Billionaire bust

Last year there were 1,125 of them in the world. Today there are 793, according to the latest Forbes numbers, just out this afternoon. All told, $1.4 trillion has vanished in a year. Yooooow!!! Bill Gates regained the top spot on the list, at $40 billion, but that's down $18 billion from his worth a year ago. Warren Buffett has lost $25 billion and Carlos Slim Helú $25 billion. The highest-ranked local is OC real estate honcho Donald Bren, at $12 billion (26th on the list). After that, it's biotech kingpin Patrick Soon-Shiong, at $5.5 billion, Eli Broad, at $5.2 billion (he lost a ton on AIG), Kirk Kerkorian $5 billion (also a huge hit from stock losses), David Geffen $4.5 billion, David Murdock $3.3 billion, Steven Speilberg $3 billion and Ron Burkle $3 billion. There’s a bunch in the $1 billion to $3 billion range. You might be tempted to revel in the losses (rich folk get theirs), but it’s really bad news for the non-profit world, which has come to rely on these billionaires. The magazine's list of world billionaires is not be confused with the Forbes 400, which tallies the nation's richest people. That comes out in the fall.