7 LIers among Forbes list of billionaires; Buffett, Zuckerberg slide in rankings

Seven Long Islanders are among the world's 1,426 billionaires, according to a list released Monday by Forbes magazine.

Mexico's Carlos Slim Helu and his family were still the wealthiest on the globe with a net worth of $73 billion.

The telecommunications mogul has topped Forbes' annual list of the world's richest people for the past four years.

The richest American was Bill Gates, founder of computer software giant Microsoft Corp. He again ranked No. 2 with a fortune valued at $67 billion.

Locally, the highest-ranking individual was hedge-fund investor James Simons, with a net worth of $11.7 billion, up $1 billion from the 2012 list. The East Setauket resident ranked No. 82.

Like all those on this year's list that were reachable Monday, Simons, 74, declined through an aide to comment.

The United States continued to be home to more billionaires than anywhere else, 442 in all. But some well-known names did not fare as well as in past years.

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Warren Buffett, chairman and chief executive of the conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway Inc., fell out of the top three for the first time since 2000. His net worth of $53.5 billion placed him No. 4.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg dropped 31 spots to No. 66 as his fortune declined to $13.3 billion, a loss of $4.2 billion from a year earlier.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, whose fortune is derived from the Bloomberg financial information service, climbed seven spots to No. 13. His net worth was $27 billion, a gain of $5 billion year over year.

Asked about his ranking, Bloomberg said Monday, "Look, the numbers in these things are always suspect. And I never liked any of these lists."

Besides Simons, the other Long Islanders on the list, based on voter registration and land records, were:

Ira Rennert, 78, at No. 182 with $6.5 billion. His holding company and Sagaponack home are both among America's largest.

Charles Dolan, 86, at No. 437; he and his family had a net worth of $3.1 billion. The Cove Neck resident founded Cablevision Systems Corp., which owns Newsday.

Julian Robertson Jr., 81, a hedge fund investor from Locust Valley, was No. 503 with $2.8 billion.

Marc Rowan, 51, an investor from Southampton, was No. 704 with $2.1 billion.

Kenneth Langone, 77, was No. 792 with $1.9 billion. The Sands Point resident helped start the building supply retailer Home Depot.

Louis Bacon, 54, was No. 1,107 with $1.3 billion. The hedge fund investor owns property in Oyster Bay and helped preserve much of Peconic Bay's Robins Island.