Despite dropping out of the top spot on the billionaires list, Bill Gates' fortune rose by $13 billion US last year. (Jerome Favre/Associated Press)

For the third time in three years, the world has a new richest man.

Riding surging prices of his various telecom holdings, including giant mobile outfit America Movil, Mexican tycoon Carlo Slim Helu has beaten out Americans Bill Gates and Warren Buffett to become the wealthiest person on Earth and nab the top spot on the 2010 Forbes list of the World's Billionaires.

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• The World's Billionaires
• Spending Buffett's Money
• Cost Of Living Large
• Billionaire Bachelors And Bachelorettes
• New Billionaires
• Women Billionaires
• Youngest Billionaires

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Slim's fortune has swelled to an estimated $53.5 billion (all figures U.S.), up $18.5 billion in 12 months. Shares of America Movil, of which Slim owns a $23 billion stake, were up 35 per cent in a year.

Carlos Slim Helu's fortune has grown by $18.5 billion US in the past year. (Associated Press)

That massive hoard of scratch puts him ahead of Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates, who had held the title of world's richest 14 of the past 15 years.

Gates, now worth $53 billion, is ranked second in the world. He is up $13 billion from a year ago as shares of Microsoft rose 50 per cent in 12 months. Gates' holdings in his personal investment vehicle Cascade also soared with the rest of the markets.

Buffett's fortune jumped $10 billion to $47 billion on rising shares of Berkshire Hathaway. He ranks third.

The Oracle of Omaha shrewdly invested $5 billion in Goldman Sachs and $3 billion in General Electric amid the 2008 market collapse. He also recently acquired railroad giant Burlington Northern Santa Fe for $26 billion.

In his annual shareholder letter Buffett wrote, "We've put a lot of money to work during the chaos of the last two years. When it's raining gold, reach for a bucket, not a thimble."

Many plutocrats did just that. Indeed, last year's wealth wasteland has become a billionaire bonanza. Most of the richest people on the planet have seen their fortunes soar in the past year.

This year the World's Billionaires have an average net worth of $3.5 billion, up $500 million in 12 months. The world has 1,011 10-figure titans, up from 793 a year ago but still shy of the record 1,125 in 2008. Of those billionaires on last year's list, only 12 per cent saw their fortunes decline.

24 Canadian billionaires

A total of 24 Canadian citizens made the list of billionaires. The richest among them is Toronto media mogul David Thomson and his family. With a net worth of $19 billion US, Thomson, the chairman of Thomson Reuters, is ranked 20th richest in the world, up from 24th in 2009 (when he had $13 billion).

Thomson's rise in the ranks knocked his longtime rival Michael Bloomberg out of the top 20. Bloomberg, the New York City mayor who owns the Bloomberg media company, is now ranked 23rd, with a fortune of $18 billion.

U.S. billionaires still dominate the ranks — but their grip is slipping. Americans account for 40 per cent of the world's billionaires, down from 45 per cent a year ago.

The U.S. commands 38 per cent of the collective $3.6 trillion net worth of the world's richest, down from 44% a year ago.

Of the 97 new members of the list, only 16 per cent are from the U.S. By contrast, Asia made big gains. The region added 104 moguls and now has just 14 fewer than Europe, thanks to several large public offerings and swelling stock markets.

The new billionaires include American Isaac Perlmutter, who flipped Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion last December. The Spider-Man mogul netted nearly $900 million in cash and 20 million shares of Disney in the transaction.

Also new to the ranking: 27 billionaires from China, including Li Shufu, whose automaker, Geely, announced plans to buy Swedish brand Volvo from Ford in December. The deal is expected to close in March 2010.

Media mogul David Thomson, with a net fortune of $19 billion US, is the richest Canadian on the list of the world's billionaires. (Lars Hagberg/Associated Press)

Finland and Pakistan both welcomed their first billionaires.

For the first time China (including Hong Kong) has the most billionaires outside the U.S. with 89.

Russia has 62 billionaires, 28 of them returnees who had fallen off last year's list amid a meltdown in commodities. Total returnees to the list this year: 164.

Eleven countries have at least double the number of billionaires they had a year ago, including China, India, Turkey and South Korea.

Thirty members of last year's list fell out of the billionaire's club. Moguls who couldn't make the cut: Iceland's Thor Bjorgolfsson, Russia's Boris Berezovsky and Saudi Arabia's Maan Al-Sanea.

Another 13 members of last year's list died. Among the deceased: real estate developer Melvin Simon and glass tycoon William Davidson.