Two more Canadians join Forbes billionaires list

Last Updated: Thursday, February 26, 2004 | 4:56 PM ET

CBC News

Two more Canadians made their debut into the exclusive group of people worth at least $1 billion US in 2004, according to Forbes magazine's annual survey of the world's wealthiest.

Stephen Jarislowky, the 78-year-old head of investment management firm Jarislowsky, Fraser Ltd, made his first appearance on the list in 514th place. Forbes pegs his net worth at $1.1 billion US.

The other Canadian to join the billionaires club for the first time was Guy Laliberte. The 44-year-old is the founder and CEO of the Montreal-based performance troupe Cirque du Soleil. The magazine says he's also worth $1.1 billion US.

Cirque du Soleil founder joins billionaire club

Broadcaster and cable baron Ted Rogers rejoined the list following a one-year absence. He's in 342nd spot with a net worth of $1.7 billion US.

Eugene Melnyk, CEO of drug maker Biovail, fell off the billionaires list as the value of his Biovail shares fell.

That leaves the number of Canadian individuals or families who are billionaires (by U.S. standards) to 17.

J.K. Rowling rides 'Harry Potter' books to $1 billion US fortune

The richest Canadian entry, according to Forbes, continues to be media magnate Ken Thomson and his family, who rank 15th on the list overall with a net worth of $17.2 billion US.

Other new billionaires on the Forbes list include "Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling, who managed to crack the billion dollar US threshold for the first time.

The founders of the Google search engine, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, also made their first appearance on the list.

The strength of the euro against the U.S. dollar helped to boost the number of European billionaires from 142 to 164.

Bill Gates remains world's richest man

The world's richest person remains Microsoft founder Bill Gates – worth $46.6 billion US, up $5.9 billion US from his 2003 worth.

That puts Gates just a few billion dollars richer than investor Warren Buffett, whose net worth exploded by $12.4 billion US to $42.9 billion US.

In its annual ranking of the world's richest, the magazine said 587 individuals or families have net worths of at least $1 billion US. Their total net worths reached $1.9 trillion US.

Here are the 17 Canadians on Forbes 2004 billionaires list, with their world rankings and net worth (in U.S. dollars):

• 15. Ken Thomson and family (publishing) $17.2 billion
• 44. Galen Weston and family (groceries) $7.7 billion
• 94. Jim Pattison (media, advertising) $4.6 billion
• 103. Jeff Skoll (eBay founder) $4.4 billion
• 124. Irving family (oil) $3.8 billion
• 159. Barry Sherman (Apotex drugs) $3.0 billion
• 205. Charles Bronfman (media) $2.5 billion
• 216. Paul Desmarais and family (Power Corp.) $2.4 billion
• 216. Michael Lee-Chin (mutual funds) $2.4 billion
• 222. Wallace McCain (food processing) $1.8 billion
• 342. Saputo family (dairy) $1.7 billion
• 342. Ted Rogers (media) $1.7 billion
• 377. Daryl Katz (drugs) $1.5 billion
• 406. Jean Coutu (drugs) $1.4 billion
• 472. Harrison McCain (french fries) $1.2 billion
• 514. Stephen Jarislowsky (investments) $1.1 billion
• 514. Guy Laliberte (entertainment) $1.1 billion US.

Terry Matthews, who has lived in Ottawa for years but has British citizenship, saw the value of his stake in Alcatel triple in 2003. Alcatel bought Newbridge Networks in 1999 for $7 billion US. Matthews' net worth is $1.2 billion US, according to Forbes