Forbes 400 ranking of richest Americans has Bill Gates on top again

PanARMENIAN.Net - The annual Forbes 400 ranking of the richest Americans is out, and for the 23rd consecutive year it is very, very good to be Bill Gates, the Daily Mail reports.

The Microsoft founder's already massive wealth increased by $5billion over the past year, giving him a net worth of $81billion and putting him well ahead of runner-up Jeff Bezos.

The Amazon founder worked his way into the second spot for the first time this year with $67billion, enough to narrowly edge out Warren Buffet of Berkshire Hathaway, who was down one spot with $65.5billion.

Also notable are the 14 people under the age of 40 who made their way onto this year's list, with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg leading the pack at number four with a net worth of $55.5 billion after making over $15billion in the last year.

It was not however a great year for Donald Trump, who dropped to 156 on the list after losing $800million.

Trump fell 35 spots from last year, and is now behind 14 immigrants on the list with his net worth of $3.7billion.

The 14 Americans under the age of 40 is largely split between heirs to fortunes that now work for their family company and individuals in the technology field, the Daily Mail says.

In addition to Zuckerberg there is fellow Facebooker Dustin Moskowitz ($10.4billion); Airbnb founders Nathan Blecharczyk, Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia (all with $3.3billion); wireless-product maker and Memphis Grizzlies owner Robert Pera ($3.2billion); Facebook alum Sean Parker ($2.4billion); Evan Spiegel of Snapchat ($2.1billion); and Bobby Murphy of Snapchat ($1.8billion).