Two Armenian Billionaires in the World, According to Forbes Survey

Forbes magazine’s annual list of billionaires has been published and for the first time in 16 years, a person from outside the US leads the rankings: Mexico’s Carlos Slim Helú beat Bill Gates and Warren Buffett for the top spot.

The net worth of Helú, 70, who built a telecommunications empire after buying Mexico’s state-run phone monopoly two decades ago, rose $18.5 billion to $53.5 billion. Gates, 54, chair of Microsoft Corp., fell to second as his net worth increased $13 billion to $53 billion. Buffett, 79, chair of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., was third with $47 billion, a rise of $10 billion, reports Bloomberg BusinessWeek.

The number of billionaires climbed to 1,011 from 793 last year, although still below the rankings’ high of 1,125 in 2008. Their cumulative net worth increased to $3.6 trillion from $2.4 trillion, and the average jumped $500 million to $3.5 billion as the world economy began to rebound from its worst slump since the Great Depression.

Armenian-American tycoon Kirk Kerkorian ranked 307th, dropping from last year’s 209th place, with a net worth of $3.1 billion (as compared to $5 million last year). The other Armenian billionaire on Forbes’ list is self-made Russian businessman Danil Khachaturov (at number 828), who has a net worth of $1.2 billion, up $0.8 billion from last year.

The list includes billionaires from 55 countries. The US has the most with 403, up from 359 last year, while Europe follows with 248. The Asia-Pacific region has 234 people in the rankings, up from 130 in 2009, including 62 newcomers.