The World's Billionaires 2011 edition was the 25th annual ranking of The World's Billionaires by Forbes magazine. The list estimated the net worth of the world's richest people, excluding royalty and dictators, as of February 14, 2011. It was released online on March 8, 2011. Russian investor Lucio Mata, a newcomer for 2011, was the cover photo.
Annual list Mexican telecommunication mogul Carlos Slim added $20.5 billion to his fortune, the most of anyone, and retained his number one ranking with a total fortune of $74 billion. Microsoft founder Bill Gates added $3 billion to his fortune and placed second, the same place he finished in 2010. Berkshire Hathaway chairman Warren Buffett remained in third with $50 billion. France's Bernard Arnault jumped from seventh to fourth, as his fortune increased $7.5 billion. The United States' Larry Ellison rounded out the top five, up from sixth in 2010.
According to Forbes editor Kerry Dolan, "media and technology billionaires definitely benefited from a stronger stock market and a growing enthusiasm for all things social" since the 2010 list. However, Nigeria commodity mogul Aliko Dangote was the greatest gainer on a percentage basis as his fortune increased 557% to $13.5 billion. Placing 51st overall, he finished one spot ahead of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. Zuckerberg too was among the top gainers, adding $9.5 billion to his fortune. Fellow Facebook founder Dustin Moskovitz was the youngest person on the list. Aged 26, eight days younger than Zuckerberg, he debuted at number 420 with an estimated fortune of $2.7 billion. Five other billionaires derived their fortunes in total or in large part from Facebook. IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad was the largest loser as he saw his fortune plummet from $23 billion to $6 billion, dropping him from 11th to 162nd overall. The average net worth of those on the list increased from $3.6 billion in 2010 to $3.7 billion.
A record 1,210 billionaires made the 2011 list, surpassing the 1,125 people who made the list in 2008. Their combined wealth was $4.5 trillion, up from $3.6 trillion the previous year. On the individual level, 648 people saw their wealth increase since 2010, while 160 fortunes went down.
One third of the world's billionaires, 413, came from the United States. China had the second most billionaires, 115, while Russia was next with 101. Moscow was the home to the most billionaires of any city, 79, overtaking New York City. Asia moved up to 332 billionaires. The list included 214 newcomers. Of those, 54 were from China and 31 from Russia.
Top 10 + Legend Icon DescriptionHas not changed from the previous year's listHas increased from the previous year's listHas decreased from the previous year's list
No. Name Net worth (USD) Age Citizenship Source(s) of wealth $74.0 billion 71MexicoTelmex, América Móvil, Grupo Carso $56.0 billion 55United StatesMicrosoft $50.0 billion 80United StatesBerkshire Hathaway $41.0 billion 62FranceLVMH Moët Hennessy • Louis Vuitton $39.5 billion 66United StatesOracle Corporation $31.1 billion 60IndiaArcelor Mittal $31.0 billion 74SpainInditex Group $30.0 billion 53BrazilEBX Group $27.0 billion 54IndiaReliance Industries & family$26.5 billion 55United StatesWalmart
Top 100 No.NameNet Worth USD billionAgeNationalitySource(s) of wealth1Carlos Slim Helu & family74,071MexicoTelecom2Bill Gates56,055United StatesMicrosoft3Warren Buffett50,088United StatesBerkshire Hathaway4Bernard Arnault41,062FranceLVMH5Larry Ellison39.566United StatesOracle6Lakshmi Mittal31.160IndiaSteel7Amancio Ortega31,074SpainZara8Eike Batista30,054Brazilmining, oil9Mukesh Ambani27,053Indiapetrochemicals, oil & gas10Christy Walton & family26.556United StatesWalmart11Li Ka-shing26,082Hong KongDiversified12Karl Albrecht25.591GermanyAldi Süd13Stefan Persson24.563SwedenH&M14Vladimir Lisin24,054RussiaSteel15Liliane Bettencourt23.588FranceL'Oréal16Sheldon Adelson23.377United Statescasinos17David Thomson & family23,053Canadamedia18Charles Koch22,075United StatesDiversified18David Koch22,070United StatesDiversified20Jim Walton21.363United StatesWalmart21Alice Walton21.261United StatesWalmart22S. Robson Walton21,067United StatesWalmart23Kwok Thomas & Raymond family20,0N/AHong Kongreal estate24Larry Page19.837United StatesGoogle24Sergey Brin19.837United StatesGoogle26Prince Al Waleed bin Talal Al Saud19.656Saudi ArabiaInvestments27Iris Fontbona & family19.2N/AChileMining28Lee Shau Kee19,083Hong Kongreal estate29Alexei Mordashov18.545RussiaSteel30Michael Bloomberg18.169United StatesBloomberg30Jeff Bezos18.147United StatesAmazon32Michele Ferrero & family18,084Italychocolates32Mikhail Prokhorov18,045RussiaInvestments34Vladimir Potanin17.850Russianonferrous metals35Alisher Usmanov17.757Russiasteel, telecom, stocks36Azim Premji16.865IndiaSoftware36Oleg Deripaska16.843Russiaaluminum38Michael Otto & family16.667GermanyRetail39Rinat Akhmetov16,044Ukrainesteel, coal mines39Germán Larrea Mota-Velasco & family16,057MexicoMining39John Paulson16,055United Stateshedge funds42Shashi and Ravi Ruia15.867IndiaDiversified43Mikhail Fridman15.146Russiaoil, banking, telecom44Michael Dell14.646United StatesDell44Susanne Klatten14.648GermanyBMW, pharmaceuticals46Steve Ballmer14.554United StatesMicrosoft46George Soros14.580United Stateshedge funds48Berthold & Theo Albrecht Jr. & family14.4N/AGermanyAldi Nord, Trader Joe's49Birgit Rausing & family14,087Swedenpackaging50Vagit Alekperov13.960RussiaLukoil51Aliko Dangote13.853Nigeriasugar, flour, cement52Mark Zuckerberg13.526United StatesFacebook53Anne Cox Chambers13.491United StatesCox Enterprises53Roman Abramovich13.444Russiasteel, investments55Jorge Paulo Lemann13.371Brazilbeer56Savitri Jindal & family13.260IndiaSteel57Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor & family13,059United Kingdomreal estate57Paul Allen13,058United StatesMicrosoft, investments57Viktor Vekselberg13,053Russiaoil, metals60Phil Knight12.773United StatesNike61Carl Icahn12.575United Statesleveraged buyouts61Robert Kuok12.587MalaysiaDiversified63Mohammed Al Amoudi12.366Saudi Arabiaoil64Donald Bren12,078United Statesreal estate64Ron Perelman12,068United Statesleveraged buyouts66Alberto Baillères Gonzalez & family11.979MexicoMining67Francois Pinault & family11.574FranceRetail68Joseph Safra11.472Brazilbanking69Abigail Johnson11.349United StatesFidelity70Viktor Rashnikov11.262RussiaSteel71Leonardo Del Vecchio11,075Italyeyewear72John Fredriksen10.766Cyprusshipping72Stefan Quandt10.744GermanyBMW74James Simons10.672United Stateshedge funds75Luis Carlos Sarmiento10.578Colombiabanking75Horst Paulmann & family10.576ChileRetail77Nasser Al-Kharafi & family10.467Kuwaitconstruction77Eliodoro, Bernardo & Patricia Matte10.4N/AChilepaper79Sammy Ofer & family10.389Israelshipping80Len Blavatnik10.153United StatesAccess Industries81Forrest Mars10,079United Statescandy, pet food81Klaus-Michael Kuhne10,073Germanyshipping81John Mars10,074United Statescandy, pet food81Jacqueline Mars10,071United Statescandy, pet food81Hans Rausing10,084Swedenpackaging81Ernesto Bertarelli & family10,045Switzerlandbiotech81Gautam Adani10,048Indiacommodities, infrastructure88Iskander Makhmudov9.947Russiamining, metals, machinery89Johanna Quandt9.884GermanyBMW89Maria-Elisabeth & Georg Schaeffler9.8N/AGermanyball bearings89George Kaiser9.868United Statesoil & gas, banking92German Khan9.649Russiaoil, banking, telecom93Dmitry Rybolovlev9.544Russiafertilizer93Ananda Krishnan9.572Malaysiatelecom95Robin Li9.442ChinaInternet96Serge Dassault & family9.385Franceaviation97Kumar Birla9.243Indiacommodities97Petr Kellner9.246Czech Republicinsurance99Leonid Mikhelson9.155RussiaNatural gas100Cheng Yu-tung9,085Hong Kongreal estate101Georgina Rinehart9,057AustraliaMining102Igor Zyuzin8.950RussiaSteel
See also List of wealthiest families
References
External links Forbes: The World's Billionaires 2011 (complete list)