Gates no longer world's richest man: Forbes TheStar.com -
Top spot taken over by financier and philanthropist Warren Buffett
March 05, 2008 THE CANADIAN PRESS
Bill Gates has been dethroned after 13 years at the top of the Forbes list of the world's richest people.
Forbes.com says Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft, has fallen to number three, even though his net worth increased by $2 billion US over the past year, putting his net worth at $58 billion US.
Forbes says the top spot has been taken over by financier and philanthropist Warren Buffett.
Forbes says Buffett's net worth stands at $68 billion – up 10 billion from a year ago.
Ranked number two is Carlos Slim Helu, a Mexican telecom tycoon whose net worth has doubled in just two years to $60 billion.
Forbes says Gates would likely still be at the top if Microsoft had not make an unsolicited bid for
Yahoo! at the start of last month.
Following the bid for the search engine giant, shares of Microsoft plunged 15 per cent.