The richest people in the world - 2012

According to the daily updated Bloomberg rankings , the fortune of the Spaniard Amancio Ortega, founder of the retailer Inditex SA, operator of the Zara retail chain, has increased the most. He improved his fortune by $22.2 billion, and now has $59.3 billion in his accounts, according to Bloomberg.

Inditex shares grew by 66.7% in 2012 and this allowed it to rise to third place in the ranking. However, according to Barclays analyst Christodoulos Haviaras, Inditex will no longer be able to earn as much money in 2013.

The top five of the ranking has not changed; the leader remains 72-year-old Mexican Carlos Slim, owner of the mobile operator America Movil SAB: his fortune increased by $13.4 billion over 12 months to $76.4 billion.

The second place is occupied by 57-year-old Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft. He became richer by $7 billion to $63.4 billion. The company's shares rose 2.9% over the year and account for less than 20% of his fortune.

The fourth is 82-year-old Warren Buffett, whose fortune increased to $49.8 billion in a year, even despite donating 22.3 million Berkshire shares to charity.

And fifth position is occupied by the founder of IKEA, 86-year-old Ingvar Kamprad, with a fortune of $43.4 billion. In 2012, his capital increased by 16.6%.

Photo: Reuters

Overall, the richest people added about $241 billion to their wealth over the past year. And only 16 out of 100 ranking participants did not receive income over the past year.

For example, Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud, founder and owner of one of the most successful investment corporations, Kingdom Holding, was in 12th place in the ranking with a fortune of $28.2 billion.

Photo: ibtimes