Bill Gates, the richest man in the world

Bill Gates retains the title, "The richest man on the world", in a recent assessment by Forbes Magazine. In these troubled days of business, the billionaires across the world has lost billions of dollars. While 1125 people have found there place in the billionaires list in 2008, year 2009 has accounted for only 793 people.

Due to the recession, Bill Gates lost 18 Billion in value and yet topped the list with a net worth of 40 billion dollars. With a net asset of 37 Billion, Warren Buffet stands in the 2nd place where he lost 25 billion dollars in the last year.

Comparing to the 2008 performance, many Indian billionaires could not make it to the list. The Indian representation in the list is reduced from 53 to 24. Out of this 24 only 2 of them have made it to the top 20 list. Mukesh Ambani on the 7th place and Lakshmi Mittal on the 8th place.