Bill Gates falls on world's-richest list

11:19 PM PDT 10/13/2010 by Paul Bond, AP

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Microsoft exec drops to No. 2; Mexican mogul tops rankings

The richest person in the world is Carlos Slim Helu, a telecom and media mogul from Mexico who has $53.5 billion, about $500 million more than Microsoft exec Bill Gates, who is the world’s second-wealthiest person.

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In its annual list of the world’s billionaires released Wednesday, Forbes magazine lists investor Warren Buffett as the third-richest person with $47 billion.

After Helu and Gates, each of whom count media as just one portion of their vast empires, the next media mogul on the list is New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg at No. 23 with $18 billion.

Rupert Murdoch of News Corp. is worth $6.3 billion, tying him at No. 117 with Google CEO Eric Schmidt.

Steven Spielberg and George Lucas each have $3 billion, tying them at No. 316. Spielberg’s DreamWorks partner David Geffen lands at No. 154 with $5 billion; third partner Jeffrey Katzenberg didn’t make the list.

Tied at No. 400 with $2.4 billion are Oprah Winfrey, Internet and movie industry entrepreneur Mark Cuban and Sumner Redstone of Viacom and CBS.

Forbes said there are 1,011 billionaires in the world, up from 793 last year but fewer than the 1,125 in 2008.

A notable newcomer to the billionaires club from the entertainment industry is Isaac Perlmutter, CEO of Marvel Entertainment, who is worth $1.6 billion, much of that courtesy of Disney’s acquisition of Marvel four months ago.

Other media titans on the Forbes list include Italy’s Silvio Berlusconi (No. 74, $9 billion), Apple CEO and Disney board member Steve Jobs (No. 136, $5.5 billion), industrialist music mogul Richard Branson (No. 212 $4 billion), children’s TV magnate Haim Saban (No. 287, $3.3 billion), CNN founder Ted Turner (No. 556, $1.8 billion), movie executive-turned-Internet mogul Barry Diller (No. 828, $1.2 billion) and “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling (No. 937, $1 billion).