Bill Gates tops US rich-list as Trump plunges
Microsoft founder Bill Gates has retained his position as the richest person in the US for the 23rd year running.
The latest Forbes ranking of the richest Americans put the tech entreprenuer top with a net worth of $81bn (£62bn).
Meanwhile, US presidential hopeful Donald Trump took a hit, with his personal fortunre dropping around $800m, due to a decrease in New York real estate prices and new information about his holdings. Trump fell 35 spots to number 156 on the list. Trump’s presidential campagin has been damaged recently by claims he is refusing to reveal his tax returns because they’ll show he has less money than he claims.
Elsewhere, Warren Buffett surrenders the runner-up spot that he has held for 15 years to Amazon’s Jeff Bezos. Buffet’s rise of $3.5bn over the year, giving him a fortune of $65.5bn, was not enough to hold off the Amazon founder, who raked in a whopping $20bn to give him a net worth of $67bn.
It was a good year for tech founders, with Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, at number four with a fortune of $55.5bn, making it into the top 5 for the first time.
This year’s list includes more women than ever before with 50 appearing on the list, plus a further seven women who share fortunes with their husbands. The richest woman on the list is Alice Walton of Wal-Mart with $35.4bn.