Gates back on top of ‘Forbes’ billionaire list

The surging price of Microsoft shares returned US tech tycoon Bill Gates back to the top of Forbes’ world’s billionaires list, with his $76bn (€55bn) beating Mexico’s Carlos Slim’s $72bn.

The annual list counted 1,645 men and women as billionaires, with an average wealth of $4.5bn and a collective wealth of $6.4 trillion, up $1tn from a year ago.

Gates, co-founder of the US software firm, showed his staying power at the top — the world’s richest man for 15 of the past 20 years, according to Forbes — despite spending recent years giving away large sums of money to global health and anti-poverty programmes.