Bill Gates loses $7bn, but still richest in USA
The overall net worth of the Forbes's list of the 400 richest Americans fell by $300bn in the past year, with Microsoft stalwarts Bill Gates, Paul Allen and Steve Ballmer among the biggest losers.
The overall net worth of the Forbes's list of the 400 richest Americans fell by $300bn in the past year, with Microsoft stalwarts Bill Gates, Paul Allen and Steve Ballmer among the biggest losers.
Bill Gates lost the most, with his net worth dropping $7bn. However, Bill Gates is still at the top of the list for the 16th consecutive year with $50bn.
Paul Allen, at 17th position, lost $4.5bn and Steve Ballmer, at number 14, gave up $1.7bn.
It was revealed this week that Ballmer had taken a 5.5% pay cut in the past year. Steve Ballmer's bonus was slashed by $100,000, taking his annual income down to $1,276,627.
Other losers in the technology sector include Michael Dell, down $2.8bn at number 13, and SAS's James Goodnight, down $1.9bn at number 33.
Apple's Steve Jobs lost only $600m and his $5.1bn net worth shot him up the Forbes list 18 places to number 43.
| The 12 richest in the technology sector |
|---|
| 1) Bill Gates, Microsoft: $50bn, down $7bn |
| 3) Larry Ellison, Oracle: $27bn, no change |
| 11) Sergey Brin, Google: $15.3bn, down $600m |
| 11) Larry Page, Google: $15.3bn, down $500m |
| 13) Michael Dell, Dell: $14.5bn, down $2.8bn |
| 14) Steve Ballmer, Microsoft: $13.3bn, down $1.7bn |
| 17) Paul Allen, Microsoft: $11.5bn, down $4.5bn |
| 28) Jeff Bezos, Amazon: $8.8bn, up $100m |
| 33) James Goodnight, SAS Institute: $6.8bn, down $1.9bn |
| 40) Pierre Omidyar, eBay: $5.5bn, down $800m |
| 40) Eric Schmidt, Google: $5.5bn, down $400m |
| 43) Steve Jobs, Apple, Pixar: $5.1bn, down $600m |
