New York: Five Indian-Americans have been named among the 400 richest people in the US by Forbes, a list topped by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates for the 21st year in a row with a net worth of $81 billion.
Founder of outsourcing firm Syntel Bharat Desai, entrepreneur John Kapoor, Symphony Technology founder Romesh Wadhwani, Silicon Valley angel investor Kavitark Ram Shriram and venture capitalist Vinod Khosla are among ‘The Richest People In America 2014’ list by Forbes.
Forbes said 2014 was another record year for American wealth, when the aggregate net worth of the richest 400 Americans was $2.29 trillion, up $270 billion from a year ago.
“Thanks to a buoyant stock market, the richest people in the US just keep getting richer,” Forbes said.
Gates is the richest American for the 21st year in a row, with a net worth of $81 billion. The Microsoft chairman’s stake in the software company he co-founded accounts for just under 20 per cent of his total net worth. His friend Warren Buffett, chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway, occupies the number two spot on the 400, a rank he has held since 2001 with a net worth of $67 billion.
Larry Ellison, who just announced that he was giving up the CEO role at Oracle, the software firm he founded, comes in at number three, with a net worth of 50 billion dollars.
Desai and his family rank 255 on the list, followed by Kapoor who is ranked 261, Wadhwani (264), Shriram (350) and Khosla (381).
Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg is now the 11th richest person in the US, and the biggest dollar gainer on the list. His fortune soared to $34 billion, up $15 billion since last year, due to a sharp rise in the price of the social network’s shares.
