World’s richest people were hit by the same recession as the rest of us.

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This recession has hit world’s richest people, including billionaire William Bill Gates. According to business magazine Forbes in the year 2008 there were 1,200 billionaires in the world, but this year that number has dropped dramatically to 793, which means there is a loss of 432 billionaires. The richest people in the world could not escape from this recession and among the losers are UK billionaires, who have lost more than any other billionaires in the world.

Although Bill Gates has regained his position in the world richest man being at No.1, even he has lost 18 billion dollars, while British Billionaire Sir Richard Branson the owner of Virgin Atlantic has secured his place at 261 with the loss of 1.9 billion dollars. His fortune was estimated at 4.4 billion dollar in year 2008. Another British billionaire Sir Philip Green, the owner of retail chain Top Shop, who also owns several other retail shops, has had a disaster year with the loss of 3.6 billion dollars. .

“Duke of Westminster, Gerald Grosvenor, again led the way for the UK. His 11 billion dollars (£8 billion) – down from 14 billion dollars (£10.2 billion) last year – saw him placed 29th in the list of the world’s richest billionaires.” uk.news.yahoo.com/21/20090311/tuk-doom-and-gloom-for-uk-billionaires-6323e80.html.

The English football also had a rough year, Michael Ashley the owner of Newcastle Football Club has plunge from 1.4 billion dollars during last year to 1.1 billion dollars. He was followed by other influential billionaire Roman Abramovich, the owner of Chelsea Football Club, who has lost a shocking of 15 billion US dollars.

Warner Buffett, who was at number 1 at the list of richest people in the world last year, has lost 25 billion dollars, despite the loss of his fortune he stands at No. 2. Carlos Silm Helu the owner of Mexican telecom giant has also lost 25 billion dollars and dropped to No. 3.

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It is not bad news for one billionaire in particular Michael Bloomberg the Mayor of New York . He is among the luckiest billionaires in the world becuase his wealth has been increased during the gloomy year of 2008. Mr. Bloomberg fortune has been increased by 4.5 billion dollars, while others have been decreasing. Even billionaires in Asia and other parts of the world have suffered from the economic downturn, Anil Ambani is an Indian billionaires has lost $32 billion which is 76 percent of his fortune. Dmitry Pumpyansky is a Russian billionar, who has lost $5 billion.

“The world’s richest are also a lot poorer. Their collective net worth is $2.4 trillion, down $2 trillion from a year ago. Their average net worth fell 23% to $3 billion. The last time the average was that low was in 2003.” http://www.forbes.com/2009/03/11/worlds-richest-people-billionaires-2009-billionaires-intro.html