Bill Gates is the richest man in the US and the second richest in the world with $61 billion
Bill Gates
GLOBAL RANK: 2
$61 BILLION
WASHINGTON, Microsoft
First part of mission accomplished: The most generous person on the planet has helped eradicate polio in India. In January the country announced its first polio-free year. Gates will continue to chip in $200 million a year to rid the world of a disease that is still endemic in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria. His Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is also spearheading a malaria vaccine that is showing promise in clinical trials, and it has committed more than $2 billion to small farmers. Less than one-fourth of his net worth is still held in Microsoft stock; the rest is in private equity, bonds and stocks such as Ecolab and Mexican broadcaster Televisa.
(This story appears in the 30 March, 2012 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)