Dangote joins league of world’s richest people - Buffett dethrones Bill Gates

By Edekyn Ilofuan with Agency report - 07.03.2008

Nigerian businessman, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, has joined the league of world’s richest people according to Forbes magazine’s latest rating. He is worth $3.3 billion.

The founder of mobile phone firm, Celtel International, Sudan-born Mo Ibrahim and South Africa’s Patrice Motsepe, a minerals boss, also made the list. He is worth $2.4 billion.

Meanwhile, Warren Buffett has unseated his friend, Bill Gates, to become the wealthiest individual on the globe.

The Nebraska-based investor known as the Sage of Omaha saw his fortune swell by $10 billion (£5 billion) to $62 billion last year as he made a series of shrewd punts, including a bet on Brazil’s currency and profit on the oil company PetroChina, which has drawn flak for its links to Sudan’s government.

Buffett’s earnings propelled him to the top of Forbes magazine’s annual ranking of the world’s billionaires, ending a 13-year reign for Gates, who slipped to third.