Warren Buffett is now the world's richest person,
topping the just-released Forbes 2008 ranking of
global billionaires, with an estimated wealth of $62
billion.
He bumps Microsoft's Bill Gates from the number one
spot, a position Gates held for 13 consecutive years.
With help from Berkshire Hathaway's best year in
almost a decade, Forbes estimates Buffett's wealth
increased by $10 billion from the $52 billion that put
him in the number two slot of the magazine's list last
year.
It's the second year in a row Buffett's wealth has
jumped by $10 billion, even as begins to give away
lots of money to charities, notably the Gates
Foundation.
Gates falls to number three this year with $58
billion, behind Mexico's Carlos Slim, who is number
two with an estimated wealth of $60 billion. Forbes
says Gates would have been "as rich -- or richer --
than Buffett" if Microsoft's stock hadn't dropped
sharply after it unsolicited bid for Yahoo last month.
Last summer and fall, several publications, including
the Wall Street Journal and Fortune magazine called
Slim the "world's richest man" due to the soaring
value of Mexican stocks he holds, including Telefonos
de Mexico [TMX 34.0 --- UNCH ] and America
Movil [AMOV 59.26 --- UNCH ]. In October,
Forbes informally declared Slim and Gates to be in a
"virtual tie" for the title of World's Richest Person.
Mexican stocks, however, have faded in recent months,
giving Buffett an opening.
In my post yesterday (Tuesday) at about this time, I
asked: Will Warren Buffett Still Be the World's Second
Richest Person 24 Hours from Now? and showed this
chart, which has Berkshire (in blue) outperforming
both Microsoft (orange) and Telefonos de Mexico
(green) over the last twelve months.
To be totally honest, while I thought and wrote
yesterday that Buffett could give Gates and Slim a
good "run for their money," I expected the answer to
my headline question to be 'no' with Buffett falling
to third.
Instead, he's number one on the list that comes
closest to being the 'official' scorecard for the
super-rich.
That should give all the Buffett fans heading to Omaha
something to celebrate at Berkshire Hathaway's annual
"Woodstock for Capitalists" two months from now.
