The rich get richer: 400 wealthiest Americans now worth $2.3TRILLION as $34billion Mark Zuckerberg cracks Forbes top 10 for the first time
- New heights for wealthiest 400 Americans, with rankings starting at $1.4bn
- Bill Gates was top of the list for the 21st year, with $81.2billion to his name
- Newer figures in technology advanced quickly - including Mark Zuckerberg
- Facebook founder and CEO was ranked number 10 with $34billion fortune
- Top 400 were largely the same people thanks to buoyant stock market
America's wealthiest are worth more than ever - with the top 400 billionaires worth a breataking $2.3trillion, according to the latest edition of the Forbes 400.
The renowned rich list was again topped by Bill Gates - the richest American for the past 21 years - whose fortune was $81.2billion.
But the Microsoft founder, 58, had newer technology billionaires snapping at his heels, including Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who broke the top 10 for the first time having gained $15billion in the past year.
Scroll down for the top 40 and the size of their fortunes
Old tech, new tech: Bill Gates, the Microsoft founder, topped the Forbes 400 with his $81.2billion fortune, while Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, 30, hit the list's top 10 just a decade after founding the social network while in college
The 30-year-old social network billionaire had his wealth set at $34.7billion, just over a decade after he launched thefacebook.com from his Harvard dorm room.
His huge increase in wealth in the past year - the biggest in the Forbes 400 - netting him a nine-place gain from twentieth in 2013, when his wealth stood at $19billion.
Not far behind Zuckerberg were Google founders Larry Page (#13, $31.7billion) and Sergey Brin (#14, $31.2billion), Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos (#15, $29.9billion).
Another long-standing giant on the Forbes list is investment guru Warren Buffett, 84, ranked second with a $68billion fortune.
The so-called Sage of Omaha, CEO of investment firm Berkshire Hathaway, saw his wealth rocket this year thanks to a buoyant stock market, which took shares in his company above $200,000 a piece.
He managed to keep his coveted spot near the top despite having reportedly given away some $23billion in his lifetime.
Even the lowest entrant to the Forbes 400, biotechnology magnate Alan Auerbach, has $1.4billion to his name, and the magazine reported that 113 U.S. billionaires were deemed too poor to be included.
The $2.3trillion total worth of the list is a hike of $270billion from last year, an increase of almost 12 per cent. The average fortune on the list was $5.7billion, up from $5billion last year.
More than three quarters of the list saw their values climb in the past year, with only 36 losing money.
Despite the clear influence of internet and tech phenomena such as Facebook and Amazon in the upper echelons, the top 20 was still dominated by long-standing titans of the American economy.
Joint for fourth place on the list - at $42.9billion each - were Charles and David Koch, overlords of Koch Industries, a giant company with interests in the oil industry, building and manufacturing.
The were followed by members Walton family - Christy, Jim and Alice - who derive astonishing fortunes - $38.3billion, $36.6billion and $35.2billion respectively - from the Walmart retail empire founded by Sam Walton.
The most dizzying rise on the list was from GoPro founder Nick Woodman, whose camera company has seen his wealth increase threefold since last year, giving him a total of $3.9billion thanks to huge sales of his devices, beloved of extreme sportsmen.
Climber: Nick Woodman, who invented the GoPro camera, enjoyed a threefold increase in wealth over the past year, and is now worth $3.9billion
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