墨西哥大亨取代蓋茨成世界首富
【英文原文】
Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim is the world's richest person, knocking Microsoft founder Bill Gates into second spot, as the wealth of the world's billionaires grew by 50 percent over the last year, Forbes magazine said on Wednesday。
It is only the second time since 1995 that Gates has lost the crown, the magazine said, estimating Slim's net worth at $53.5 billion, compared to Gates's $53 billion fortune, while investor Warren Buffett came in at No. 3 with $47 billion。
The trio regained $41.5 billion of the $68 billion they had lost the previous year, Forbes said。
The number of billionaires around the world has nearly recovered in 2010 after dropping by a third last year during the global financial crisis. There are now 1,011 billionaires, compared with 793 last year and 1,125 in 2008.
The net wealth of those billionaires grew to $3.6 trillion from $2.4 trillion last year, but is still down from 2008's $4.4 trillion, according to the 24th annual Forbes list, which took a snapshot of wealth on February 12 to compile its ranking。
The average billionaire is now worth $3.5 billion, up $500 million from last year. And the number of women on the list rose to 89 from 72 last year。
"The global economy is recovering and it's reflected in what you see in the list this year," Steve Forbes, chief executive of Forbes, told a news conference. "Financial markets have also made an even more impressive comeback from the lows of just about a year ago, particularly in emerging markets."
"Asia is leading the comeback," Forbes said。
The number of billionaires in the Asia-Pacific region grew by 80 percent to 234 and their net worth almost doubled to $729 billion, which the Forbes ranking attributed to the area's "swelling stock markets and several large public offerings during the past year."
Two Indians round out the top five richest people in the world -- Mukesh Ambani, with a petrochemicals, oil and gas fortune of $29 billion, and steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal, who is valued at $28.7 billion。
Of the 97 billionaires making their debut on the Forbes list, 62 are from Asia, while for the first time China is now home to the most billionaires outside of the United States。
"The United States still dominates, but the United States is lagging," Forbes said. "It is not doing as well as the rest of the world in coming back."
The Forbes ranking of the world's billionaires can be seen at 。
【中文譯文】
《福布斯》雜誌本週三發佈年度富豪榜，墨西哥大亨卡洛斯•斯利姆取代微軟公司創始人比爾•蓋茨，成爲世界首富，蓋茨屈居第二。據統計，全球億萬富翁的資產總額在過去一年中增加了50%。
該雜誌稱，這是蓋茨自1995年以來第二次失去全球首富桂冠。據《福布斯》估計，斯利姆的淨資產總額達到535億美元，蓋茨爲530億美元，“股神”沃倫•巴菲特以470億美元的身價位列第三。
《福布斯》稱，這三位富豪在前一年中共損失了680億美元的財富，但去年又賺得415億美元，收復了大部分失地。
受金融危機影響，去年全球億萬富翁的數量減少了三分之一，由2008年的1125人減少到793人。而今年的富豪數量達到1011人，幾乎恢復到之前的水準。
上榜億萬富翁的淨資產總額也從去年的2.4萬億美元增至3.6萬億美元，但仍低於2008年的4.4萬億美元。這是《福布斯》雜誌第24次發佈年度富豪榜，計算依據是截至今年2月12日的個人資產總額。
此次上榜富豪的平均資產達到35億美元，比去年增加了5億美元。女富豪數量也從去年的72人增加到89人。
《福布斯》雜誌首席執行官斯蒂夫•福布斯在新聞發佈會上說：“從今年的富豪榜可以看出，全球經濟正在復甦。金融市場也從一年前的谷底中走了出來，且回升勢頭更爲強勁，尤其是在新興市場。”
《福布斯》稱，“亞洲在全球經濟復甦中處於領先地位。”
今年，亞太地區的富豪數量達到234人，比去年增加了80%，淨資產總額幾乎翻番，達到7290億美元。《福布斯》認爲這是因爲去年該地區“股票市場大幅走高，以及幾次大規模的公開募股。”
今年還有兩位印度富豪躋身富豪榜前五位，分別是石化油氣行業巨頭穆凱什•阿姆巴尼(290億美元)和鋼鐵大王拉克希米•米塔爾(287億美元)。
在今年首次登榜的97位富豪中，有62位來自亞洲。中國富豪數量首次位居第二，僅次於美國。
《福布斯》稱：“美國仍是富豪最多的國家，但正在被趕超。美國的經濟復甦不如其他國家。”
