Buffet replaces Bill to claim title of richest man

US investor and philanthropist Warren Buffett has taken the title of the world’s richest man away from his friend Bill Gates after 13 years, business magazine Forbes said.

For the first time, the Forbes’ 2008 list revealed 1,125 men and women made it in to the ultra-rich club which has a combined net worth of $4.4 trillion (€2.87tn), with two-thirds classified as self-made.

This year’s list includes a record 50 people under the age of 40. Six are Irish citizens, including a reclusive 78-year-old construction magnate who lives in Mumbai, India.

The list also features the world’s youngest dollar-billionaire, 23-year-old Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who ranked 785 with $1.5bn (€979m).

Microsoft founder Mr Gates, whose fortune rose to $58bn (€37.85bn), lost his spot to Mr Buffet after 13 years and missed out on second place to Mexican telecoms tycoon Carlos Slim Helu with $60bn (€39.15bn).

Co Fermanagh’s Sean Quinn, 61, is at 164 on the list, making him Ireland’s richest billionaire with an estimated fortune of €3.92bn ($6bn).

Five other Irish citizens appear on list, including Cork-born telecoms entrepreneur Denis O’Brien, who is at 553 with an estimated fortune of €1.44bn ($2.2bn).

Mr O’Brien, 55, is 124 places ahead of business rival and media empire owner Tony O’Reilly, 71, who is 677th with €1.17bn ($1.8bn). Last year he was 538th.

A surprise Irish entrant is a man named Pallonji Mistry, a reclusive construction and engineering magnate.

Mr Mistry, is ranked 203 with a personal fortune of €3.263bn ($5bn).

On last year’s Forbes list Mr Mistry was listed as an Indian citizen but on this year’s list he is described as an Irish citizen living in India.

His Forbes entry reads: “Recently became citizen of Ireland following wife and sons who are Irish citizens.”

Yesterday, the Department of Foreign Affairs said: “We cannot comment of the passport details of any Irish citizen.

“The person in question may have obtained post nuptial citizenship if they met the criteria.”

Non-nationals married to Irish citizens before November 30, 2002, can get citizenship after three years of marriage while anyone wed after this date has to go through the naturalisation process.

Other notables on the list include Harry Potter author JK Rowling, 42, who is Britain’s only woman on the list and is placed 1,062nd with $1bn (€653m).

The world’s richest woman, French citizen Liliane Bettencourt, aged 85, takes 17th place on the list with €14.9bn ($22.9bn) — a fortune built on the L’Oreal cosmetics empire.

www.forbes.com

Ireland’s megarich

By Paul Kelly

IRELAND has six tycoons — worth a collective €13.18 billion — on the Forbes’ 2008 list of the world’s 1,125 billionaires (last year’s position in brackets):

Seán Quinn, 61, and family are worth €3.92bn and are ranked 164th (177), making them Ireland’s biggest billionaires. Quinn’s empire spans construction, insurance, banking as well as Fermoy-based Quinn Healthcare.

Pallonji Mistry, 78, is worth €3.263bn and is ranked at 203 (137). An Irish citizen, Mistry lives in Mumbai (Bombay), India, and made his money from inheritance, construction and engineering.

John Dorrance III, 64, is worth €1.762bn and is at 428 (349). Heir to the Campbell’s soup fortune, he moved here from the USA in 1994.

Dermot Desmond, 58, is worth €1.63bn and is at 462 (557). Investor Desmond also owns a stake in Glasgow Celtic FC.

Denis O’Brien, 55, is worth €1.44bn and is at 553 (n/a). This is the telecoms entrepreneur’s first appearance in the Forbes list.

Tony O’Reilly, 71, is worth €1.17bn and is at 677 (538). Former Heinz boss, the worldwide newspaper magnate yesterday saw rival O’Brien buy yet more shares in his media group, Independent News and Media.