes magazine said on Wednesday. Gates, founder of Microsoft, was the richest person in the United States for the 17th year in a row with an estimated worth of $54 billion, up $4 billion from last year. No. 2 on the list was investor Warren Buffett, worth $45 billion, up $5 billion. Oracle founder Larry Ellison's net worth was unchanged, in third place, at $27 billion. Christy Walton, heir to Walmart founder Sam Walton's fortune, was in fourth place with $24 billion, up $2.5 billion. In stark contrast to the 2009 Forbes 400 list, 217 of the tycoons are now worth more than they were a year ago. Just 84 of the billionaires had a decrease in wealth. In 2009 a whopping 314 members of the exclusive club had experienced a decrease in their wealth. The top 10 gained $24.9 billion. The same group had shed almost $40 billion last year. The total wealth of the group is up 8 percent, besting the Standard & Poor's 500 index, which measured a stock market increase of just 1 percent, Forbes said. The Forbes 400 are worth a combined $1.37 trillion, compared with $1.27 trillion last year. The price of admission to the list is back up to $1 billion from 2009 when $950 million was enough to make the top 400. There are no new entries or drop-offs in the top 10 but the list shuffled. The Koch brothers, heads of energy and manufacturing giant Koch Industries, now rank above three other members of the Walton family and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, founder of news and information company Bloomberg LP, who round out the top 10. Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, No. 35, saw the largest relative increase, more than tripling his fortune to $6.9 billion from $2 billion. Fellow Facebook co-founders Dustin Moskovitz and Eduardo Saverin join the list with fortunes of $1.4 billion and $1.15 billion, respectively. Born eight days after Zuckerberg, 26-year-old Moskovitz is the world's youngest billionaire. The oldest tycoon on the list is David Rockefeller Sr., 95, worth $2.4 billion. Media magnate Oprah Winfrey comes in at No. 130 and is one of 42 women on the list. Automobile heir William Ford Sr. made the list for the first time since 2005, at the 385th spot with $1 billion after Ford Motors Co's stock rose 50 percent and hit a 5-year-high. California is the state with the most billionaires -- 83 -- among them No. 332 Meg Whitman, worth $1.2 billion, the Republican candidate for governor of the state in November elections. The full Forbes 400 list can be seen at www.forbes.com/Forbes400. (Agencies) |
《福布斯》雜志周三稱,美國(guó)億萬(wàn)富翁們的財(cái)政情況正在好轉(zhuǎn),超過(guò)半數(shù)的富豪在過(guò)去一年中凈資產(chǎn)有所上升,而比爾?蓋茨則再次成為美國(guó)首富。 微軟公司創(chuàng)始人蓋茨以540億美元的資產(chǎn)總值連續(xù)第17年蟬聯(lián)美國(guó)首富,他的財(cái)富比去年增加了40億美元。 位居榜單第二的是投資大亨沃倫?巴菲特,其資產(chǎn)總值450億美元,比去年增加了50億美元。甲骨文公司創(chuàng)始人拉里?埃利森的凈資產(chǎn)未發(fā)生變化,為270億美元,位居第三。沃爾瑪公司創(chuàng)始人薩姆?沃爾頓的財(cái)富繼承人克里斯蒂?沃爾頓排名第四,資產(chǎn)總值240億美元,比去年增加了25億美元。 同2009年福布斯全美富豪400強(qiáng)榜單截然不同的是,今年有217位富豪的資產(chǎn)總值超過(guò)了去年,只有84位富豪的資產(chǎn)有所減少。 2009年的榜單中,這些富豪中有多達(dá)314位成員的財(cái)富有縮減。 今年榜單上前十位富豪的財(cái)富增長(zhǎng)了249億美元,而去年他們的財(cái)產(chǎn)縮水近400億美元。 《福布斯》稱,前十位富豪的總資產(chǎn)相比去年增長(zhǎng)了8%,遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)高出標(biāo)準(zhǔn)普爾500指數(shù)計(jì)算出的股票市場(chǎng)僅1%的增長(zhǎng)率。 福布斯全美富豪400強(qiáng)的資產(chǎn)總值達(dá)1.37萬(wàn)億美元,而去年為1.27萬(wàn)億美元。 上榜富豪的最低資產(chǎn)總值也回升到10億美元,而在2009年,擁有9.5億美元就足以進(jìn)入前400名。 榜單前十名雖然未出現(xiàn)新富豪,也沒(méi)有富豪跌出前十,但排列次序出現(xiàn)了變動(dòng)。能源和制造業(yè)巨頭科氏工業(yè)集團(tuán)老板科氏兄弟如今排在沃爾頓家族的另外三名成員和紐約市市長(zhǎng)邁克爾?彭博之前,作為新聞資訊公司彭博通訊社創(chuàng)始人,邁克爾?彭博目前位列第十。 社交網(wǎng)站Facebook的創(chuàng)始人馬克?扎克伯格排在富豪榜第35位,是上榜富豪中財(cái)富增長(zhǎng)最多的人,他的資產(chǎn)增長(zhǎng)了三倍多,從去年的20億美元增長(zhǎng)到69億美元。和他共同創(chuàng)建Facebook的達(dá)斯汀?莫斯科維茨和愛(ài)德華多?薩維林分別以14億美元和11.5億美元的身價(jià)上榜。26歲的莫斯科維茨比扎克伯格小8天,是世界上最年輕的億萬(wàn)富翁。 上榜富豪中年齡最大的是現(xiàn)年95歲的老大衛(wèi)?洛克菲勒,資產(chǎn)總值24億美元。 傳媒大亨奧普拉?溫弗瑞排在榜單第130位,是上榜的42位女富豪之一。 由于福特汽車公司股價(jià)上漲50%,創(chuàng)下五年來(lái)新高,福特汽車公司繼承人老威廉?福特自2005年來(lái)首次上榜,以10億美元的資產(chǎn)總值排在榜單第385位。 加州擁有83位富豪,是富豪最多的一個(gè)州————其中包括排名第332位的梅格?惠特曼。她的資產(chǎn)總值達(dá)12億美元,是11月參與州長(zhǎng)選舉的共和黨候選人。 福布斯全美富豪400強(qiáng)的完整榜單可以在www.forbes.com/Forbes400網(wǎng)站上看到。 相關(guān)閱讀 (中國(guó)日?qǐng)?bào)網(wǎng)英語(yǔ)點(diǎn)津 實(shí)習(xí)生強(qiáng)鳳華 編輯:陳丹妮) |
Vocabulary: whopping: very big(巨大的;很大的) best: to defeat or be more successful than somebody(打敗;勝過(guò)) shuffle: to move things into different positions or a different order(把……變換位置) round out: 完成 magnate: a person who is rich, powerful and successful, especially in business 權(quán)貴;要人;富豪;(尤指)產(chǎn)業(yè)大亨 |