Thursday 01 October 2015 5:32 am

Forbes reveals the wealthiest US businessmen are getting poorer

Are America's wealthiest businessmen getting poorer? Forbes released its 40-strong American rich-list yesterday, putting Windows founder Bill Gates in first place for the 22nd year in a row.

However, his net worth is down by almost seven per cent to a slightly more modest $76bn (£53bn).

Gates beat US business icon Warren Buffett, whose net worth also fell by just over seven per cent to $62bn this year.

In fact, the majority of Forbes’ top 10 wealthiest Americans have lost money rather than made it.

Gates, Buffett, Koch Industries boss Charles Koch and brother David and Walmart boss Jim Walton have all lost at least $1bn this year.

Meanwhile, there’s better news for those in tech and online entrepreneurship. Amazon founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos, coming in at number four on the list, was the biggest gainer overall.

With a net worth of $47bn, Bezos’ bank balance is reportedly up $16.5bn after Amazon reported a quarterly profit in July.

Also flying the flag for young businesses (and businessmen) was Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who entered the top 10 for the first time this year with the princely sum of $40.3bn.

The youngest billionaire on this year’s list is Snapchat founder and chief executive Evan Spiegel, who at 25 has already amassed a net worth of $2.1bn. What had you achieved by the age of 25?