Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Chairman Warren Buffett beat out Bill Gates for the top spot on Forbes magazine's annual list of billionaires worldwide, ending a 13-year reign for Microsoft Corp.'s co-founder.
Buffett's wealth increased $10 billion to about $62 billion in the 12 months through Feb. 11, mostly from a gain in his company's shares, Forbes said in a statement released Wednesday.
''He is iconic, the greatest investor of our time,'' said Ken Murray, who runs Blue Planet Investment Management in Edinburgh, which oversees about $250 million in financial stocks. He doesn't hold Berkshire. ''The fantastic amount of wealth he has accumulated puts him up there with Carnegie and Morgan.''
The fortune of Gates, 52, rose $2 billion to $58 billion. The Microsoft chairman fell to third on the list behind Mexican telecommunications mogul Carlos Slim, 68, who has an estimated net worth of $60 billion.
Forbes list shows wealth expanding in emerging markets around the globe, with Russia overtaking Germany as the second-richest country in terms of billionaires, and 70 percent of newcomers from Russia, India, China and the U.S. In 2006, half of the top 20 billionaires came from the U.S. This year there were only four Americans.
Buffett, 77, is the biggest holder of Berkshire Hathaway's stock with about 32 percent of the Class A shares as of July and 18 percent of the Class B shares as of Dec. 31, according to Bloomberg data.
The company's Class A shares rose 28 percent in the 12 months ended Feb. 11. They now sell for $139,000 each, the most expensive on the New York Stock Exchange. The S&P 500 declined 6.9 percent in the period.
Berkshire shares rose 4,700 percent in the 20 years through the end of 2007, six times more than the Standard & Poor's 500 Index, dividends included.
''Warren Buffett is a great example of an extremely smart investor who has stayed loyal to his valuation discipline,'' said Simon Carter, who manages $3 billion at Aegon Asset Management in Edinburgh. ''By taking advantage of the markets' preoccupation with short-term issues during downturns, he has systematically reinvested his cash at very attractive rates of return over his entire career.''
Berkshire Hathaway has a market value of $215 billion, ranking it 10th among the 500 largest companies by that measure, according to Bloomberg data.
Gates in November donated $695 million worth of his Microsoft stake to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Shares of Microsoft, the world's largest software maker, of which Gates owned 9.2 percent as of November, declined 2.7 percent during the period covered by the list.
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Buffett's wealth increased $10 billion to about $62 billion in the 12 months through Feb. 11, mostly from a gain in his company's shares, Forbes said in a statement released Wednesday.
''He is iconic, the greatest investor of our time,'' said Ken Murray, who runs Blue Planet Investment Management in Edinburgh, which oversees about $250 million in financial stocks. He doesn't hold Berkshire. ''The fantastic amount of wealth he has accumulated puts him up there with Carnegie and Morgan.''
The fortune of Gates, 52, rose $2 billion to $58 billion. The Microsoft chairman fell to third on the list behind Mexican telecommunications mogul Carlos Slim, 68, who has an estimated net worth of $60 billion.
Forbes list shows wealth expanding in emerging markets around the globe, with Russia overtaking Germany as the second-richest country in terms of billionaires, and 70 percent of newcomers from Russia, India, China and the U.S. In 2006, half of the top 20 billionaires came from the U.S. This year there were only four Americans.
Buffett, 77, is the biggest holder of Berkshire Hathaway's stock with about 32 percent of the Class A shares as of July and 18 percent of the Class B shares as of Dec. 31, according to Bloomberg data.
The company's Class A shares rose 28 percent in the 12 months ended Feb. 11. They now sell for $139,000 each, the most expensive on the New York Stock Exchange. The S&P 500 declined 6.9 percent in the period.
Berkshire shares rose 4,700 percent in the 20 years through the end of 2007, six times more than the Standard & Poor's 500 Index, dividends included.
''Warren Buffett is a great example of an extremely smart investor who has stayed loyal to his valuation discipline,'' said Simon Carter, who manages $3 billion at Aegon Asset Management in Edinburgh. ''By taking advantage of the markets' preoccupation with short-term issues during downturns, he has systematically reinvested his cash at very attractive rates of return over his entire career.''
Berkshire Hathaway has a market value of $215 billion, ranking it 10th among the 500 largest companies by that measure, according to Bloomberg data.
Gates in November donated $695 million worth of his Microsoft stake to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Shares of Microsoft, the world's largest software maker, of which Gates owned 9.2 percent as of November, declined 2.7 percent during the period covered by the list.
Congratulations, Warren Buffett!
What is Warren Buffett's personal success then?
Click here to discover more about Warren Buffett's personal success
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