Bill Gates and Warren Buffett top Forbes magazine’s 2007 rankings of the world’s richest people, with both of their fortunes now estimated at over $50 billion.

Microsoft founder Bill Gates and US investment guru Warren Buffett top Forbes magazine’s 2007 rankings of the world’s richest people, with both of their fortunes now estimated at over $50 billion. Gates, who was ranked first for the 13th consecutive year, grew $6 billion wealthier to $56 billion last year, while Buffet’s wealth climbed $10 billion to $52 billion. The Forbes list tallies 946 billionaires, and the magazine says their wealth grew 35 per cent to $3.5 trillion over 2006. Five Americans were ranked in the top 20, although they account for 44 per cent of the overall list. Coming in third, just behind Buffett, was Mexican telecoms tycoon Carlos Slim Helus, whose wealth increased by $19 billion to $49 billion over 2006. On the list for the first time were Starbuck’s chairman Howard Schultz and former Disney chief Michael Eisner, along with Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie, Canadian co-chiefs of Blackberry maker Research in Motion. The list included more than a dozen new Chinese billionaires, while Michael Dell and once-powerful Japanese industrialist Yoshiaki Tsutsumi slipped off the list. Japan surrendered its title as Asia’s leading domicile for billionaires to India, which had 36 representatives on the list, including three in the top 20. With 53 billionaires, Russia is now challenging Germany as home to the most billionaires outside of the US.