A list of the top 200 richest people in the world -- excluding dictators and royalty who do not directly manage businesses -- has been compiled by Forbes magazine.

Forbes reports there are about 500 billionaires worldwide -- up from just 96 when the magazine started the rankings ten years ago.

Topping the list is Microsoft Corporation chairman Bill Gates with a net worth of $36.4 billion. In the runner up slot is the Walton family, the $27.6 billion heirs to the Wal-Mart fortune.

At the top for those billionaires associated with Bermuda is the Engelhorn family with $11 billion at number 14.

Four branches of the family owned the pharmaceutical company Corange Ltd. -- with Curt Engelhorn owning the largest stake with some 40 percent -- until it was purchased by the Swiss pharmaceutical group Roche.

Mr. Engelhorn owns recently redeveloped Five Star Island in the Great Sound.

Corange gave Bermuda College $1 million in 1994 to use in equipping its science labs.

At 25 on the list is the owner of the 240-foot luxury motor yacht Virginian which visits the Island frequently.

Metromedia giant John Werner Kluge was reported as having $7.2 billion.

His yacht is understood to be registered at the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club where it is believed he is a member.

Next on the list, at 54, is Tucker's Town resident and former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi with a net worth of $4.9 billion.

The media magnate -- who was once tagged the second richest man in Italy -- owns Blue Horizons in Tucker's Town.

He also owns former European soccer champions AC Milan, Italy's top supermarket chain and presides over Europe's largest private television network.

His neighbour in Bermuda, former US presidential candidate Ross Perot, was ranked at 91 on the list with $3.3 billion.

Mr. Perot has two homes in Tucker's Town plus a fleet of water craft ranging from jet skis to the cabin cruiser Chateau Margeaux .

At 74 with $3.8 billion was Bermuda-based Fidelity International chairman Edward (Ned) Johnson III and his daughter Abigail.

Mr. Johnson made headlines when he made a $5 million donation to the recently opened Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute.

Other names of note on the list are: Bermuda-registered Central European Media Enterprises company chairman and cosmetics heir Ronald Lauder. He was ranked 55 alongside his brother Leonard with $4.9 billion; German investor Friedrich Karl Flick Jr. at 59 with $4.5 billion. He owns Pool House in Tucker's Town; Maurice (Hank) Greenberg, chairman of American International Group which has significant Bermuda operations, is at at 104 with a net worth of $2.9 billion; and CNN's Ted Turner, who has sailed many times in the Newport-Bermuda Race. He was ranked 157 with $2.1 billion.

Edward (Ned) Johnson Curt Engelhorn