Oracle founder misplaces $21bn

Larry Ellison, founder and chief executive of software firm Oracle, lost $21bn of his net worth last year, but is still worth $26bn, according to the latest rich list.

Ellison drops to fourth place on the list of global billionaires published by US magazine Forbes, behind usual suspects Microsoft chief software architect Bill Gates, investment guru Warren Buffet, and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen.

The estimated damage done to Ellison's net worth is actually three times that done to the US economy by natural weather disasters in 2000.

Ellison's worth has taken a buffeting thanks to Oracle's failure to ride out the tech stock collapse: the firm's share price is 60 per cent lower than 12 months ago.

You can read the full list at www.forbes.com.