Bill Gates tops Forbes' World's Richest People List for 13th time

According to Forbes, the personal wealth of the world's richest people is growing continuously. In the 2004 rankings, only 313 people had a fortune greater than US$1 billion, and this figure climbed to 374 in 2005. In the latest rankings, all the top 500 are billionaires.

Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft Corporation, retains first place with $53 billion, the thirteenth consecutive time he has taken out the title for the world's richest person. His business partner Paul Allen ranked 5th with $16 billion. Larry Ellison, Oracle's president and CEO, is in 4th place with $19.5 billion, followed by Michael Dell, founder and chairman of Dell Inc., in 9th place with $15.5 billion. Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin took out 12th and 13th places.

By People's Daily Online