Bill Gates still the richest American

Bill Gates- richest man in America

Microsoft co-founder and chairman Bill Gates, 54, topped the annual list of Forbes magazine's 400 wealthiest Americans, with assets of approximately $54 billion.

Investor Warren Buffett, 80, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., placed second in the rankings with $45 billion in assets. The two billionaires occupied the same positions on last year's list.

Wealth increased for 217 members, while 85 saw their assets decline, down from 314 last year.

The overall wealth of the 400 members on the list increased by 8 percent to $1.37 trillion, still down from $1.57 trillion in 2008.

Mark Zuckerberg, 26, was 35^th on the list, with $6.9 billion, a remarkable 245 percent hike.

“Very few are at an all-time high, with the exception of how phenomenally well Facebook is doing,” said Luisa Kroll, global wealth editor for Forbes.

The list featured 16 newcomers, including Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz, who left the company two years ago. The youngest person to be included this year, his net worth is recorded at $1.4 billion, good for 290^th on the list.

The 95-year old philanthropist David Rockefeller Sr., who is the oldest member, was tied for 153^rd with $2.4 billion in assets.

Women featured prominently on the rankings, with Christy Walton and Alice Walton, owners of the Wal-Mart chain, at numbers 4 and 8 respectively. Another family member Jim Walton, ranked seventh with $20.1 billion while S. Robson Walton, ranked ninth with $19.7 billion.

Bloomberg owner and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg was tenth with $18 billion.

Posted by James Fried on Thursday September 23 2010, 8:47 AM EST. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, Finance. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0