SWNZ Forums

The Forbes List 2011 of the world's billionaires is out. Yesterday's NZ Herald gave a few of the recognisable names:

1. Carlos Slim, Mexican telecoms magnate, US$74 billion
2. Bill Gates, Microsoft founder, US$56 billion
3. Warren Buffett, philanthropist, US$50 billion

24. Larry Page, head of Google, US$19.8 billion

52. Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, US$13.5 billion

110. Steve Jobs, Apple boss, US$8.3 billion

122. Rupert Murdoch, media mogul, US$7.6 billion

136. Giorgio Armani, fashion empire, US$7 billion

347. George Lucas, Star Wars creator, US$3.2 billion

420. Oprah Winfrey, chat show host, US$2.7 billion

1140. JK Rowling, Harry Potter author, US$1 billion

I like that on the Forbes website they don't list his occupation as Producer or Movie Maker but just as Star Wars....I wonder if Mr Lucas is a bit gutted none of his other work gets a little credit?

The Indiana Jones series is succesful, but the rest is rather dismal (Willow, Howard the Duck, etc.), although American Grafitti is popular with many people too. Then there is George Lucas' other companies and their creations: LucasArts, THX, Skywalker Sound, ILM, etc.

It's no different with many others on the list though. Steve Jobs is a lot more than just "Apple boss" ... he co-founded Apple, he founded Pixar, he founded NeXT (in many ways the basis for Mac OS X), etc. Plus of course Steve Jobs only accepts a $1 per year salary (yes, one dollar) since his return to Apple, otherwise he would have been much higher up the list by now.

Oprah Winfrey is more than just a "Chat show host" these days too ... more like a media mogul and philanthropist.

I think the description is more a case of the main thing that made them famous / rich, rather than a complete list of everything they've done.