Bill Gates struck a blow for the world's techies yesterday, when he regained his spot at the top of the world's billionaire list despite mislaying around $18bn over the last year.

But, illustrating how recessions hit the youth hardest, Facebook boy wonder Mark Zuckerberg has been booted off the Forbes Magazine billionaire list - a mere year after first scrambling on as the world's youngest billionaire.

According to Forbes, Gates's wallet now contains $40bn, compared to $58bn at last count. Not bad for a man who has swapped a full-time job for volunteer and who has given a large chunk of change to his eponymous foundation.

Gates overtook his good pal, Warren Buffett, who now takes the number two spot. Larry Ellison came in fourth with a slightly reduced $22.5bn.

Michael Dell came in at 25, with a reduced fortune of $12bn, with Forbes noting that he lost millions buying shares in... Dell.

The equally loveable Sergey and Larry from Google keep their spots on the under-40s list, with $12bn a piece, putting them on a par with Michael Dell, and just ahead of old-timer Steve Ballmer.

Jeff Bezos scrambled in at 68 with $6.8bn, and Forbes notes Amazon's own sliding share price.

Steve Jobs, you might be surprised to see, came in at 178 with a mere $3.4bn. But at least lots of people tend to think he's cool.

But at least they're all still on the list - unlike Zuckerberg, who is apparently not a billionaire anymore. Forbes doesn't show the poor slob any mercy, observing: "While Facebook is gaining millions of users each week, revenues haven't followed just yet. It's hard to imagine the privately held company being worth nearly as much as it was a year ago."

Just in case you want to check how you measure up, the full list is here. ®

Related stories

• Bill Gates plants (wetter) smooch on Steve Jobs (14 November 2009)
• Bono serenades fellow fader, Bill Gates (3 November 2009)
• Google, Microsoft plug teens into tech (14 May 2009)
• Gates dethroned as tech's richest get thumped (10 October 2008)