1. By Orla Conway and Corrie Bowes!

2.  This year Forbes has uncovered a record
1,426 billionaires. That is 200 more than we
found in 2012, another record breaking year.
It’s also nearly 10 times as many as Forbes
pinned down in 1987, the year we began
tracking fortunes around the world.

3.  The group is worth $5.4 trillion which is a 17
per-cent jump from a year ago. The average
net worth of a Forbes billionaire is $3.8
billion, $100 million more than a year ago.
More than two-thirds of the world’s richest
added to their fortunes. Only 259 from last
year’s list are poorer than a year ago. Sixty
dropped out of the ranks, including Zynga’s
Mark Pincus and former Chesapeake Energy
CEO Aubrey McClendon. Another eight passed
away.

4. According to Forbes Magazine 

5.  Net Worth: $73 billion
 Source: Telecom
 From: Mexico
 World's richest man for the fourth year in a row.
 Pan-Latin American mobile telecom outfit America Movil
remains his most valuable holding at $36.3 billion; the
company spread its wings to Europe in the past year,
buying pieces of Dutch telecom company KPN and Telekom
Austria
 Bought a majority of struggling Spanish soccer team Real
Oviedo.
 Latin America’s most generous person, his foundation
pledged to translate into Spanish 1,000 videos from the
Khan Academy education nonprofit website. Slim also
hosted Bill Gates in late February; the two men announced
they are funding research to improve farmers' yields and
reduce hunger.

6.  Net worth: $67 billion
 Source: Microsoft
 From: U.S.A
 World's biggest philanthropist has given away $28
billion, the vast majority of it to his foundation,
which is working to eradicate such diseases as polio
and malaria.
 Net worth is up by $6 billion vs. March 2012 due to
gains in his investment portfolio. Holdings include
tech hygiene firm Ecolab and Mexican Coke bottler
FEMSA, both up more than 20% in the past year.
 Microsoft stock --he owns about 5% of the company --
accounts for just 18% of his net worth.

7.  Net worth: $57 billion
 Source: Zara(Clothes and Fashion Retailer)
 From: Spain
 Year’s biggest gainer: fortune up $19.5 billion
 Driving the jump is a more than 50% rise in value
of Inditex shares; Ortega, who stepped down as
the firm’s chairman in 2011, still owns nearly
60% of the shares.
 He also has real estate portfolio, estimated to be
worth more than $4 billion, that includes iconic
Torre Picasso, a 43-story skyscraper in Madrid
(Google is a tenant), plus properties in Madrid,
London, Chicago, San Francisco and New York.

8.  Net worth: $53.5 billion
 Source: Berkshire Hathaway
 From: U.S.A.
 Investors applaud his dealmaking savvy, and this year
was no exception as he made a couple of notable
moves: in February, announced a deal with Brazilian
billionaire Jorge Paulo Lemann's 3G Capital to snap
up iconic ketchup producer H.J. Heinz Co. for $23.2
billion; bought Oriental Trading in November 2012.
 World’s second most generous person, he gave $1.5
billion to the Gates Foundation in July 2012, bringing
his lifetime giving to nearly $17.3 billion. On his
birthday in August 2012 Buffett pledged $3 billion of
stock to his children's foundations.

9.  Net worth: $43 billion
 Source: Oracle
 From: U.S.A.
 Software mogul is $7 billion richer than a year
ago, thanks to more than 20% jump in the value
of Oracle stock.
 In June he bought 98% of Hawaiian island of
Lanai from billionaire David Murdock for a
reported $500 million.
 Just recently bought Island Air, a Hawaiian
airline. Purchase price was not disclosed.
 Continues to buy property in Malibu.

10. Net worth: $34 billion
Source: diversified
From: U.S.A.
 World’s richest siblings added $9 billion apiece to their fortunes over the
past year.
 They own a combined 84% of Koch Industries, country’s second largest
private company with $115 billion in estimated sales, up 15% in the past
year
 Also got boost from improving operations at Georgia Pacific, maker of
Angel Soft and Quilted Northern toilet paper, Brawny paper towels, and
Dixie cups. Sold more than $1 billion worth of toilet paper in 2011.
 David, who runs the chemical technology side of Koch Industries, is the
richest New Yorker.
 Things didn’t go so well on the political front as brothers failed in their
quest to unseat Barack Obama from the White House ("Bitterly
disappointing," he told Forbes in an interview after the election).

11.  Net worth: $31 billion
 Source: diversified
 From: Hong Kong
 Once again Asia’s richest person and the only one from the
region among the world’s top 20 richest.
 His fortune jumped $5.5 billion to $31 billion, as shares of
his biggest holdings, Cheung Kong, Hutchison Whampoa
and Husky Energy, all rose more than 10%. He also received
2012 dividends of $860 million.
 Li's businesses employ 260,000 -people around the world in
52 countries.
 Li-controlled companies bought British gas supplier Wales
& West Utilities for $1 billion in October; his third utilities
acquisition in the U.K. in 24 months. He now supplies gas
to a quarter of all Brits.
 Investor in such tech outfits as Facebook, spotify, and
social TV platform Stevie.

12.  Net worth: $30 billion
 Source: L’Oreal
 From: France
 Heiress to L’Oreal cosmetics fortune, there was
a more than 30% rise in the price of L’Oreal
stock.
 Now the world’s richest woman.
 ettencourt’s assets were placed under the
guardianship of her daughter in 2011 after a
three-year legal battle. Bettencourt, widowed
and age 90, suffers from dementia. Her
grandson, Jean-Victor Meyers, took her spot on
the L’Oreal board in February 2012.

13.  Net worth: $29 billion
 Source: LVMH
 From: France
 Forbes now values his direct stake in Christian
Dior, which in turn has a 41% stake in LVMH and
trades at a near 20% discount to the underlying
shares; previously we had valued the shares in
LVMH.
 LVMH shares rose more than 6%; U.S. sales grew
at a faster rate than sales in Asia region in the
fourth quarter
 t was announced in October that he will be
knighted for his services in the U.K.