Meet the World's 1,426 Billionaires

Bill Gates and Carlos Slim
AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo
Dashiell Bennett 1,991 Views Mar 4, 2013

Forbes has just released the 2013 edition of its world "Billionaire's List", and while the names at the top are mostly familiar, the ranks of the elitest of the elite continue to grow. Forbes says they added 210 names to this year's roundup, bringing the total number of world billionaires to 1,426. Nearly 80 percent of those on the roster saw their net worth go up in 2012.

Topping the list once again is Mexico's communications czar Carlos Slim, who is pulling away from the pack with an estimated fortune of $73 billion dollars. He's pictured above with his buddy Bill Gates, who is number two with a healthy $67 billion. Spanish fashion magnate Amancio Ortega, who owns the Zara clothing store chain, is No. 3 after seeing the biggest gain of anyone on the list—his fortune went up by $19.5 billion in one year. The richest woman (and the only one in the top ten) is Liliane Bettencourt, who controls the L'Oreal cosmetics empire.

Two of the biggest "losers" are Brazilian mining kingpin Eike Batista, who saw his wealth dwindle by more than $19 billion, and Mark Zuckerberg, who lost about $4 billion after Facebook's less than amazing IPO. However, they're both still among the top 100 richest people on Earth, so they're probably going to be okay. The U.S. still leads the world with 442 billionaires, but Asia (China, in particular) is catching up.

You can check out the complete list, inlcuding bios, pictures, and the story of how they made their billions, at Forbes.com

Want to add to this story? Let us know in comments or send an email to the author at dbennett at theatlantic dot com. You can share ideas for stories on the Open Wire.

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