World's Billionaires 2010

                                                     The Top 20 Billionaires in the World

1) Carlos Slim Helu
Net Worth: $53.5 billion
Source: Telecom
Residence: Mexico
• Telecom tycoon who pounced on privatization of Mexico's national telephone company in the 1990s becomes world's richest person for first time after coming in third place last year. Net worth up $18.5 billion in a year.
• Recently received regulatory approval to merge his fixed-line assets into American Movil, Latin America's biggest mobile phone company.
• His construction conglomerate, Impulsora del Desarrollo y el Empleo, builds roads and energy infrastructure.
• Son of a Lebanese immigrant also owns stakes in financial group Inbursa, Bronco Drilling, Independent News & Media, Saks and New York Times Co.
• Newspaper outfit's stock popped in early March on talk he might buy a controlling stake; he denies the rumor.
• Donating $65 million to fund a research project in genomic medicine with American billionaire philanthropist Eli Broad.
2) Bill Gates
Net Worth: $53 billion
Source: Microsoft
Residence: U.S.
• Software visionary is now the world's second-richest man. Net worth still up $13 billion in a year as Microsoft shares rose 50% in 12 months, value of investment vehicle Cascade swelled.
• More than 60% of fortune held outside Microsoft; investments include Four Seasons hotels, Televisa, Auto Nation.
• Stepped down from day-to-day duties at Microsoft in 2008 to focus on philanthropy.
• Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation dedicated to fighting hunger, improving education in America's high schools, developing vaccines against malaria, tuberculosis and AIDS.


3) Warren Buffett
Net Worth: $47 billion
Source: Investments
Residence: U.S.
• America's favorite investor up $10 billion in past 12 months on surging Berkshire Hathaway shares; says U.S. has survived economic "Pearl Harbor," but warns recovery will be slow.
• Shrewdly invested $5 billion in Goldman Sachs and $3 billion in General Electric amid 2008 market collapse.
• Recently acquired railroad giant Burlington Northern Santa Fe for $26 billion.
• "We've put a lot of money to work during the chaos of the last two years. When it's raining gold, reach for a bucket, not a thimble."
• Berkshire Hathaway book value was up 19.8% to $21.8 billion in 2009.
• Son of Nebraska stockbroker met value investor Benjamin Graham while studying economics at Columbia.
• Took over textile firm Berkshire Hathaway in 1965, used company as a vehicle to invest in insurance (Geico), food (Dairy Queen), utilities (MidAmerican Energy) and recently green tech (electric-car maker BYD).


4) Mukesh Ambani
Net Worth: $29 billion
Source: Petrochemicals, oil and gas
Residence: India
• Global ambitions: His Reliance Industries, already India's most valuable company, recently bid $2 billion for 65% stake in troubled Canadian oil sands outfit Value Creations.
• Firm's $14.5 billion offer to buy bankrupt petrochemicals maker LyondellBasell was rejected.
• Since September company has sold Treasury shares worth $2 billion to be used for acquisitions.
• Late father, Dhirubhai, founded Reliance and built it into a massive conglomerate. After he died, Mukesh and his brother, Anil, ran the family business together for a brief time. But siblings feuded over control; mother eventually brokered split of assets, with Mukesh getting oil, gas and petrochemicals businesses.
• Still at odds with Anil over gas supply agreement; awaiting Supreme Court's final ruling.
• Owns cricket team Mumbai Indians.

5) Lakshmi Mittal
Net Worth: $28.7 billion
Source: Steel
Residence: India
• London's richest resident oversees ArcelorMittal, world's largest steel maker. Net profits fell 75% in 2009.
• Mittal took 12% pay cut amid slump but improved outlook pushed stock up one-third in past year.
• Looking to expand in his native India; wants to build steel mills in Jharkhad and Orissa but has not received government approval.
• Started in family steel business in India in 1970s; branched out on his own in 1994.
• Initially bought up steel mills on the cheap in Eastern Europe.
• Earned $1.1 billion for selling his interest in a Kazakh refinery in December.
• Sits on the boards of Goldman Sachs, EADS.
• Upped stake in struggling British soccer team QPR in February.
• Funding 400-foot sculpture to be built in London's Olympic Park in time for 2012 Olympics.
• Owns 12-bedroom mansion in London's posh Kensington neighborhood.
• Daughter-in-law Megha recently bought insolvent German fashion house Escada.

6) Lawrence Ellison
Net Worth: $28 billion
Source: Oracle
Residence: U.S.
• Oracle founder's fortune continues to soar; shares up 70% in past 12 months.
• Database giant has bought 57 companies in the past five years.
• Completed $7.4 billion buyout of Sun Microsystems in January; acquired BEA Systems for $8.5 billion in 2008.
• Studied physics at U. of Chicago; didn't graduate.
• Started Oracle 1977; took public a day before Microsoft in 1986.
• Owns 52% stake in business-software company NetSuite; shares worth $480 million.
• Racing junkie owns 453-foot yacht Rising Sun with pal David Geffen. Won America's Cup in February, besting longtime rival billionaire Ernesto Bertarelli.

7) Bernard Arnault
Net Worth: $27.5 billion
Source: Luxury goods
Residence: France
• Bling is back, helping fashion icon grab title of richest European as shares of his luxury goods outfit LVMH--maker of Louis Vuitton, Moet & Chandon--surge 57%.
• LVMH is developing upscale Shanghai commercial property, L'Avenue Shanghai, with Macau billionaire Stanley Ho.
• Renaissance man owns French tour operator Go Voyages, yacht builder Royal Van Lent; has a stake in French retailer Carrefour.
• Built Le Cheval Blanc in ski resort town of Courchevel, France, where he likes to spend New Year's Eve.
• Father, Jean, who died in January, made small fortune in construction; sale of that business later helped fund Arnault's move into real estate and eventually into luxury goods.
• Still a family affair: son Antoine, 32, and daughter Delphine, 34, sit on LVMH's board.
• Wife is a concert pianist; Arnault himself reported to be an excellent piano player.

8) Eike Batista
Net Worth: $27 billion
Source: Mining, oil
Residence: Brazil
• Vowing to become world's richest man--and he may be on his way. This year's biggest gainer added $19.5 billion to his personal balance sheet.
• Son of Brazil's revered former mining minister who presided over mining giant Companhia Vale do Rio Doce got his start in gold trading and mining. Insists Dad didn't help: "All my businesses started from zero. My father was a problem for me because he never let me near Vale."
• Made a pile in resources and other services, but two-thirds of his fortune comes from relatively new source, OGX Petróleo e Gas Participações, the oil-and-gas exploration company he founded in 2007 and took public a year later.
• Police raided his home in 2008, alleging Batista smuggled gold and unfairly influenced the acquisition of a railroad. He denied all wrongdoing, emerged unscathed.
• Onetime champion offshore powerboat racer.
• Formerly married to Playboy cover girl.
• Provided financing to Rio de Janeiro's Olympic committee, helping the city win its bid for 2016 Olympic Games.

9) Amancio Ortega
Net Worth: $25 billion
Source: Fashion retail
Residence: Spain
• Style maven lords over Inditex; fashion firm, which operates under several brand names including Zara, Massimo Dutti and Stradivarius, has 4,500 stores in 73 countries including new spots in Mexico and Syria.
• Set up joint venture with Tata Group subsidiary to enter India in 2010.
• Betting on Florida real estate: bought Coral Gables office tower that is currently home to Bacardi USA.
• Also owns a luxury apartment complex in Miami; properties in Madrid, Paris, London and Lisbon, a horse-jumping circuit, an interest in a soccer league; has investments in gas, tourism and banks.
• Railway worker's son started as a gofer in a shirt store.
• With then-wife Rosalia Mera, also a billionaire, started making dressing gowns and lingerie in living room.
• Shuns neckties and fanfare.
• Daughter Marta works for Inditex; speculation has it she's being groomed to eventually replace her father.

10) Karl Albrecht
Net Worth: $23.5 billion
Source: Supermarkets
Residence: Germany
• Owns discount supermarket giant Aldi Sud, one of Germany's (and Europe's) dominant grocers.
• Has 1,000 stores in U.S. across 29 states.
• Estimated sales: $37 billion.
• Plans to open New York City store this year.
• With younger brother, Theo, transformed mother's corner grocery store into Aldi after World War II. Brothers split ownership in 1961; Karl took the stores in southern Germany, plus the rights to the brand in the U.K., Australia and the U.S. Theo got northern Germany and the rest of Europe.
• Retired from daily operations.
• Fiercely private: little known about him other than that he apparently raises orchids and plays golf.

Meet the new richest person in the world

Carlos Slim Helu takes No. 1 spot on Forbes World's Billionaires list as a record 164 10-figure titans return to the ranking amid the global economic recovery.
For the third time in three years, the world has a new richest man.
Riding surging prices of his various telecom holdings, including giant mobile outfit America Movil (AMX), Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim Helu has beaten out Americans Bill Gates and Warren Buffett to become the wealthiest person on earth and nab the top spot on the 2010 Forbes list of the World's Billionaires.
Slim's fortune has swelled to an estimated $53.5 billion, up $18.5 billion in 12 months. Shares of America Movil, of which Slim owns a $23 billion stake, were up 35% in a year.
That massive hoard of scratch puts him ahead of Microsoft (MSFT) cofounder Bill Gates, who had held the title of world's richest 14 of the past 15 years.
Gates, now worth $53 billion, is ranked second in the world. He is up $13 billion from a year ago as shares of Microsoft rose 50% in 12 months. Gates' holdings in his personal investment vehicle Cascade (CAE) also soared with the rest of the markets.
Buffett's fortune jumped $10 billion to $47 billion on rising shares of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK). He ranks third.
The Oracle of Omaha shrewdly invested $5 billion in Goldman Sachs (GS) and $3 billion in General Electric (GE) amid the 2008 market collapse. He also recently acquired railroad giant Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNI) for $26 billion.
In his annual shareholder letter Buffett wrote, "We've put a lot of money to work during the chaos of the last two years. When it's raining gold, reach for a bucket, not a thimble."
Many plutocrats did just that. Indeed, last year's wealth wasteland has become a billionaire bonanza. Most of the richest people on the planet have seen their fortunes soar in the past year.
This year the World's Billionaires have an average net worth of $3.5 billion, up $500 million in 12 months. The world has 1,011 10-figure titans, up from 793 a year ago but still shy of the record 1,125 in 2008. Of those billionaires on last year's list, only 12% saw their fortunes decline.
U.S. billionaires still dominate the ranks — but their grip is slipping. Americans account for 40% of the world's billionaires, down from 45% a year ago.
The U.S. commands 38% of the collective $3.6 trillion net worth of the world's richest, down from 44% a year ago.
Of the 97 new members of the list, only 16% are from the U.S. By contrast, Asia made big gains. The region added 104 moguls and now has just 14 fewer than Europe, thanks to several large public offerings and swelling stock markets.
The new billionaires include American Isaac Perlmutter, who flipped Marvel Entertainment (MVL) to Disney (DIS) for $4 billion last December. The Spider-Man mogul netted nearly $900 million in cash and 20 million shares of Disney in the transaction.
Also new to the ranking: 27 billionaires from China, including Li Shufu, whose automaker, Geely, announced plans to buy Swedish brand Volvo from Ford in December. The deal is expected to close in March 2010.
Finland and Pakistan both welcomed their first billionaires.
For the first time China (including Hong Kong) has the most billionaires outside the U.S. with 89.
Russia has 62 billionaires, 28 of them returnees who had fallen off last year's list amid a meltdown in commodities. Total returnees to the list this year: 164.
Eleven countries have at least double the number of billionaires they had a year ago, including China, India, Turkey and South Korea.
Thirty members of last year's list fell out of the billionaire's club. Moguls who couldn't make the cut: Iceland's Thor Bjorgolfsson, Russia's Boris Berezovsky and Saudi Arabia's Maan Al-Sanea.
Another 13 members of last year's list died. Among the deceased: real estate developer Melvin Simon and glass tycoon William Davidson.

Corey Haim Dies At 38

LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- Actor Corey Haim has died, Access Hollywood has confirmed.
The Los Angeles County Coroner's office confirmed the actor died at 2:15 AM on Wednesday at St. Joseph's Medical Center in Burbank, Calif.
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The Los Angeles Police Department said they received a call from the hospital before 4 AM confirming the actor's death.
He was transported from the home he shared with his mother, Judy, in Toluca Hills, Calif. to the hospital.
VIEW THE PHOTOS: Corey Haim Filmography
Ed Winter, LA County Coroner's Office Assistant Chief, told reporters that Haim's mother had called paramedics when her son collapsed in the early morning hours.
"This morning at about 1:30...Corey Haim's mom found him. He got up out of bed and had been feeling ill for the last couple of days. As he got out of bed, he felt a little weak and went down to the floor on his knees. He's had flu-like symptoms. She called paramedics. They responded and transported him to the hospital where he was pronounced [dead] at 2:15 this morning," Winter said.
Authorities found four prescription drug bottles inside the apartment he shared with his mother, but no illegal drugs, according to Winter.
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The Canadian-born actor first rose to fame in 1984's "Firstborn," where he starred with Teri Garr, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Robert Downey Jr.
In 1987, the actor the reached the peak of his career in the Joel Schumacher's "Lost Boys," where he hunted vampires with his friend and frequent co-star Corey Feldman. Some of his other box office hits included "Lucas," "License to Drive" and "Dream a Little Dream."
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Following his rise to fame, the actor battled drug and alcohol addiction, a dramatic weight gain, a slew of medical issues and was in and out of rehab numerous times.
In a 2004 interview with Britain's The Sun, the actor spoke candidly about the history of his drug use.
"I was working on 'Lost Boy's when I smoked my first joint," he told the British tabloid in 2004. "I did cocaine for about a year and a half, then it led to crack."
A stint in rehab led to an addiction of prescription meds, including stimulants and sedatives such as Valium, the actor claimed.
"I started on the downers which were a hell of a lot better than the uppers because I was a nervous wreck," he told the newspaper. "But one led to two, two led to four, four led to eight, until at the end it was about 85 a day."
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In 1997, the actor filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection with medical bill debt totalling more than $200,000.
He appeared again with Feldman in 2007 in the A&E reality show, "The Two Coreys," which was cancelled after two seasons. The same year he told Larry King in an interview on "Larry King Live" that he would be a "chronic relapser for the rest of my life."
The actor was poised for a comeback in 2008 when he took out a full-page ad in Variety, saying, "This is not a stunt, I'm back. I'm ready to work. I'm ready to make amends."
In 2009, he appeared with Jason Statham in "Crank: High Voltage."

Haim was 38.

Boy's 911 Call Thwarts Attacker

Authorities said Wednesday that they are "astounded" by the heroic actions of a 7-year-old boy who hid with his younger sister in a bathroom and called 911 while armed robbers broke into his home and threatened his parents.
"I'm still astounded by his mindset," Los Angeles County Sheriff's Sgt. Douglas Jensen said. "To be able to think about getting his sister, grabbing his phone, locking himself in a bathroom and calling 911. It shows so much."

         
The assailants held the parents at gunpoint Tuesday while the boy, identified only as Carlos, and his 6-year-old sister hid in a locked bathroom. Carlos told a dispatcher breathlessly that there was "some guy who's going to kill my mom and dad" and begged authorities to "bring cops. A lot of them! ... And bring soldiers, too."
Although he sounds frightened, he keeps his composure and explains what is happening.
"Come really fast, please, please," he said. "They come, they ring the door and they have guns."
About 90 seconds into the call, his sister starts screaming as someone apparently breaks into the bathroom. The line stays connected, and a distraught-sounding dispatcher can be heard telling colleagues what she'd heard.
Deputies were on scene within three minutes, but the assailants had escaped in a green or gray two-door compact car, Jensen said.
The assailants left without taking anything once they realized the boy had called 911, Jensen said.
Detectives were investigating why the family was targeted.