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Johannesburg - South Africans have scored three spots on the Forbes Rich List for 2010, released on Wednesday. It showed that Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim beat Bill Gates to the number one slot as the world's richest person with a fortune worth $53.5bn.
Slim's family empire controls more than 200 companies spanning industries which include banking, telecommunications, road-building and restaurants.
The mother of all rich lists also featured moneyed locals Nicky Oppenheimer at number 154, while Patrice Motsepe and Johann Rupert shared slot number 421.
According to Forbes, valuations take into account stakes in publicly-traded and privately-held companies, real estate, paintings, gems, yachts and planes, plus hoards of cash.
The Oppenheimer family is worth $5bn and owns 40% of De Beers, the world's largest diamond group. Slowing sales on the back of a global financial slowdown saw the family pump $400m into the diamond giant to recapitalise and keep the group's ownership structure in tact, according to Forbes, but did not cause a drop in the family fortunes.
Mining magnate Motsepe, the country's first black billionaire, is worth $1bn. His wealth increased last year as the stock prices of his resources holdings rose, according to Forbes.
The ten-figure titan behind African Rainbow Minerals also owns a 6.2% stake in Sanlam.
Bling is back if your name is Johann Rupert. A great deal of his wealth is locked up in his family's publicly-traded Swiss luxury group Richemont, which owns Cartier, Dunhill and other premium brands. The stock's worth doubled in the past year, helped by Christmas sales that were ahead of expectation, said Forbes.
The Rupert family also owns wine estates in the Stellenbosch region and exclusive golf estate Leopard Creek.
Other billionaires on the list included Warren Buffett in third place. India's Lakshmi Mittal, who owns a majority stake in ArcelorMittal (the world's largest steel maker), secured the fifth spot.
The world has 1 011 billionaires, up from 793 a year ago but still shy of the record 1 125 in 2008. Of those billionaires on last year's list, only 12% saw their fortunes decline, said Forbes.
- Fin24.com