Forbes Rich List

Below was picked from the star dated 22.9.2007 (Saturday). Congra to Gates whom came in first for the 14th consecutive year with net worth of US$59bil, ahead of US$52bil held by his friend Warren Buffet, 77, chairman and chief executive officer of Berkshire harthway Inc. Congra!

Hedge fund managers make Forbes rich list

SAN FRANCISCO: Hedge fund and private equity managers made up more than half the newest members to the Forbes magazine's 400 richest Americans list that was again topped by Microsoft Corp co-founder Bill Gates.

Gates, 51, came in first for the 14th consecutive year with a net worth of US$59bil, ahead of the US$52bil held by his friend Warren Buffett, 77, chairman and chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

Steven Cohen of SAC Capital Advisors LLC was the richest hedge fund manager with US$6.8bil, and was ranked 47th overall.

The cost of joining the 25th annual Forbes 400 list increased in 2007. Those in the bottom positions had a net worth of US$1.3bil, up US$300mil from last year when all the members were billionaires for the first time.

Filling in the top five were Sheldon Adelson, 74, chief executive officer of Las Vegas Sands Corp, with US$28bil; Oracle Corp CEO Larry Ellison, 63, with US$26bil and Google Inc co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, each with US$18bil.

Brin and Page, both 34, replaced Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, who dropped to No. 11 with US$16.8bil.

Kirk Kerkorian, 90, joined the top 10 at No. 7 from No. 26 with US$18bil, along with Dell Inc founder Michael Dell, 42, with US$17.2bil in eighth place. Brothers Charles Koch, 71, and David Koch, 67, who profited from oil and commodity investments through Koch Industries Inc to amass their US$17bil fortunes, were tied in ninth place.

The subprime mortgage crisis this year – which shook debt, credit and stock markets globally – did not keep several hedge fund and private equity managers from joining the list, which consisted of 45 new names.

TPG Inc's David Bonderman and James Coulter were joined on the list for the first time by the Carlyle Group's William Conway, Daniel D'Aniello and David Rubenstein, and Blackstone Group LP's Peter Peterson and Tony James.

Thirty-nine women made the list, led by Abigail Johnson at No. 17 with US$15bil, Forbes said. Johnson's family controls Fidelity Investments, the world's largest mutual fund company. Daytime television star Oprah Winfrey was No. 165 with US$2.5bil. – Bloomberg