NEW YORK (Bloomberg) — Hedge fund and private equity managers made up more than half of the newest members of Forbes magazine's list of the 400 richest Americans, which was again topped by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates.

Gates, 51, came in first for the 14th consecutive year with a net worth of $59 billion, ahead of the $52bn held by his friend Warren Buffett, 77, the chairman and chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Steven Cohen of SAC Capital Advisors LLC was the richest hedge fund manager with $6.8bn, and was ranked 47th overall.

The net worth of people in the lowest positions on the list rose $300 million to $1.3bn from last year, the first time in its 25-year history that all the members were billionaires.

Filling in the top five were Sheldon Adelson, 74, chief executive officer of Las Vegas Sands Corp., with $28bn; Oracle Corp. Chief Executive Officer Larry Ellison, 63, with $26bn; and Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, each with $18bn.

Brin and Page, both 34, replaced Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, who dropped to number 11 with $16.8bn.

The subprime-mortgage crisis this year — which shook debt, credit and stock markets globally — didn't keep several hedge fund and private equity managers from joining the list, which included 45 new names.

John Paulson, founder of the New York-based hedge fund Paulson & Co., made the list after taking in more than $1bn short-selling subprime credit this summer, Forbes said on its Web site.

Paulson & Co.'s biggest credit hedge fund has risen five-fold this year through August after the firm bet US subprime-mortgage defaults would soar.

Houston hedge fund manager John Arnold, 33, a former Enron Corp. trader, was the youngest member of the top 400 with $1.5bn fortune and ranked 317, according to Forbes. The oldest member is 98-year-old John Simplot, who made his fortune in the Idaho potato business.

Thirty-nine women are on the list, led by Abigail Johnson at number 17 with $15bn, Forbes said. Johnson's family controls Fidelity Investments, the world's largest mutual-fund company. Daytime television star Oprah Winfrey was number 165 with $2.5bn.

Fifty people who were on the list last year dropped off this year's, incluidng Starbucks Corp. Chairman Howard Schultz. Dorrance Hill Hamilton, heir to the Campbell Soup Co. fortune, didn't make it for the first time since 1992, Forbes said.

Also on the list is New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg at number 25, with a fortune estimated at $11.5bn. Bloomberg is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.

• American super-rich listed as living in Bermuda are Marion MacMillan Pichet, 75, with an estimated inheritance fortune of $2.8bn that places her 135th on the list, while retired insurer Ernest Stempel, 91, is 286th with $1.7bn.