-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- This year 's Forbes Rich List is notable for the absence of Bill Gates at the top . After 13 years as the world 's richest man , he has finally been toppled by his friend Warren Buffett who has an estimate fortune of $ 62bn . The Middle East 's richest man : Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud The list -- which is a run down of the 1,125 richest people on the planet -- estimates a person 's total net worth in US dollars based on the closing stock prices of the stock exchanges on which their company is listed . The Middle East 's richest man is Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud , the 51 year old Saudi who has an estimated net worth of $ 21bn . He ranks 19th in the list and is considered to be the most active and successful investor in the Middle East . He took his investment vehicle , Kingdom Holding , public on the Saudi stock exchange in July 2007 . The company contains investments in well-known global companies such as Citigroup and News Corp. . In the early 1990s , Alwaleed made a risky bet on Citigroup that paid off massively and has in recent years accounted for nearly half his fortune . Kuwaiti construction heir Nasser Al-Kharafi is the next richest in 46th place with an inherited fortune of $ 14bn . He heads M.A. Al-Kharafi & Sons , one of the largest diversified conglomerates in the Arab world . Americana , the company 's lucrative food division is extremely successful and has exclusive franchise rights in the region for Pizza Hut , TGI Fridays and other big global brands . Faiza , his sister was the first woman president of Kuwait University . Naguib Sawiris , the eldest son of telecoms billionaire and Orascom Telecom founder Onsi Sawiris ranks next in 60th place with a net worth of $ 12.7 bn . In addition to Orascom Telecom , his assets -- via European holding company Weather Investments -- include Italian phone company , Wind and leading Greek telecom companies Wind Hellas and Tellas . His brother , Nassef is in 68th place , with an estimated worth of $ 11bn and his father Onsi who serves as chairman of Orascom comes in at 96th place with $ 9bn . E-mail to a friend