The shrinking billionaires club

Allen Stanford and Mark Zuckerberg are among the names left off this year's contracting Forbes billionaires list, as Bill Gates regains his position as the world's richest person.

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The number of uber-rich people on the list dropped by almost a third from 1,125 billionaires in 2008 to 793 in 2009. Nine in 10 billionaires also lost money over the last 12 months, with a total of $2tr wiped from the wealth of billionaires.

Bill Gates regained his position as the world's richest man, with a personal fortune of $40bn despite losing $18bn this year. He leapfrogged investor Warren Buffett who fell to second place with $37bn, down from $62bn last year.

Mexican telecommunications tycoon Carlos Slim took third place as his fortune contracted by $25bn to $35bn.

Collectively the top three billionaires lost $68bn since the 2008 list was published.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is the only person in the top 20 to see his wealth increase. His net worth went up by $4.5bn following a re-evaluation of his financial data company.

Britons are among the biggest losers on the list, with the number of British billionaire falling from 35 to 25 over the last 12 months. Sir Richard Branson and Sir Philip Green both saw their fortunes slashed, it is suggested. Meanwhile, two-thirds of Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich's fortune was wiped out last year.

Duke of Westminster, Gerald Grosvenor, again led the way for the UK. His $11bn, down from $14bnast year, saw him placed 29th in the list of the world's richest billionaires.

Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson came in at 261, with his fortune shrinking from $4.4bn to $2.5bn during the year.

Retailer Sir Philip Green also had a painful financial year. He lost $3.6bn, with his wealth now estimated at $4.8bn.

Newcastle FC owner Michael Ashley saw his fortune tumble by $1.4bn over the last year to $1.1bn. The loss was dwarfed by fellow football boss Roman Abramovich. The Chelsea owner lost a staggering $15bn during the year, seeing his personal fortune drop to $8.5bn.

Mr Abramovich is one of 28 billionaires living in London, according to the Forbes list. The richest man living in the capital is Lakshmi Mittal, but the Indian steel tycoon also suffered from a tough year. His personal wealth fell from $45bn in 2008's list to $19.3bn this year.

Harry Potter writer J K Rowling remained on the billionaires list. Her $1bn, unchanged from last year, saw her rank 701 in the billionaires list.

Among those conspicuous by their absence from the list was Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, one of last year's stars when he became the youngest self-made billionaire to make the list.

Also dropping out were big name casualties of the financial crisis on Wall Street - former American International Group Inc chief executive Maurice "Hank" Greenberg and former Citigroup Inc chief executive Sanford Weill.

Allen Stanford, the Texan accused of an $8bn fraud by US regulators, was also booted off the list.

Crime, however, did not disqualify one notable new entry to the list - Mexican drug lord Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman, who is among the world's most wanted men and now worth $1bn.

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