Posted on: Friday, June 22, 2001

For 7th year, Gates tops Forbes' richest list

Bloomberg News Service

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates easily retained his No. 1 position on Forbes magazine's 15th annual list of the world's billionaires, with a net worth of $58.7 billion, down from last year's $60 billion. Associated Press

New York — Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates remains the wealthiest person in the world for the seventh year in a row, despite a drop in assets to $58 billion from $60 billion, according to Forbes magazine's annual list of the world's richest people.

Gates, who was worth $100 billion at one time, saw Microsoft shares fall 63 percent last year. Shares of the biggest software company are up 61 percent this year.

Investor Warren Buffett is Gates' closest competitor on the list. Buffett's $32.3 billion in assets pushed him up two spots from last year when he had assets of $28 billion, Forbes said.

Buffett, who is chairman and chief executive of investment company Berkshire Hathaway Inc., bumped Gates rival Larry Ellison to No. 4. Ellison is chairman and chief executive of software maker Oracle Corp.

Newspaper heiress Barbara Cox Anthony of Hawai'i was No. 21 with $11.7 billion. She was 18th last year.

Other technology billionaires weren't able to hang on to their spots. Softbank Corp. founder Masayoshi Son dropped to No. 55 from No. 8, and Dell Computer Corp. Chief Executive Michael Dell fell to No. 27 from No. 9.

Of the 538 billionaires Forbes said it located, 37, or 7 percent, are women. Alice Walton and Helen Walton, family members of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. founder Sam Walton, are the richest women, tied for the No. 10 spot with $18.5 billion in assets each.