Gates, Bezos and Zuckerberg top Forbes richest in tech list

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SAN FRANCISCO — The rich keep getting richer in tech.

The combined wealth of the 100 richest tech billionaires — a whopping $892 billion — surged 6% since last year.

Forbes released the stats in its second annual Richest in Tech list on Wednesday.

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates (personal net worth $78 billion) took the top spot again, followed by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos ($66.2 billion). Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg ($54 billion) took third place, and Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison ($51.7 billion) fell two spots to fourth.

Facebook and Amazon both saw remarkable growth this year despite the tumultuous stock market. Facebook’s ever-increasing mobile ad growth propelled the company’s revenue to increase 59% in its last three-month quarter ending June 30.

Amazon, meanwhile, saw its net income multiply nine times since last year to $857 million, fueled in part by strong demand for its free-shipping membership, Amazon Prime.

Bezos is also the third-richest person in the world, surpassed only by Gates and Amancio Ortega, founder of Spanish retail giant Inditex fashion group.

Other top tech billionaires include Google co-founder and its parent company Alphabet CEO Larry Page ($39 billion) fifth on the list, Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk ($12.7 billion) 15th and Chinese retail giant Alibaba executive chairman Jack Ma ($25.8 billion) No. 8.

Here’s a list of the top-10 richest in tech (net worth):

1. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, $78 billion

2. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, $66.2 billion

3. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, $54 billion

4. Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, $51.7 billion

5. Alphabet CEO Larry Page, $39 billion

6. Alphabet President Sergey Brin, $38.2 billion

7. Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, $27.7 billion

8. Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma, $25.8 billion

9. Tencent CEO Ma Huateng, $22 billion

10. Dell CEO Michael Dell, $20 billion