Gates held onto the number-one spot in the annual list of the 400 wealthiest Americans for the 22nd straight year, with net worth of $76 billion, down $5 billion from 2014.
Warren Buffett, the head of conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway, ranked second with $62 billion, while former Oracle chief executive Larry Ellison is third with $47.5 billion.
Forbes said the average net worth of the 400 members on the list stands at a record $5.8 billion, above the $5.7 billion last year. Total wealth is $2.34 trillion, up from $2.29 trillion in 2014.
Entering the top 10 richest rank this year were three founders of e-businesses. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos bolted from 15th to fourth place at $47 billion, thanks to the surging value of Amazon stock.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who jumped from 11th to seventh place, had net worth of $40.3 billion. And Larry Page, CEO of Google, moved from number 13 in 2014 to land the 10th spot, with $33.3 billion.
The business magazine also spotlighted Republican presidential contender Donald Trump, who has claimed wealth of at least $10 billion. Forbes came up with a lower figure, rating the billionaire in 121st place.
"After interviewing more than 80 sources and devoting unprecedented resources to valuing a single fortune, we're going with a figure less than half that - $4.5 billion, albeit still the highest figure we've ever had for him," Forbes said.
COMMENTS (2)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ