Oprah joins ranks of billionaires

Many of the world’s richest people saw their fortunes shrink again during the last year, but US chat show queen Oprah Winfrey’s grew enough to put her on Forbes magazine’s list of billionaires – the first black woman to join the ranks.

Bill Gates leads the list for the ninth straight year, but the Microsoft co-founder’s net worth fell 23% from a year ago to $40.7bn (€37.78bn).