Bill Gates got a little poorer last year, but when you're worth $50 billion, who's counting? Well,
Forbes is, of course, and despite the $7-billion decline in his fortune, Microsoft's (
MSFT) co-founder remains America's richest citizen, according to the magazine's annual list of the nation's wealthiest people. America's No. 2 moneybags, investor Warren Buffett, got an even bigger haircut, with his holdings shrinking $10 billion to $40 billion, reveals The Forbes 400. In fact, it was a crummy year for most of the über-wealthy, with the collective net worth of this rich bunch falling $300 billion in the past 12 months -- only the fifth time it's dropped since 1982.
The lousy economy and other factors actually made it easier for people to get on the list this year, relatively speaking, with $950 million doing the trick, versus $1.3 billion for last year's tally. Among the notable newcomers was Marvel Entertainment (
MVL) chief Isaac Perlmutter. News that Disney (
DIS) agreed to buy the superhero media company boosted his net worth to $1.55 billion. There were some high-profile departures, too, including that of R. Allen Stanford, who fell off the list after the feds froze his assets in connection with charges that he allegedly ran a Ponzi scheme,
Forbes reports. Check out the full story and list
here.
