• Carlos Slim is on top this year. But look deeper. Forbes’ billionaires list, a cultural touchstone, usually only focuses on the top of the list, mainly because it makes a good headline. But Forbes has a TON of information about the billionaires on their list. Here are some of our favorite details from doing a little research:

A good year for rebounds

• 1,011 billionaires are on this year’s list, which is way up from last year
• 164 billionaires returned to the list after losing much of their value in 2008
• 89 billionaires came from China, the largest non-U.S. total source

Extremes in rich bastards

• youngest Mark Zuckerberg, who, at 25, has more money than you’ll ever dream of, with assets worth $4 billion. Just think how much he’d be worth if Facebook took the IPO plunge. Or actually, just sulk. source
• oldest Fellow technology maven Walter Haefner is the real-life Mr. Burns at age 99. Except, instead of a nuclear plant, he owns 24 percent of information technology firm Computer Associates. source

• poorest Actually, trick question: There are 75 billionaires on the list with EXACTLY $1 billion in hand.
• leaper Brazilian oil baron Elke Batista wins, jumping $19.5 billion in a single year, to $27 billion.
• stars Oprah’s leaving her TV show soon, but she doesn’t need it; she’s worth $2.4 billion.

Schadenfreude-worthy subject

• Raj Rajaratnam is in big trouble. One of the guys who lost his billionaire club card, Rajaratnam’s hedge fund, Galleon Group, was caught in a major insider-trading scandal, which caused the fund to lose value quickly this past October, and as a result Rajaratnam is no longer a billionaire (and is probably going to prison!). source

Posted by Ernie Smith • Permalink