Number seven is Larry Ellison, 67, chief executive officer of Redwood City, California-based Oracle Corp., the world's third-largest software maker after Microsoft and SAP AG. His $38 billion fortune puts him $4 billion ahead of brothers Charles and David Koch, who each own 42 percent of Koch Industries Inc., one of the biggest closely held companies in the world by revenue. Charles, 76, and David, 71, control the Wichita, Kansas, refiner and chemical maker.

Batista, 55, whose investments range from iron ore to coal, is worth $29.8 billion, up $133.9 million on March 2. His fortune has grown 32 percent this year, the most on the list.

Sheldon Adelson, the casino magnate who owns 47 percent of Las Vegas Sands Corp., which operates resorts in Macau and Las Vegas, is number 13 with $25.7 billion. Adelson, 78, and his family have pledged at least $10 million to a super-PAC supporting Newt Gingrich, a Republican presidential candidate.

Liliane Bettencourt, 89, who with her family owns 31 percent of Paris-based cosmetics company L'Oreal SA, is last on the ranking. Bettencourt was the subject of an international scandal in 2007 when her daughter, Francoise Bettencourt Meyers, filed a lawsuit accusing a family friend, photographer Francois- Marie Banier, of exploiting her mother's frail state. Evidence later revealed Bettencourt had granted more than $1 billion in cash and gifts to Banier. In October, Meyers and two grandsons became guardians of the clan's $22.4 billion fortune.

Diluting Zuckerberg

Mark Zuckerberg, the 27-year-old founder of Facebook Inc., the world's largest social-networking company, didn't make the cut. Based on a roughly $100 billion valuation the Menlo Park, California-based company has been trading at in the private market, Zuckerberg's stake may be worth $21 billion, or about 25 percent less than previous estimates, once Facebook holds its initial public offering.

The reason: Facebook will issue more than 500 million shares of its Class B stock at the offering, diluting Zuckerberg's ownership to 21 percent after he exercises 120 million options and sells about 42 million shares to cover the tax bill associated with the gain from those options.

Sweden's Ingvar Kamprad is the richest European, according to the index, ranking fourth globally with a $42.5 billion net worth. Kamprad, 85, controls Ikea Group, the world's largest furniture retailer, through a series of trusts and foundations he asserts he doesn't own.

Bernard Arnault, the chairman of LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA, places fifth. The majority of Arnault's $42.3 billion comes from his stake in Paris-based LVMH, the world's largest maker of luxury goods. Arnault, 63, controls about 46 percent of LVMH's outstanding stock through his family group, according to the company's latest annual report.

Amancio Ortega, whose publicly traded Inditex SA owns the Zara clothing chain, is Spain's wealthiest individual and sixth in the world with a $38.8 billion fortune. Ortega, 75, has invested dividends from Arteixo-based Inditex into a real estate portfolio that owns office and retail properties in the U.S. and Europe.

No Russians appear in the index as falling metals prices hurt the fortunes of many of the richest oligarchs. Alisher Usmanov, 58, the Muscovite who controls the Metalloinvest metals and mining company and Digital Sky Technologies, which currently owns 5.5 percent of Facebook, is Russia's wealthiest person thanks to a $20.1 billion fortune.

Asia's Wealthiest