The Richest Of Them All

The soaring stock market helped land 60 new names on this year's list of the richest Americans, turning 35 of them into billionaires, according to Forbes magazine's latest ranking of the nation's wealthiest people.

Of the rookies, 19 made fortunes from Internet-related businesses, including Amazon.com chairman Jeffrey Bezos, ranked 18th with a net worth of $7.8 billion. Jay Walker, founder of the online merchant Priceline.com, ranked 43rd with $4.1 billion.

Wall Street also helped some on the list become billionaires almost overnight. No. 68 Gary Winnick joined the billionaires club just 18 months after founding Global Crossing, which is building a global fiber optic telecommunications network.

The 400 richest Americans for the first time have collectively amassed $1 trillion, a figure greater than the gross domestic product of China.

The total number of billionaires on the annual list increased by 79 to 268, making 1999 the first time billionaires made up more than half the list, Forbes said in its issue dated Oct. 11.

The minimum net worth needed to qualify for the Forbes 400 rose to $625 million from $500 million in 1998.

Bill Gates retained his place as the richest of them all. The Microsoft Corp. chairman saw his net worth jump to $85 billion, up from $59 billion a year ago.

Gates was twice as wealthy as the second richest American, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, who has a net worth of $40 billion. Warren Buffett, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., ranked third with $31 billion.

Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's president, was No. 4 with $23 billion, and No. 5 was Dell Computer chief executive officer Michael Dell, with $20 billion.

A college degree was not required to make the list; at least 63 members never graduated college. Their net worth averaged was $4.3 billion.

Nearly 40 percent of the list, or 149 members, got rich the easy way: They inherited some or all of their wealth. Their average net worth was $2.5 billion.

The 251 members who made it rich on their own had an average net worth of $2.7 billion.

The average age of Forbes 400 members was 60, with financier Max Fisher the oldest at 91 and Daniel Ziff, of Ziff Brothers Investments, the youngest at 27.

And nearly a quarter of the 400 live in California. The state's 98 members on the list include many Silicon Valley and other high-tech executives.