Kimihiro Hoshino/AFP/Getty Images/Newscom6. Name: Larry EllisonNet Worth: $36 billion (DOWN)
Source: Oracle
Citizenship: USA
Oracle’s stock has been oscillating for months. It’s rebounded since its August low but is still off 15% year on year due to a slowdown in the software and hardware giant’s sales, enough to knock $3.5 billion off Ellison’s fortune. Seeking to profit from cloud computing, Oracle acquired Taleo in February for $1.9 billion and RightNow in October for $1.5 billion. Ellison has been tagged as one of the clutch of billionaires interested in buying the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team. His big sport is yachting: he won the America's Cup in 2010 and is bringing the 34th edition of the America’s Cup Finals to the San Francisco Bay in 2013. This will be the first time the event has been held in the United States in 18 years.
Chris Goodney/Bloomberg via Getty Images7. Name: Eike BatistaNet Worth: $30 billion (EQUAL)
Source: Mining, oil
Citizenship: Brazil
Brazil’s richest man is riding high on oil fever. His oil and gas driller, OGX Petroleo e Gas, produced its first oil in a test well offshore in late January; his 61% stake in the company is worth $19.8 billion-two-thirds of his net worth. The bombastic entrepreneur is also betting on his former passion, gold: In February 2011 he spent $1.5 billion to take private Canadian-listed Ventana Gold, which owns what he says is an incredibly promising mine in Colombia.
imago stock&people/Newscom8. Name: Stefan PerssonNet Worth: $26 billion (UP)
Source: H&M
Citizenship: Sweden
His cheap-chic apparel chain H&M added Versace and Marni to its stable of designers last year and opened its first stores in Croatia, Singapore and Romania. It now has 2,500 shops in 43 countries. Persson, who is chairman, bought 5 million additional shares of the company and then gifted 4 million, worth $150 million, to a new employeeincentive program.
Lui Siu Wai/Xinhua/Photoshot/Newscom9. Name: Li Ka-shingNet Worth: $25.5 billion (DOWN)
Source: diversified
Citizenship: Hong Kong
Despite a small drop in fortune, Li Ka-shing moves back into the top 10 for the first time since 2007 and reclaims the title of Asia’s richest for the first time since 2004. One of the great empire builders, Li’s businesses employ 270,000 people around the world in 53 countries; he built one out of every 7 residences in Hong Kong, his Hutchison Port Holdings handles about 13% of the world’s container traffic, and his recently acquired Northumbrian Water supplies clean drinking water to 4.5 million people in England and sewerage services to another 2.7 million. Li also has personal investments in tech startups like Facebook and Spotify. Says the octogenarian: “A person investing in technology will feel younger.” One of Asia’s most generous, his foundation has donated more than $1.6 billion to date, largely to education and medical research.
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10. Name: Karl Albrecht
Net Worth: $25.4 billion (DOWN)
Source: Aldi
Citizenship: Germany
His $39 billion (estimated sales) discount supermarket giant, Aldi Sud, has some 4,500 stores, including 1,200 across 32 U.S. states. It opened its first New York City locations in 2011, one in Queens and another in the Bronx. To keep costs low, Aldi stores do not accept credit cards. He and his late brother Theo built their mother's corner grocery store into Aldi after World War II. They split ownership in 1961; Karl took the more profitable 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.
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