Forbes lists Soeharto as billionaire with US$4b
Forbes lists Soeharto as billionaire with US$4b
NEW YORK (AP): Microsoft's chairman Bill Gates topped Forbes
magazine's rankings of the world's richest billionaires for the
fourth straight year, as his net worth jumped 40 percent from a
year ago to US$ 51 billion.
Forbes tightened the criteria for its rankings this year by
including only the "working rich."
Listed are billionaires who have built their own fortune or
are working with their inheritance rather than the silver-spoon
set that is living off its wealth, Forbes said in its July 6
issue, which was released yesterday.
One notable new member of this year's list was the family of
former Indonesian president Soeharto, whose 32 years in power
enabled him to amass stakes in about 3,200 Indonesian companies
and a family fortune of about $4 billion, Forbes said.
Soeharto became eligible after quitting under pressure last
month amid the economic crisis in Indonesia.
Other Indonesians included in the list are Eka Tjipta Widjaja
of the Sinar Mas Group with $4 billion, the Wonodjojo family of
the Gudang Garam Group with $2.1 billion and Liem Sioe Liong
(Sudono Salim) with $1.7 billion.
While fighting a government antitrust lawsuit against
Microsoft, the world's largest software company, Gates easily
fended off rivals to his billionaires' throne.
The combined riches of five people - the heirs of Wal-Mart
founder Sam Walton - still fell $3 billion short to rank No. 2
with $48 billion.
The wealthiest individual on the list behind Gates was sage
investor Warren Buffett, No. 3 at $33 billion. Rounding out the
top five were Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen at $21 billion and
Canada's Kenneth Thomson, head of publishing giant Thomson Corp.,
at $14.4 billion.
The new criteria dropped several billionaires from the list,
including the $15.3 billion Quandt family of Germany, a majority
shareholder of BMW who ranked No. 10 last year; L'Oreal's
founding Bettencourt family of France, worth $11.4 billion; and
sisters Barbara Cox Anthony and Anne Cox Chambers, $7.1 billion
heirs of the U.S. media company Cox Enterprises.
The 12th annual list, which excludes dictators and royalty, is
a companion to Forbes' oft-quoted rankings of the 400 richest
Americans, which is slated for its Oct. 12 issue.
If royalty were included among the top billionaires, the
Sultan of Brunei would have ranked third at $36 billion. The oil-
rich Sultan was richer than Gates until this year.
Asia's financial retreat reduced its representation among the
top 200 billionaires to 44 from 56 last year. American
billionaires on the list rose to 70 from 60, while Europeans
accounted for 52, up from 44.
Among business kingpins who made the list were media tycoon
Rupert Murdoch at $5.3 billion; British entrepreneur Richard
Branson at $1.9 billion; and Japanese real estate and
transportation mogul Yoshiaki Tsutsumi, once the world's richest
businessman, at $5.7 billion.
The average net worth of the top 200 billionaires was $4.7
billion, up from $3.9 billion in 1997.