Despite being retired and working actively to donate as much of his fortune as possible,
Bill Gates once again finds himself the wealthiest man in the world.
The Microsoft co-founder has topped Bloomberg's Billionaire Index with a $72.7bn total worth,
better than the $72.1bn of Mexican mobile carrier boss Carlos Slim.
Gates had yielded the top spot to Slim in 2010 after holding the title of world's wealthiest
for more than 15 years.
Bloomberg credits the jump to a combination of market factors.
Gates saw his fortune grow as Microsoft shares were up this year,
while Slim's America Movil stock has slipped following government rulings which could
help competitors take a larger share of the market.
Eighth on the wealth list was Oracle founder Larry Ellison,
while Larry Page and Sergey Brin of Google fame checked in at 18th and 19th.
It should be noted that Gates is working to give away a large portion of his wealth to charity.
Since retiring from Microsoft he has devoted himself full time to his foundation which both
donates and raises money for a variety of noble causes around the world.
Still, given his reputation as a businessman and competitor, you have to think a small part of
the man is reveling over once again being tops.
17 May 2013
