World's Billionaires 2009

© AP Photo/Matt Sayles

2. Warren Buffett Net Worth: $37 billion Source: Investments/U.S. Age: 78 Marital Status: Widowed, remarried; three children

• Last year America's most beloved investor was the world's richest man.

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• This year he has to settle for second place after losing $25 billion in 12 months. Shares of Berkshire Hathaway down 45% since last March.
• Injected billions of dollars into Goldman Sachs, General Electric in exchange for preferred stock last fall; propped up insurance firm Swiss Re in February with $2.6 billion infusion. Admits he made some "dumb" investment mistakes in 2008.
• Upbeat about America's future: "Our economic system has worked extraordinarily well over time. It has unleashed human potential as no other system has, and it will continue to do so."
• Scoffs at Wall Street's over-reliance on "history-based" models: "If merely looking up past financial data would tell you what the future holds, the Forbes 400 would consist of librarians."
• Son of Nebraska politician delivered newspapers as a boy.
• Filed first tax return at age 13, claiming $35 deduction for bicycle.
• Studied under value investing guru Benjamin Graham at Columbia.
• Took over textile firm Berkshire Hathaway 1965.
• Today holding company invested in insurance (GEICO, General Re), jewelry (Borsheim's), utilities (MidAmerican Energy), food (Dairy Queen, See's Candies). Also has noncontrolling stakes in Anheuser-Busch, Coca-Cola, Wells Fargo.

© AP Photo/Eric Gay

3. Carlos Slim Helú Net Worth: $35 billion Source: Telecom/Mexico Age: 69 Marital Status: Widowed, six children

• Economic downturn and plunging peso shaved $25 billion from the fortune of Latin America's richest man.
• Global recession testing his ability to live up to the principles he sets for his employees: "Maintain austerity in times of fat cows."
• Son of a Lebanese immigrant bought fixed-line operator Telefonos de Mexico (Telmex) in 1990; now controls 90% of Mexico's telephone landlines.
• Would be a billionaire based on his dividends alone.
• Biggest holding: $16 billion stake in America Movil, Latin America's largest mobile phone company, with 173 million customers. America Movil and Telmex reportedly planning to jointly invest $4 billion to bolster telecom infrastructure in Latin America.
• Buying up cheap media, energy and retail assets.
• Last year took stakes in New York Times Co., former billionaire Anthony O'Reilly's Independent News & Media and Bronco Drilling; also increased position in Saks.
• Baseball statistics aficionado, art collector.

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4. Lawrence Ellison Net Worth: $22.5 billion Source: Oracle/U.S. Age: 64 Marital Status: Thrice divorced, remarried; two children

• Database titan continues to engulf the competition; Oracle has racked up 49 acquisitions in the past four years.
• Bought BEA Systems for $8.5 billion last year. Company still sitting on $7 billion in cash. Revenues up 11% to $10.9 billion in the six months ended Nov. 30, 2007; profits also up 11% to $2.4 billion. Stock down 25% in past 12 months.
• Invested $125 million in Web software outfit Netsuite; took public in 2007, stock down 80% since. His shares are still worth $300 million.
• Chicago native studied physics at University of Chicago, didn't graduate.
• Started Oracle in 1977. Public in 1986, a day before Microsoft.
• Owns 453-foot Rising Sun; built a smaller leisure boat because the long yacht is hard to park.
• Squabbling in court with Swiss boating billionaire Ernesto Bertarelli over terms of next America's Cup. Recently unveiled hulking 90-foot trimaran he intends to use to win it.

© AP Photo/Heribert Proepper

5. Ingvar Kamprad Net Worth: $22 billion Source: Ikea/Sweden Age: 83 Marital Status: Divorced, remarried; four children

• Peddled matches, fish, pens, Christmas cards and other items by bicycle as a teenager.
• Started selling furniture in 1947.
• Opened first Ikea store 50 years ago; store's name is a combination of initials of his first and last name, his family farm and the nearest village.
• Retired in 1986; company's "senior adviser" still reportedly works tirelessly on his brand.
• Discount retailer now sells 9,500 items in 36 countries; prints catalog in 27 languages. Revenues up 7% to $27.4 billion in fiscal-year 2008.
• Opened 10th store in China this February; planning to open first in Dominican Republic later this year.
• Three sons all work at the company.
• Thrifty entrepreneur flies economy class, frequents cheap restaurants and furnishes his home mostly with Ikea products.

© Kpix

6. Karl Albrecht Net Worth: $21.5 billion Source: Supermarkets/Germany Age: 89 Marital Status: Married, two children

• Germany's richest person owns discount supermarket giant Aldi Sud.
• Retailer faring well amid economic downturn; analysts expect its 2008 sales to be up 9.4% to $33.7 billion. Sales in the U.S. up estimated 20% last year to $7 billion.
• Plans to open 75 U.S. stores in 2009, including first in New York City.
• With younger brother, Theo, transformed their mother's corner grocery store into Aldi after World War II.
• Brothers split ownership in 1961; Karl took the stores in southern Germany, plus the rights to the brand in the U.K., Australia and the U.S. Theo got northern Germany and the rest of Europe.
• Retired from daily operations.
• Fiercely private: little known about him other than that he apparently raises orchids and plays golf.

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