Only billionaires accounted for on Forbes rich list

EARNING $1 million per hour, casino magnate Sheldon Adelson has shot to number three on the latest Forbes magazine American rich list, the first on which all 400 members were billionaires.

Their collective worth increased by $120 billion over the past year, to $1.25 trillion.

Microsoft founder Bill Gates kept his top spot on the Forbes list for the 13th straight year as his fortune grew to $53bn.

Number two on the list was star investor Warren Buffett of Berkshire.

Hathaway, who announced plans this year to give away 85% of his fortune, and whose wealth increased to $46bn.

In the billionaire-athon, casino mogul Sheldon Adelson pole-vaulted to number three from 15 in last year’s ranking, finishing behind the mainstays at one and two.

Mr Adelson is now estimated to have $20.5bn, Mr Buffett $46bn and Mr Gates $53bn. Mr Buffett has been number two every year since 1994 except 2000, when Larry Ellison of Oracle held that spot.

Mr Adelson’s expanding net worth is related in no small part to his decision to open a casino two years ago on the island of Macau, an emerging gambling haven off the south-eastern coast of China.

Profits are growing rapidly thanks to the Las Vegas Sands Corp’s Macau casino. Mr Adelson personally, and through family trusts, controls 70% of the company.

Forbes estimates Adelson earned about $1 million an hour over the past two years. In the second quarter alone, the Macau casino saw revenue jump to $310.4m up from $205.1m a year ago. To tap the demand from gamblers in Asia going forward, Adelson is planning a second property on Macau and a casino in Singapore.

The two Google founders were also big earners. Sergey Brin and Larry Page gained about $13m a day over the last two years, according to Forbes. That puts them in 12th and 13th place, up from a tie at 16th place last year.

Mr Page and Mr Brin also share the distinction of being, at 33 years-old, the two youngest people on the list and two of only eight who are younger than 40.

The list was led off by technologists, such as Mr Gates, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, Dell Inc’s Michael Dell and Mr Ellison, and rounded out by five members of the Walton clan who have fortunes amassed from sales by the world’s largest retailer.

Mr Ellison, with $19.5bn moved to fourth place from fifth, while Mr Allen, last year’s number three, was fifth this year with $16bn. Mr Dell fell to a tie at ninth place from fourth in last year’s list; he is worth $15.5bn. Mr Adelson’s ascension knocks Helen Walton, the wife of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton, into 11th place with a net worth of $15.3bn. Her children, Jim and Alice, and Christy Walton, the widow of her son John, ranked in the bottom half of the top 10 this year.

Martha Stewart, founder of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc, fell off the list completely, losing $395m over the past year.

The largest number of people on the list live in California, which houses 90 of the 400, and another 44 live in New York City.