US News

Tough Zuck, ‘lo$er’

Mark Zuckerberg has the world’s largest social network, but he doesn’t have anything close to the world’s fattest wallet.

A list of the world’s 20 wealthiest people was released yesterday, and filthy rich Facebook phenom Zuckerberg didn’t even make the cut.

Topping the list is Carlos Slim, the telecommunications tycoon who controls Mexico’s América Móvil SAB, according to the new Bloomberg Billionaires Index, a daily ranking of the 20 richest people on the planet.

Slim’s net worth was calculated at $68.5 billion as of the close of markets Friday.

That was after the 72-year-old Slim lost $478.4 million in a single day.

The No. 2 spot went to Bill Gates, the Microsoft founder, who is worth $62.4 billion. Although he lost $102.1 million Friday, Gates is up 11 percent for the year.

Falling behind him with $43.8 billion is investment titan Warren Buffett, 81, head of Omaha, Neb.-based Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

He lost $336.9 million Friday, a drop in the bucket considering his net worth is up 2.4 percent in 2012.

The combined net worth of the 20 richest people is $676.8 billion. Nine are Americans, including three from the family of Sam Walton, the Walmart founder.

Also on the list is Brazil’s Eike Batista, who ranks 10th. Batista still covets the top spot after vowing a year ago he’d become the world’s wealthiest man by 2015.

“I’m competitive,” Batista, who trails Slim by almost $39 billion, told Bloomberg from Rio de Janeiro.

“Brazilians have always admired the American dream. What’s happening in Brazil is the Brazilian dream.”

Although Facebook is valued at roughly $100 billion, Zuckerberg’s stake may be worth $21 billion, or about 25 percent below previous estimates, according to Bloomberg News.

Facebook will issue more than 500 million shares of its class-B stock at its upcoming initial public offering, diluting the 27-year-old tycoon’s ownership.

Liliane Bettencourt, 89, who with her family owns 31 percent of cosmetics company L’Oreal, is last on the ranking.