Larry Ellison

How do Russia's billionaires stack up against America's home grown oligarchs? To find out, we took a peek at some of the richest men in the world -- on both sides of the Arctic Ocean.

Facebook's $1 billion acquisition of Instagram surprised outsiders this month, but Facebook's own board of directors was caught almost as off guard by Mark Zuckerberg's highhanded move. Here's why that doesn't bode well for Facebook's future:

Let's go over some items that will help shape the week ahead for Wall Street: The Hunger Games will give theaters a much needed boost; FuelBand may do the same for Nike; video game sellers hunger for hits; and Tiffany and Oracle will give us clues about the recovery.

Last week's most puzzling moves included Bank of America turning ingrate on its debit card users -- who also pay taxes, and hence bailed BoA out -- Oracle's Larry Ellison and HP writing a new chapter in their feud, Warren Buffett opting for a stock buyback, and Sony refusing to pay for 3-D glasses.

The nation's wealthiest are worth a combined $1.53 trillion, according to Forbes. And while there are many familiar faces on this year's list of the richest Americans, a younger group of entrepreneurs are marching their way up the ranks.

With more and more financial transactions being conducted electronically, it's easy to forget the physicality of money. What a dollar weighs, or a pile of them. So just for fun, let's start piling up the Benjamins and see what a pound -- or 10, or 100, or a ton -- of C-notes will buy.

This is Forbes' 25th year of tracking global wealth and it was one to remember. The 2011 Billionaires List breaks two records: total number of listees (1,210) and combined wealth ($4.5 trillion). This horde surpasses the gross domestic product of Germany, one of only six nations to have fewer...

The gap between America's super-wealthy and the rest of us has grown so vast it's hard to even comprehend the sums they spend on their luxuries. But if you measure, say, a $200 million luxury yacht in terms of the average U.S. family's household income, the picture comes back into focus.

Oracle, one of the world's biggest software companies, on Thursday posted fiscal second-quarter earnings that grew 28% year over year. It's the latest sign that companies are spending more on technology.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and sixteen other billionaires have recently signed on to The Giving Pledge, a philanthropic campaign that commits them to give at least half of their fortunes to charity.