NEW YORK (DPA) – Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates on Monday topped Forbes magazine's list of the richest people in the world.
Gates, who has been in the top position 16 of the past 21 years, has a fortune estimated at 79.2 billion dollars. That's 3.2 billion dollars more than last year, Forbes said.
His net worth grew despite a gift in November of 1.5 billion dollars of shares in Microsoft to his charity, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Telecommunications magnet Carlos Slim of Mexico is in the second spot again while star US investor Warren Buffett was third.
The magazine, which has compiled the list for 29 years, said it found a record 1,826 billionaires in the world last year. There were 290 newcomers, including 71 from China.
The average net worth of people on the list is 3.86 billion dollars, which the magazine said is down 60 million dollars from the 2014 average.
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