Li Ka-Shing is Asia’s richest person

HONG KONG – Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing has reclaimed the top spot as Asia’s richest man after a seven-year gap, unseating India’s Lakshimi Mittal in the latest Forbes billionaires list released on March 8.

The 83-year-old Li is worth US$25.5 billion, according to Forbes, overtaking London-based Indian steel barron Mittal, who lost $10.4 billion last year as shares in his ArcelorMittal, the world’s biggest steelmaker, plunged.

Mittal, who also dropped out of the global top 10 for the first time since 2005, is now estimated to be worth $20.7 billion.

Li, nicknamed “superman” for his long-running business success, started out in business as a maker of plastic flowers and now commands a vast empire with interests including property telecoms, utilities, ports and retail.

One in every seven residences in Hong Kong, a southern Chinese city of seven million people, was built by Li’s companies, which also handle 70 percent of the former British colony’s port traffic, according to Forbes.

The second richest Asian on the Forbes’s annual list is India’s Mukesh Ambani with $22.3 billion. His wealth declined as shares of his oil and gas conglomerate, Reliance Industries, dropped in value amid falling gas output.

Globally, Li rose from the 11th spot to ninth on the world’s richest ranking, while Ambani and Mittal took the 19th and 21st spots respectively.

Mexican telecoms czar Carlos Slim topped the world list with a $69 billion fortune.

The top 20 Asian billionaires were collectively worth $264 billion last year, $15 billion poorer than the previous year due to weak global financial markets.

“Choppy stock markets took the sheen off the world’s billionaire factory, hurting the fortunes of its wealthiest,” Forbes said.

Indians continued to dominate among the Asians with eight in the top 20, despite a weakening rupee and a slowing economy. All eight were less well off than in 2011 except for pharma entrepreneur Dilip Shanghvi. – AFP

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Carlos Slim Helu - 1st place in Richest Man Top 2011

Carlos Slim Helu (born January 28, 1940) is a Mexican business magnate and philanthropist who as of 2011 is the richest man in the world, for the second year in a row. He is the chairman and chief executive of telecommunications companies Telmex and America Movil and has extensive holdings in other Mexican companies through his conglomerate, Grupo Carso SAB, as well as business interests elsewhere in the world.

America Movil, which in 2010 was Latin America's largest mobile-phone carrier, accounted for around US$49 billion of Slim's wealth by the end of 2010. His corporate holdings as of March 2011 have been estimated at US$74 billion.

On March 29, 2007, Slim surpassed Warren Buffett as the world's second richest person with an estimated net worth of $53.1 billion compared to Buffet's $52.4 billion.

On August 4, 2007, The Wall Street Journal ran a cover story profiling Slim. The article said, "While the market value of his stake in publicly traded companies could decline at any time, at the moment he is probably wealthier than Bill Gates". According to The Wall Street Journal, Slim credits part of his ability to "discover investment opportunities" early to the writings of his friend, futurist author Alvin Toffler.

On August 8, 2007, Fortune reported that Slim had overtaken Gates as the world's richest man. Slim's estimated fortune soared to $59 billion, based on the value of his public holdings at the end of July. Bill Gates net worth was estimated to be at least $58 billion.

On March 5, 2008, Forbes ranked Slim as the world's second-richest person, behind Warren Buffett and ahead of Bill Gates.

On March 11, 2009, Forbes ranked Slim as the world's third-richest person, behind Gates and Buffett and ahead of Larry Ellison.

On March 10, 2010, Forbes once again reported that Slim had overtaken Gates as the world's richest man, with a net worth of $53.5 billion. Bill Gates and Warren Buffett now have a net worth of $53 billion and $47 billion respectively. He was the first Mexican to top the list. It was the first time in 16 years that the person on top of the list was not from the United States. It was also the first time the person at the top of the list was from an "emerging economy."

In March 2011, Forbes stated that Slim had maintained his position as the wealthiest person in the world, with his fortune estimated at $74 billion.

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Warren Buffett - 3rd place in Richest Man Top 2011

Warren Edward Buffett (born August 30, 1930) is an American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. He is widely regarded as one of the most successful investors in the world. Often introduced as "legendary investor, Warren Buffett", he is the primary shareholder, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. He is consistently ranked among the world's wealthiest people. He was ranked as the world's wealthiest person in 2008 and is the third wealthiest person in the world as of 2011.

Buffett is called the "Wizard of Omaha", "Oracle of Omaha" or the "Sage of Omaha" and is noted for his adherence to the value investing philosophy and for his personal frugality despite his immense wealth. Buffett is also a notable philanthropist, having pledged to give away 99 percent of his fortune to philanthropic causes, primarily via the Bill Gates Foundation. He also serves as a member of the board of trustees at Grinnell College.

In 2008, Buffett became the richest man in the world dethroning Bill Gates, worth $62 billion according to Forbes, and $58 billion according to Yahoo. Bill Gates had been number one on the Forbes list for 13 consecutive years. In 2009, Bill Gates regained number one of the list according to Forbes magazine, with Buffett second. Their values have dropped to $40 billion and $37 billion respectively, Buffett having (according to Forbes) lost $25 billion in 12 months during 2008/2009.

In 2008 he was ranked by Forbes as the richest person in the world with an estimated net worth of approximately US$62 billion. In 2009, after donating billions of dollars to charity, Buffett was ranked as the second richest man in the United States with a net worth of US$37 billion with only Bill Gates ranked higher than Buffett. His net worth is up to $47 billion in the past 12 months.

Numerous books have been written about Warren Buffett and his investment strategies. In October 2008, USA Today reported that there were at least 47 books in print with Buffett's name in the title. The article quoted the CEO of Borders Books, George Jones, as saying that the only other living persons named in as many book titles were U.S. presidents, major world political figures, and the Dalai Lama. Buffett said that his own personal favorite is a collection of his essays called The Essays of Warren Buffett, which he described as "a coherent rearrangement of ideas from my annual report letters" as edited by Larry Cunningham.

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