According to Forbes' annual World's Billionaire list released yesterday, Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim is the world's richest person for the second year in a row, with a net worth of US$74 billion. American Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft Corp, is again listed in second place with US$56 billion while investor Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway is third.
China added the most new  billionaires to the list with 54 while Russia added 31. The US came in third, with 23 new billionaires; American Mark Zuckerberg, chairman of Facebook, more than tripled his net worth to US$13.5 billion, placing him in Forbes' 52nd spot.  
Although the US is home to 413 billionaires, more than any other country, the changing distribution of global finances is evident. Today, due to the increasing wealth of emerging nations, just one in every three billionaires is American, a decline from ten years ago when Americans numbered one in every two. Brazil, Russia, India and China together accounted for more than 108 new billionaires. Last year, New York was home to more billionaires than any other city in the world, while this year Moscow is home to 79, which beats New York's current number of 58. 
Forbes lists a world total of 1,210 billionaires whose combined wealth is US$4.5 trillion, an increase from last year's total of US$3.6 trillion.

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Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim remains the world’s richest man