Microsoft Founder Bill Gates became the Richest Person for the 16th time in 21 years when Forbes Magazine announced the annual ranking of global billionaires this year.
When Forbes Magazine declared its results for the annual ranking of global millionaires, the Gates family had all the reason to celebrate. The patriarch of the family Gates had topped the list for the second time in a row. In fact, this was not the only reason for Gates and family to pop the champagne. With these results, it is the 16th time that Microsoft founder Bill Gates has been crowned the world's richest person. Bill Gates has once again topped Forbes magazine's annual ranking of global billionaires in the last twenty one years.
According to the data that was revealed by Forbes, the net worth of the Microsoft Founder rose from $76bn to $79.2bn (£51bn) in the last one year. This happened after the philanthropist-entrepreneur unloaded one third of his remaining stake in Microsoft earlier last year. This unloading also included a gifting of shares worth $1.5bn to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation a few months ago in November 2014. Microsoft was founded way back in the 1970 and grew by leaps and bounds under the guidance of Gates. However, a few years ago, Gates announced his retirement from his life as a businessman to shift focus to his passion for philanthropy and charity.
He also runs a charity foundation with his wife known as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. This institution has been associated to several community welfare projects across the globe and is primarily aimed at improving the quality of life for people.
Gates lead the pack with Mexico telecommunications mogul Carlos Slim coming in on the second position. Carlos was a strong contender for the title as he had a net worth of $77.1bn. Investment expert Warren Buffett was third with a total worth of $72.7bn.
The 29th list was compiled after Forbes identified 1,826 billionaires for this year which was higher than the figure of 1,645 recorded last year. The combined worth was $7.05 trillion.
