More Billionaires in BRIC than in Europe

The US still has 413 billionaires with a total net worth of $1,500bn and the the Brics countries – Brazil, Russia, India and China – had 301 billionaires, 108 more than in the previous year, and one more than Europe.

In 2011, Forbes counts 1210 billionaires in the world with a total net worth of $4.5 trillion.

Carlos Slim remains number one with $74 billion.

Carlos could be 1 to 3 years from getting to over $100 billion. He has indicated that he will donate to charity in a major way as Bill Gates and Warren Buffet have. Mexico’s Carlos Slim Helu added $20.5 billion to his fortune.

China has 115 and Russia 101 billionaires.

      1. Carlos Slim Helu, $74 billion
      2. Bill Gates, $56 billion
      3. Warren Buffett, $50 billion
      4. Bernard Arnault, $41 billion
      5. Larry Ellison, $39.5 billion

Asia-Pacific has a record 332 billionaires, up from 234 a year ago and 130 at the depth of the financial crisis in 2009.

Facebook has produced six billionaires.
* Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg fortune jumped 238% to $13.5 billion in the past year.

* cofounders Eduardo Saverin and Dustin Moskovitz, its first president Sean Parker and the Russian Internet investor Yuri Milner. Moskovitz, 26, is eight days younger than his former college roommate Zuckerberg, making him the world’s youngest billionaire.

* Peter Thiel was an early investor in Facebook

Mark Pincus (Zinga – maker of Farmville on Facebook) and Eric Lefkofsky (who was Groupon’s lead investor).

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