Every year Forbes comes out with its list of the world's billionaires, ranking them as the richest, second richest, and so on, based on their net worth on Feb. 12th, which includes everything the person owns (real estate, art, jewelry, yachts and planes), plus loads of cash.
This year it wasn't Bill Gates, who has taken the number-one slot for 13 years until 2008; it was Carlos Slim Helu, the Mexican telecom tycoon, who Forbes estimates is worth $53.5 billion. (Gates, who is now worth $53 billion, took the number-two spot, while Warren Buffett and his $47 billion came in third place this year.)
