The 400 Richest Americans

For the third consecutive year the rich got richer. In this, the 24th annual edition of The Forbes 400, the collective net worth of America's wealthiest climbed $125 billion, to $1.13 trillion.

All but 26 people on our roster are billionaires. Surging real estate and oil prices drove up several fortunes and helped pave the way for 33 new members (and 9 retreads).

Google Inc's mammoth initial public offering has netted its two co-founders an interesting side benefit: an entry into the upper echelons of Forbes magazine's list of the 400 richest Americans.

Bill Gates, Microsoft Corp's Co-founder and Chairman, was the wealthiest person in the United States for the 11th straight year with a net worth of $51 billion, followed again by Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Chairman and Chief Executive Warren Buffett's $40 billion, according to Forbes, which released its annual rankings on Thursday.

Rank	Name	Net Worth ($mil)	Age	Residence	Source
1	Gates, William Henry III	51,000	49	Medina, WA	Microsoft
2	Buffett, Warren Edward	40,000	75	Omaha, NE	Berkshire Hathaway
3	Allen, Paul Gardner	22,500	52	Seattle, WA	Microsoft, investments
4	Dell, Michael	18,000	40	Austin, TX	Dell
5	Ellison, Lawrence Joseph	17,000	61	Silicon Valley, CA	Oracle
6	Walton, Christy	15,700	50	Jackson, WY	Wal-Mart inheritance
6	Walton, Jim C	15,700	57	Bentonville, AR	Wal-Mart
8	Walton, S Robson	15,600	61	Bentonville, AR	Wal-Mart
9	Walton, Alice L	15,500	56	Fort Worth, TX	Wal-Mart
10	Walton, Helen R	15,400	86	Bentonville, AR	Wal-Mart

Perhaps more noteworthy is the ascent of Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, who were ranked 16th by Forbes with $11 billion each, up from No. 43 last year when they each had a net worth of $4 billion.

Google went public last year, but the Internet search engine returned to the capital markets this month with a follow-up offering of shares that raised $4.18 billion. The company has earned $1 billion since going public.

Gulf Coast oilman Tracy Krohn landed on the list after taking his W&T Offshore drilling operation public in January.

According to Forbes, whose reporters assembled the list through a series of interviews and company filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Brin's and Page's post-IPO wealth is accruing at speeds faster than Gates' wealth after Microsoft went public.

Collectively, the top 10 richest Americans saw their collective net worth climb $125 billion, the magazine said.

The poorest members of the list each had a net worth of $900 million.

Developers Jorge Perez and Steven Roth are two of the six real estate tycoons added to the list. Another newcomer: James Leprino, who built a $1.3 billion fortune supplying cheese to pizza joints Little Caesars and Papa John's.

The year's biggest gainer was casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, whose net worth jumped $8.5 billion on a big bet he's making on the peninsula of Macau, China. Gambling is also the source of wealth for Ruth Parasol and Russell DeLeon, a husband-and-wife team who run their online casino, PartyGaming, from Gibraltar.

For every arrival, there is an exit. Eight members of last year's list died, including Wal-Mart heir John Walton, in a plane crash in June. He is replaced by his wife, Christy.

Thirty-three fortunes simply couldn't keep pace with the rising minimum needed to get on the list, which this year was $900 million, a $150 million jump from 2004. Among the notables on whom the curtain descended: DreamWorks cofounder Jeffrey Katzenberg.

With inputs from AP