Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, October 3, 1994 TAG: 9410040020
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Medium
Gates bumped stock tycoon Warren Buffett, with $9.2 billion, out of the No.1 spot, the biweekly business journal said in its annual report on the 400 richest Americans.
Forbes attributed the flip-flop since last year to the vagaries of the stock market.
Buffett, 64, the folksy investor from Omaha, Neb., kept his investment company, Berkshire Hathaway, growing this year, but not as fast as Microsoft.
Thanks to his holdings in Microsoft, Gates' net worth grew by more than $3 billion; Buffett's rose by $900 million.
Gates, 38, of Bellevue, Wash., was helped out earlier this year when Microsoft emerged largely unscathed from a federal antitrust inquiry that it monopolized the software business.
Gates is quoted in the Oct. 17 Forbes as saying its list is ``silly.''
Forbes also said Gates now appears to be the wealthiest commoner in the world. The only foreign billionaire in his league besides royalty is Yoshiaki Tsutsumi, a Japanese railroad and hotel tycoon who Forbes said is worth $8.5 billion.
Coming in third for the second year in a row was John Kluge, 80, of Charlottesville, Va., who built the Metromedia radio and TV empire, then liquidated it to invest in movies, restaurants and long-distance telephone service.
Kluge's restaurant and movie interests are recovering from some weak times, Forbes reported, and the long-distance company, LDDS, is now No. 4 behind AT&T, MCI and Sprint. Kluge, whose worth was listed at $5.9 billion, led the field from 1989-91.
The stock market's bouts of weakness this year didn't hurt Edward Johnson III, 64, of Boston, chief of Fidelity Investments, the top mutual fund company. His $5.1 billion was enough to vault him to No. 4, from No. 38 last year.
Amway Corp. partner Richard DeVos, 68, of Ada, Mich., rounded out the top five with $4.5 billion, up from No. 33.
Money losers whose fortunes pushed them off the list include one-time Hollywood kingpin Barry Diller. His declining shares in home shopping channel QVC Inc. dropped him to $130 million, from last year's $345 million.
As in past years, the list shows moguls who make their millions from oil, gas and heavy manufacturing are losing ground to those in clean-burning companies like technology, retailing, finance and entertainment.
As a group, the 400 richest are worth about $349 billion, nearly 21 percent more than the U.S. defense budget.
There are a record 83 billionaires on the list, up from 79 last year. The minimum amount for entry rose to $310 million, from $300 million last year.
by CNB