Forbes magazine has released its annual tally of the world's billionaires, including three with strong connections to geater Buffalo. The rankings, compiled each year by the magazine, include 210 billionaires new to the list, with 1,426 of them total worldwide. Their average net worth of $3.8 billion is up from 3.7 billion in 2012.
The United States still has more billionaires than any other country, although the world's richest person is not from the U.S. Microsoft founder Bill Gates remains the country's richest man, followed by Berkshire Hathaway's Warren Buffett.
Buffett, the owner of The Buffalo News, is still the second richest man in America-worth $53 Billion- according to the latest annual tally from Forbes.com.
And even though Buffett was the second biggest gainer on their 2013 list, he has been bumped out of the worldwide top three for the first time in 11 years, with the rise of some big global billionaires.
Local Luminaries on the 2013 list:
Rank
Name
Local Significance
2013 Worth
#458
Terry Pegula
Owns Buffalo Sabres
$ 3 billion
#527
Jeremy Jacobs
Owns Delaware North Cos., Boston Bruins.
UB Council Chair. Lives in East Aurora
$2.7 billion
#613
Robert Rich Jr.
Owns Rich Products Corp., Buffalo Bisons .
$2.4 Billion
#931
B. Tom Golisano
Owns Paychex of Rochester, Former Sabres Owner
$1.6 billion
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Forbes says the ranks of the world's billionaires have yet again reached all-time highs, both in terms of the number of billionaires (1,426) and record net worth ($5.4 trillion)
How Much Money is a Billion Dollars?
Each year Buffalo State College Mathematics Instructor Tina Carter asks her students whether it would be worth Bill Gate's while to stop and pick up a hundred dollar bill off the sidewalk. If time is money, it isn't.
"If you just think of his salary, of $3.7 billion a year, that is per minute over $7,000 a minute. Every second he makes makes over $118 ," says Carter, who calculates that a stack of dollar bills equal to Gate's one year net worth would be 4,537 miles high.
One billion dollar bills laid end to end would stretch over 117,000 miles- more than 8 Buffalo to Beijing round trips.
The average annual salary in Buffalo of $55,000 equals approx. $150 per day. For a billionaire, that same daily amount is $27 Million.
By percentage, Buffalo Sabres owner Terry Pegula spends about the same on players' salaries ($70 million) as that average earner would pay for weekly parking downtown ($4.80 a day)
How do They Rank? Forbes says Pegula's $3 billion net worth is greater than Oprah Winfrey's $2.8 B or David Rockefeller's $2.7 B. Director Steven Spielberg beats out Donald Trump. Buffalo's other billionaires - Jeremy Jacobs & Bob Rich Jr.- both outrank Ted Turner and T. Boone Pickens.
"A billion is just so much. We used to be obsessed with millions, and I guess that people that have that much money are interesting. We all fantasize about having that much money,"
- Prof. Bob Thompson Syracuse University's Blier Center for The Study of TV & Pop Culture
Carlos Slim Helú (#1) is the world’s richest person on Forbes’ 27th annual ranking of the world’s billionaires. With a net worth of $73 billion, up from $69 billion in 2012, the telecom magnate from Mexico tops the list for the fourth year in a row.
BillGates retains the #2 spot with a net worth of $67 billion. Zara’s Amancio Ortega (#3) moves up two spots from 2012, with a net worth of $57 billion, ahead of Warren Buffett (#4) with a net worth of $53.5 billion. This marks the first year Buffett has not been in the Top 3 since 2000, in spite of being the second biggest gainer this year, up $9.5 billion.
Rebounding equity markets and strong consumer brands drove a huge number of newcomers into the billionaire ranks. This year 210 billionaires are new to the list, while 60 dropped off (still more died or split their fortunes with a family). A record 1,426 billionaires (up 200 from 1,226 in 2012) made the list, with an average net worth of $3.8 billion (up from $3.7 billion in 2012). Added together, the total net worth for this year’s billionaires is $5.4 trillion, up from $4.6 trillion last year. The U.S. leads the list, with 442 billionaires, followed by Asia-Pacific (386), Europe (366), The Americas (129) and the Middle East & Africa (103).
A total 138 women made the list this year, an increase of 34. With a net worth of $30 billion, Liliane Bettencourt(# 9) is now the richest woman in the world. Other women on the list include Miuccia Prada (# 78) of Italy, Anne Cox Chambers (#80) of the U.S., and new to the list, Margarita Louis-Dreyfus (#198) of Switzerland, with net worths of $12.4 billion, $12 billion and $6 billion, respectively.
Notable newcomers include: Singapore real estate magnates Robert& Philip Ng (#108), worth $10.1 billion; Diesel jeans mogul Renzo Rosso (#458), worth $3 billion; Hermes’ Nicolas Puech (#704) worth $2.1 billion; GoPro’s Nicholas Woodman (#1107), with a net worth of $1.3 billion, retailer Bruce Nordstrom (#1175), worth $1.2 billion, fashion designer Tory Burch (#1342) and former business partner and ex-husband Christopher Burch(#1342), each with a net worth of $1 billion, and American filmmaker Ryan Kavanaugh (#1342) also with a net worth of $1 billion.
Amancio Ortega is the world’s biggest gainer in dollar terms, adding $19.5 billion to his net worth. Another gainer: New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg(#13), who moves up from the No. 20 spot last year with a net worth of $27 billion (an increase of $5 billion from 2012). The year’s biggest loser, with a $19.4 billion drop in his fortune, is Brazilian Eike Batista (#100). Mark Zuckerberg (#66) has a net worth of $13.3 billion, compared to $17.5 billion in 2012, when he ranked #35. Notable drop-offs include Zynga’s Mark Pincus, former Chesapeake Energy CEO Aubrey McClendon, Alex Lebedev. The Top 10 have a combined net worth of $451.5 billion, up from $395.4 billion in 2012
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Buffett, the owner of The Buffalo News, is still the second richest man in America-worth $53 Billion- according to the latest annual tally from Forbes.com. 
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How do They Rank? Forbes says Pegula's $3 billion net worth is greater than Oprah Winfrey's $2.8 B or David Rockefeller's $2.7 B. Director Steven Spielberg beats out Donald Trump. Buffalo's other billionaires - Jeremy Jacobs & Bob Rich Jr.- both outrank Ted Turner and T. Boone Pickens.