Bill Gates loses richest man crown

Bill Gates is no longer the richest man on the planet. Investment guru Warren Buffett has knocked him off the number one spot for the first time in over a decade.

Gates has been at the top of the annual Forbes rich list for the past 13 years.

Buffett now has a personal fortune of about $62bn - ahead of Gates' cash pile of $58bn.

Gates was pushed into third place on the preposterously prosperous list because Mexican telecoms mogul Carlos Slim Helú has also jumped ahead of the Microsoft co-founder, with total wealth estimated at $60bn.

Despite his relegation to third place, Gates, who steps down as Redmond head honcho in June, still pulled in an eye-popping $2bn in the past 12 months alone.

Meanwhile, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is the youngest billionaire on the list.

He's already put an estimated $1.5bn into his piggy bank, even though the 23-year-old is yet to poke a profit out of his social networking website.

http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2008/03/06/bill_gates_forbes_rich_list/