Maybe they got there by working for it. Top dozen in order (Forbes):

Carlos Slim Helu- American Movil, Latin America's biggest mobile phone company.
Bill Gates- Microsoft.
Warren Buffet, American Hathaway and Burlington Northern Santa Fe.
Muskesh Ambani- petrochemicals, Reliance Industries.
Lakshmi Mittal- Arcelon Mittal, world's biggest steel maker.
Lawrence Ellison- founder, Oracle data base company.
Bernard Arnault- Vuitton, Moet et Chandon, Chinese real estate.
Eike Batista- Vale do Rio Doce Mining, gold.
Amancio Ortega- Inditex fashion concerns, 4500 stores in 73 countries.
Karl Albrecht- German supermarkets, 1000 stores in U. S., etc.
Ingvar Kamprad- Ikea
Christy Walton & family- She is no. 12; Wal-Mart and Sam's Club (Jim Walton is no. 15 on list, Alice Walton no. 16, S. R. Walton no. 18).
Top Saudi no. 19- Saudi, Four Seasons, Citigroup, Fairmont and other investments.
David Thompson- Top Canadian at no. 20, Reuters and other media.
Michael Bloomberg, mayor of NYC, is no. 23.

Sergei Brin and Larry Page of Google are climbing fast.


Soros and Oprah are pikers, way down the list somewhere.