Richest Get Poorer

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates may have shed billion, but he remains the world's richest person Even the world's richest people feel the sting of a depressed economy and shrinking stock portfolios. The bouncy inflatables world's distinct club of billionaires dropped 83 members this year to 497 as recession and fallout from the terrorist attacks reduced their wealth. The group's combined worth fell to .54 trillion from .73 trillion last year, according to Forbes magazine's 16th annual ranking of billionaires released on February 28. Among the missing: AOL Time Warner Chairman Steve Case, whose company stock has declined by about half since last year, and Gary Winnick, chairman of Global Crossing, which filed for bankruptcy protection in January. They led a second year of decline in the number of billionaires since the tech downturn began pressuring the world economy in 2000.