The top 20 richest people on the planet

by Chase Peterson-Withorn | Mar 22, 2016

Many names are the same, but the pecking order has (mostly) changed. Blame volatile stock markets and a stronger dollar for the reshuffling

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The ranks of the planet’s 20 wealthiest shuffled over the last year, with only Bill Gates (No. 1) and Warren Buffett (No. 3) holding their spots. Spain’s Amancio Ortega of fashion retailer Zara moved from fourth to second, swapping places with Carlos Slim Helu; the Mexican magnate lost $27.1 billion last year, more than anyone else.

Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, each a big gainer, joined the top 10 for the first time, while Buffett’s Brazilian partner, Jorge Paulo Lemann, and Chinese investor Wang Jianlin—who owns AMC Entertainment Holdings and is buying moviemaker Legendary Entertainment—made their top 20 debuts. Altogether, this group is worth $827 billion, or $49 billion (6 percent) less than last year’s group. 

This article appeared in Forbes India Magazine of 01 April, 2016