Facebook pokes Forbes rich list

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Facebook executives have established themselves amongst the rich elite of Forbes’ latest billionaires list, despite remaining a private company, with its revenues held as a closely guarded secret.

An impressive six of the social network’s executives made this year’s list. Somewhat unsurprisingly, the company’s chief executive (CEO) Mark Zuckerberg came highest up the rankings, placing at 52 with an estimated wealth of $13.5 billion (£8.34 billion).

The co-founders of the site, Dustin Moskovitz and Eduardo Saverin, entered the list for the first time, with the former taking the crown of the world’s youngest billionaire.

Sean Parker and Yuri Milner, who invested in the site, also made their debuts, with the sixth spot going to fellow investor Peter Thiel.

Tech’s in the money

But it wasn’t only Facebook raking in the big bucks, according to Forbes’ list, and the technology industry helped make a lot of people billionaires.

Although no longer flying high at the top, Bill Gates still held the second spot with an estimated $56 billion and Oracle’s Larry Ellison came in fifth place with $39.5 billion.

The Google gang also made themselves known, with co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin coming in joint 24th, with an estimated $19.8 billion each, and Eric Schmidt took 136th spot with $7 billion.

Other notable tech stars included Amazon’s Jeff Bezos – 30th with $18.1 billion – Michael Dell – 44th with $14.6 billion – and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer – 46th with $14.5 billion.

However, arguably the most famous of the tech CEOs, Apple’s Steve Jobs, only came in 110th place with $8.3 billion.

UK still lagging

Although the UK produced a number of billionaires on the list, the highest place our countrymen achieved was 114th, going to investment and real estate professionals David and Simon Reuben.

Our best achiever in the technology field – although only one element of his business empire – was Richard Branson, taking 254th place with $4.2 billion.

Other noteworthy British entrants included inventor James Dyson – 420th with $2.7 billion – and mobile mogul John Caudwell – 651st with $ 1.9 billion.

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