It's mostly the usual suspects on the latest Forbes 400 list of the wealthiest Americans: Bill Gates tops the list for the 20th consecutive year, with a net worth of $72 billion, followed by investor Warren Buffett and Oracle CEO Larry Ellison.
The Koch brothers, Charles and David, tie for fourth place, while Walton family members with an interest in retail behemoth Wal-Mart occupy positions 6 through 9.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, with $31 billion, comes in at No. 10. Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com, is No. 12; Google's Larry Page and Sergey Brin rank 13 and 14 respectively and Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg is No. 20 on the list, with a net worth of $19 billion.
Microsoft founder and philanthropist Gates — who was briefly edged out by Mexican technology and finance tycoon Carlos Slim for the title of world's richest person — has regained the top spot globally as well.
"The 400 wealthiest Americans are worth a record $2.02 trillion, roughly equivalent to the GDP of Russia. That is a gain of $300 billion from a year ago, and more than double a decade ago. The average net worth of list members is a staggering $5 billion, $800 million more than a year ago and also a record. The minimum net worth needed to make the 400 list was $1.3 billion. The last time it was that high was in 2007 and 2008, before property and stock market values began sliding. Because the bar is so high, 61 American billionaires didn't make the cut."
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