Who are the richest people in the world? Undeniably, many people are always enthralled by the lives of wealthy personalities and are always interested about knowing how they have actually succeed. For over twenty six years now, Forbes, a famous business magazine, has been following the lives of these world renowned wealthy personalities. In 2012, Carlos Slim Helu was again hailed as the richest man in the world after losing out Bill Gates in 2010, the cofounder of Microsoft, by a difference of $500 million. After Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, the owner of Berkshire Hathaway gets into the list. Their wealth is actually based on their company’s profit, and its net worth and shares in the market.
Below is the top twenty list of the world’s richest people as of 2012:
20 No. 1 Carlos Slim Helú
19 No. 2 Bill Gates
18 No. 3 Warren Buffett
17 No. 4 Larry Ellison
16 No. 4 Bernard Arnault
15 No. 6 Amancio Ortega
14 No. 7 Charles Koch (tie)
13 No. 7 David Koch (tie)
12 No. 9 Eike Batista
11 No. 10 Christy Walton & family
10 No. 11 Jim Walton
9 No. 12 Alice Walton
8 No. 13 R. Robson Walton
7 No. 14 Stefan Persson
6 No. 15 Li Ka-shing
5 No. 16 Karl Albrecht
4 No. 17 Michael Bloomberg
3 No. 18 Liliane Bettencourt
2 No. 19 Jeff Bezos
1 No. 20 Mukesh Ambani
[See full list on Forbes.com]