'Billionaire Bloodbath' Costs America's Super-Rich $300B

Mexican tycoon world's richest man with $74 billion

(NEWSER) - Mexican telecoms tycoon Carlos Slim is the richest person in the world for the second year running, according to Forbes' latest list of billionaires . The 71-year-old Slim, now worth an estimated $74 billion, widened the gap with No. 2 Bill Gates thanks to some canny business moves last year, including heavy investment in mining, Reuters notes. Warren Buffett, Louis Vuitton chief Bernard Arnault, and Oracle's Larry Ellison round out the top 5 of the world's estimated 1,210 billionaires, who have a combined net worth of some $4.5 trillion. More»

There are 70 billionaire moms in the world

(NEWSER) - We hear a lot about Angelina , but she isn't the only mom making serious bank. According to Forbes ' count, there are 70 billionaire mothers in the world (compared to 555 dads). Some of them—think Mars and Heineken—are old names. Others, are relative newcomers. Here are some of the standouts:

• Richest: American billionaire Christy Walton inherited her $22.5 billion fortune when her husband, an heir to the Wal-Mart fortune, died in a plane crash in 2005.

Wealthiest lose collective $228B

(NEWSER) - The number of UK billionaires has been almost cut in half by economic woes, from 75 to 43, with the country’s wealthiest having lost a collective $228 billion, the Times of London reports. The hardest-hit was steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal, who remains Britain’s richest man despite having lost some $9 billion. Others facing big losses include Roman Abramovich, Richard Branson, Tom Jones, Elton John, and Paul McCartney, the Guardian notes. More»

New York mayor got wealthier as rest of rich list top 20 got poorer

(NEWSER) - How does he do it? Last year was so bad for the world's billionaires that a third of them were demoted to mere multi-millionaires but Michael Bloomberg bucked the trend big time by actually increasing his wealth, the New York Daily News reports. The New York mayor, with an estimated net worth of $16 billion, is now the 17th-wealthiest person in the world, according to the latest Forbes rich list. More»

The Forbes rich list is bigger—and even wealthier—than ever

(NEWSER) - The rich are getting richer, younger, and more geographically diverse, Forbes reports, with the number of billionaires up a whopping 19 percent, and their total worth up 35 percent to $3.5 trillion. Not only have billionaires been galloping away from the pack, they've been doing it earlier, bringing the average age down two years to 60. More»