Mexico's Carlos Slim beat Bill Gates and Warren Buffett for the top spot on Forbes magazine's annual list of billionaires, becoming the first person from outside the United States to lead the rankings in 16 years.

The net worth of Slim, 70, who built a telecommunications empire after buying Mexico's state-run phone monopoly two decades ago, rose by $18.5 billion to $53.5 billion. Gates, 54, chairman of Microsoft, fell to second as his net worth increased by $13 billion to $53 billion. Buffett, 79, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, was third with $47 billion, a rise of $10 billion.

Larry Ellison, 65, chief executive of Redwood Shores-based Oracle, fell to sixth from fourth as his net worth increased by $5.5 billion to $28 billion.

In addition to Ellison, other Silicon Valley executives on the list include Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, at No. 24 with individual net worths of $17.5 billion, up from No. 26 and $12 billion last year; Google CEO Eric Schmidt, No. 117 with a net worth of $6.3 billion; Apple CEO Steve Jobs at 136 with a net worth of $5.5 billion; and eBay founder Pierre Omidyar at 148 with a net worth of $5.2 billion.

Slim is the first person other than Gates, last year's richest person, or Buffett to top the list since 1994, which was also the last time a billionaire from outside the United States led the ranking: Japanese real estate tycoon Yoshiaki Tsutsumi.

By Chris Dolmetsch and Crayton Harrison

Bloomberg News

Posted: 03/11/2010 02:47:30 PM PST

Updated: 03/11/2010 04:10:21 PM PST

http://www.mercurynews.com/business-headlines/ci_14657293