Sunday, May 20, 2001		Article

THE man everybody said will one day rule the world— unbeatable Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates—has been edged out of the world’s richest man slot by Sam Robson Walton of Wal-Mart, whose supermarket chain was this year rated as the third-most admired company in the USA by Fortune magazine.

Gates, who had been firmly ensconced at the top of the super-rich bandwagon for years, with his wealth touching an unrivalled 53 billion pounds in 2000, has in the past year seen his fortune slide down to 37.5 billion pounds, a result of the bursting of the "internet bubble" and the consequent decline in the returns on hi-tech investments, according to the annual list of the rich, 2001, published in The Sunday Times.

The billionaire who replaces him in the ratings, robson walton, a vintage car racer, sits on a pile of riches whose worth is estimated to be 45.3 billion pounds, which, interestingly, is down from last year’s high of 52.8 billion pounds. And the first million in this pile was made by Robson Walton’s father and founder of Wal-mart, sam Walton, who came to be known as the "king of department stores".

Robson, 55, was named chairman of the Wal-Mart empire on his father’s death in 1992. The world’s largest retailer in the world today, the Wal-mart supermarket chain had a humble birth in a store set up in Rogers, Arkansas, in 1962. The business grew at a rapid pace and by the 1980’s, its sales were worth over $ 1 billion and its network comprised over 300 stores across the USA. Today, the number of stores has gone up to 3,896, with sales worth $ 138 billion.

When sam Walton died in 1992, he was the world’s second richest man after Gates. The legacy of the "Ten Commandments of leadership" in the retail business that he gave have apparently contributed to making his empire the biggest money-spinner and his son the word’s richest man today. These "commandments" were :Commit to your goals; share your rewards; energise your colleagues; communicate all you know; value your associates; celebrate your success; listen to everyone; deliver more than you promise; work smarter than others; and blaze your own path.

Now the second richest man, Bill Gates, of course , needs no introduction. Facing anti-trust investigations and a decline in Microsoft stock, the company’s co-founder and till last year the world’s richest man has slowly been moving away from the spotlight. He passed on the post of Microsoft president in 1998, and that of the CEO in 2000 to Steve Ballmer. He, however, still remains the chief software architect of the company.

The son of a lawyer father and teacher mother, Gates dropped out of preschool to give shape to his dream to build a software giant along with friend Paul Allen, then just three years’ old. Though he rejoined school for a few years, he dropped out of Harvard University to devote all his time to his dream project—Microsoft. And that was the beginning of his fabled success story.

Behind Gates, the third richest man is Larry Ellison, founder and CEO of Oracle Corporation, whose wealth has shown a quantum jump from 8.1 billion pounds in 2000 to 29 billion pounds this year.

Since he founded the company in 1977, Ellison’s career at Oracle has spanned over two decades, during which he has shouldered different responsibilities, including the stint as the president from 1977 to 1996.

Under his stewardship, Oracle has become a leading software developer of the world, its products having had a strong bearing on information technology.

King Fahd of Saudi Arabia is fourth in the 2001 rich list with assets valued at 20 billlion pounds, up from 17.5 billion pounds last year.

He came into power in 1982 and all his wealth is on account of the oil trade, investments and property.

A son of King Abdul Aziz Bin Abdul Rahman Al-Saud, the legendary founder of Saudi Arabia, King Fahd is the fifth leader to direct the development of the country from a desert state to a prominent political and economic power.

Close behind him is Warren Buffett, revered as the ‘’ god of value investors’’, with a fortune of 17.3 billlion pounds.

He is the man who has consciously stayed away from the mad scramble for technology stocks, steadfastly maintaining that it is "much easier to predict the relative strength that Coke will have in the soft drink world than Microsoft will have in the software world".

Chairman and CEO of Bershire Hathaway, he is acknowledged as the world’s "savviest investor". Also called "oracle of Ohama", this grandfatherly figure owes his riches to his uncanny knack of spotting undervalued companies, buying them when they’re cheap and then reaping the fruits of their growth.

Best known as Microsoft co-founder, Paul Allen has been rated this year’s sixth richest man with a fortune of 17 billion pounds, much below his last year’s assets of 25 billion pounds.

He was ranked second on Forbes world’s richest list for 1999 and third on Forbes 400 US richest list for 2000.

Next on the list, the Sheikh of Abu Dhabi, Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, has earned his billions from the oil trade and investments. His fortune has shown an upswing from 12.5 billion pounds in 2000 to 15.3 billion pounds this year.

The man who got his early education from local clerics and wandering Bedouin tribesmen in the desert has made significant contributions to the development of his country, the primary one being management of supply and distribution of water to the desert areas.

Forrest Mars Jr, heir to a massive US confectionery empire, follows the Sheikh in the ratings with a fortune of 14 billion pounds.

And close behind him, in the ninth-richest bracket are Karl and Theo Albrecht of Germany, whose 13.3 billion-pound wealth is generated by their deep-discount supermarket chain of Aldi Stores.

Believed to be one of Germany’s largest landowners, this year they are also topping the list of richest Europeans.

This slot is shared by Prince Alwaleed of Saudi Arabia, whose big bet on citibank was his claim to fame and his pot of gold in the 90s, and US media personalities Barbara Cox Anthony and Anne Cox Chambers.

— Chetna Banerjee