The FT Top 25 Billionaires: 1-9

01: Bill Gates

Chairman and chief executive, Microsoft

Age: 49

Worth: $51bn

Big idea: Real money isn’t in personal computers, but in the software that runs them

Best known for: The Windows operating system used on more than 90 per cent of the world’s computers.

Though rivals such as Google may be chipping away at Gates’ fortress, Microsoft is still so pre-eminent, and Gates’ charity work so extensive, that he easily takes the number one spot on this year’s list for the second year in a row.

After founding Microsoft with Paul Allen in 1975, Gates had a near monopoly on PC operating systems by the mid-90s. His dominance of the market made him the world’s richest man, but he has also been accused of stifling competition with products that should be more reliable and secure.

In 2000, he created the world’s wealthiest charity, the $28bn Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which gives away at least 5 per cent of its assets each year fighting HIV/Aids, malaria and other afflictions in the developing world.

He says: “I realised about 10 years ago that my wealth has to go back to society. A fortune, the size of which is hard to imagine, is best not passed on to one’s children. It’s not constructive for them.”

They say: “If Bill Gates had a dime for every time Windows crashes... Oh, wait a minute, he already does.” - Unknown.

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02: Steve Jobs

Chief executive, Apple Computer

Age: 50

Worth: $3bn

Big idea: Technology needn’t be ugly and difficult to use.

Best known for: Losing the war for home computers but winning the battle for hearts and minds: no one has ever rhapsodised about how cool and beautiful Microsoft products are.

Jobs co-founded Apple in 1976 with Steve Wozniak and swiftly established a reputation for well designed, innovative machines; culminating in the introduction of the iconic Mac in 1984. He left Apple in 1985 after a power struggle and returned 10 years later to revive the company’s fortunes.

His rise to number two on this year’s list (up from number six last year) reflects Apple’s recent diversification into the personal music market. The iPod player has been the electronics phenomenon of the past few years and has transformed this market, which it now dominates utterly. Like most things Apple, the devices are praised for both their utility and beauty. Jobs’ job now is to maintain and build on this commanding lead.

Jobs is also chairman and chief executive of Pixar Animation Studios, which created Toy Story and The Incredibles, and is credited with re-energising the worldwide audience for animated films.

He says: “I want to put a ding in the universe.”

They say: “The world would soon learn that Jobs wasn’t just joining the revolution; he was about to reshape it.” - Jeffrey S. Young and William L. Simon, authors of iCon: Steve Jobs, the Greatest Second Act in the History of Business.

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03: Pierre Omidyar

Founder and chairman, eBay

Age: 38

Worth: $10bn

Big idea: Figuring out how to hold an auction that anyone with a computer can attend.

Best known for: Writing the original code, at the age of 28, for what would become eBay, the world’s most valuable dotcom company. Since its 1995 launch, the site has transformed the auction world beyond recognition. More memorable lots have included a 50,000-year-old mammoth and a Bristol student’s virginity (the latter was disallowed).

eBay has enhanced its dominance this year, buying shopping.com (the price comparison company) and Skype, the internet telephone company. Hence Omidyar’s rise from number 20 on last year’s list to number three.

Omidyar, who still owns 16 per cent of the business, is a firm believer in the basic goodness of human nature and says he will use his entire fortune to do good. To this end he has set up the Omidyar Network, which invests in both non-profit and for-profit ventures that foster positive social change. He has vowed to give away all but 1 per cent of his fortune by 2020.

He says: “When you create wealth in a short time, you think about philanthropy as you think about a business.”

They say: “eBay may be a shark in the ocean, but I am a crocodile in the Yangtze River. If we fight in the ocean, we lose - but if we fight in the river, we win.” - Jack Ma, chairman and chief executive of Alibaba.com, the Chinese auction site.

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04: Sergey Brin and Larry Page

Co-founders, Google

Age: 32

Worth: $11bn each

Big idea: Search pages are best ranked according to how many other pages link to them.

Best known for: Being the two students who created the world’s best known search engine from an office in a garage seven years ago.

The company, which floated on the Nasdaq stock market last year, is now worth more than $80bn. Despite being a late entrant to the search market, Google’s efficacy and ease of use soon won over the cognoscenti.

At its peak in 2004, it was handling 80 per cent of all search requests. Figures have fallen since then - largely because Yahoo stopped using Google technology. But Google remains number one and since it has started diversifying into news, e-mail, chat and mapping, it is starting to look like one of the few businesses that might be able to challenge Microsoft.

Brin and Page’s success is reflected by their first time appearance on this list, at number four.

They say: “Don’t be evil. We believe strongly that in the long term, we will be better served - as shareholders and in all other ways - by a company that does good things for the world even if we forgo some short term gains.” - Brin and Page in their Google prospectus.

Others say: “Evil is whatever Sergey says is evil.” - Eric Schmidt, Google chief executive.

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05: Rupert Murdoch

Chairman and chief executive, News Corporation

Age: 74

Worth: $6.7bn

Big idea: Created the first global media power by investing in content (films, TV programming and publishing) and distribution (networks, cable, satellite and newspapers).

Best known for: The fear he inspires. Politicians tremble at the influence of his newspapers and television networks; rival executives speak of him as the most impressive strategist among their adversaries; and his employees never quite know at what unearthly hour of the night they will find themselves receiving a phone call from the boss telling them to change a front page or pull a TV show.

This year he has rediscovered his enthusiasm for the internet after an ill-fated dalliance with dotcom investments five years earlier, and has spent more than $1bn buying online businesses. But he has spent much of the past 12 months fending off another media mogul, John Malone. The Liberty Media chairman’s stake-building in News Corporation has raised the question of how long Rupert Murdoch can control the group - a question made more pertinent after Lachlan, his eldest son, gave up his executive responsibilities.

He says: “I’m a digital immigrant. I wasn’t weaned on the web, not coddled on a computer. My two young daughters, on the other hand, will be digital natives.”

They say: “There’ll never be another Rupert Murdoch.” - Lachlan Murdoch.

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06: Michael Bloomberg

Mayor of New York and founder of Bloomberg financial news service

Age: 63

Worth: $5bn

Big idea: Reuters could use a little competition.

Best known for: Parlaying a $10m payoff from Salomon Brothers in 1981 into a $5bn fortune from his eponymous news service. The outspoken and acerbic Bloomberg still owns more than 70 per cent of the company and takes more than 80 per cent of its profits.

A long-time Democrat, he ran on a Republican ticket (and spent $70m of his own money) to succeed the iconic New York mayor, Rudolph Giuliani in 2001 - for which he is paid $1 a year.

Because he is popular with voters - and has more money than most candidates can hope to match - he looks set to win re-election next month. He rises from eighth to sixth position on this year’s list.

He says: “I’ve got the greatest job in the world. There’s no other job in government where cause and effect is so tightly coupled.”

They say: “For four years Mike Bloomberg has been arguing that you get more with sugar than with vinegar. He has nothing to show for it.” - Mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner.

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07: Silvio Berlusconi

Prime minister of Italy and founder of Fininvest

Age: 69

Worth: $12bn

Big idea: Combining media, business and political interests can create enormous power.

Best known for: Being Italy’s richest and most powerful man. Over his four decades in business, Italy’s supremely self-confident prime minister has built up a portfolio of interests that include banking, football, publishing and, most famously, Mediaset, the country’s largest television network. He was first elected prime minister in 1994, but his administration lasted a mere seven months before it was brought down by accusations of corruption, street protests and political infighting.

His return to power in 2001 was no less controversial (and no less rocky). He supported Blair and Bush in Iraq; drew allegations that he was legislating for his own self-interest and likened a German MEP to a concentration camp guard. He also spent more than four years on trial charged with bribing judges in the 1980s; he attended court only three times. He was acquitted on one count and the second was thrown out after the judges controversially declared the statute of limitations had been exceeded. His opponents said it was a case of one law for the rich and another for everyone else.

He says: “[I am] the best political leader in Europe and in the world.”

They say: “[Belusconi’s immunity] clearly and totally violates the principle that everyone is equal in front of the law.” - Public prosecutor Ilda Boccassini.

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08: George Soros

Hedge fund manager and philanthropist

Age: 75

Worth: $7.2bn

Big Idea: Discovered how to run a hedge fund extremely effectively.

Best known for: Making and losing more money than almost anyone else in the world. Soros started the Curacao-based Quantum Fund in 1969; $1,000 invested in the fund then would have yielded about $4m when it closed in 2000.

He famously made $1bn when he “broke” the Bank of England, forcing the pound out of the ERM in 1992, then went on to lose at least as much during the Russian crisis in 1998. A dedicated philanthropist, Soros is reckoned to have given away $5bn through his network of foundations and the Open Society Institute, which promotes democracy and human rights.

His philanthropy work has increased as he has handed over much control of his business interests to his sons. In last year’s US presidential election, Soros spent more than $20m trying to unseat Bush. He was spectacularly unsuccessful and has slipped from third to eighth on this year’s list. The funds are still doing pretty nicely though.

He says: “Well, you know, I was a human being before I became a businessman.”

They say: “Megalomaniacs are not rare in politics, but even by the political standard Soros is in a category by himself. Fortunately those who think about what he says are in no danger of being duped by this man, who has a lot of money but very little political sense.” - author Dinesh D’Souza.

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09: Carlos Slim Helu

Telecoms tycoon

Age: 65

Worth: $23.8bn

Big Idea: Buying control of Mexico’s formerly state-owned telephone network.

Best known for: Being the wealthiest man in Latin America, and now the fourth richest man in the world, according to Forbes magazine.

Slim, as he is known, made his money from the privatisation of the state telecoms company, Telmex, in 1990. Since then he has built an enormous portfolio of businesses across Latin America and single-handedly accounts for a substantial chunk of the Mexican stock market. In the past year, he picked up a cool billion by selling his stake in MCI and has seen his personal fortune grow by an astounding $10bn. He is active in most areas of Mexican life, from politics to educational charities to restoring historic buildings and he is said to embody all that is best and worst about doing business in the region. He rises an impressive 14 places on this year’s list.

He says: “AT&T and WorldCom want us to give away market share. Well, they’re going to have to earn it.”

They say: “Mr Slim has enormous influence in this country and apparently he uses it.” - Celso Garrido, economics professor, Autonomous Metropolitan University in Mexico City.