Former National Basketball Association (NBA) superstar Michael Jordan has joined Forbes magazine’s annual list of the world’s richest people for the first time with his USD1bn net worth.
Jordan ranked 1,741st in the latest list, which is still dominated for the 16th year by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates.
Gates’ net worth rose to USD79.2bn from USD76bn a year earlier, Forbes said.
Trailing Gates were Mexico telecoms mogul Carlos Slim Helu, which ranked second with a net worth of USD77.1bn, and Berkshire Hathaway Inc chief Warren Buffett at third place with his USD72.7bn fortune.
The latest list counted a record 1,826 billionaires, up from last year’s 1,645. The combined net worth of the world’s billionaires reached USD7.05tr.
The US had the most billionaires with 536, followed by China with 213, Germany with 103 and India with 90.
Wang Jianlin, president of China’s biggest property developer Dalian Wanda Group, has been ranked as China’s wealthiest person and occupies the 29th rank in the world with his fortune of US$ 24.2 billion.
Jack Ma, who was China’s richest for a short period of time, is now the country’s second-richest person, Forbes said.
Ma’s personal wealth reached US$ 22.7 billion, thanks to this e-commerce empire, Alibaba Group.
Hanergy Chairman and CEO Li Hejun was named China’s third-richest person with a net worth of about US$ 21.1 billion.