The year's biggest dollar gainer was Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, whose fortune jumped USD 15.2 billion, to USD 28.5 billion, as shares of his social network soared.
Moreover, the company's COO, Sheryl Sandberg, joined the ranks for the first time, as does Facebook's longtime vice president Jeff Rothschild.
Also, thanks to a USD 19 billion deal with Facebook, WhatsApp founders Jan Koum and Brian Acton also joined the ranks of Silicon Valley's wealthiest for the first time.
Bill Gates was the riches tech billionaire with a net worth of USD 76 billion, followed by Larry Ellison who retained the second spot among tech's wealthiest who has a fortune of USD 48 billion.
"Mark Zuckerberg, moved up from ninth to sixth among the top richest techies. Bolstered by Facebook's stock price, which is up more than 130 per cent in the last year, Zuck's net worth has more than doubled this year to an estimated USD 28.5 billion, putting him within touching distance of Google's Sergey Brin," Forbes said.
The top 10 tech billionaires include, Jeff Bezos ranked 18th in the global list with a fortune of USD 32 billion, Sergey Brin (19, USD 31.8 billion), Mark Zuckerberg (21, USD 28.5 billion), Steve Ballmer (36, USD 19.3 billion), Michael Dell (48, USD 17.5 billion), Paul Allen (56, USD 15.9 billion) and Azim Premji ( 61, USD 15.3 billion), Forbes said.
