1. Home
  2. World
  3. Five Indian-Americans in Forbes list of US' richest

Five Indian-Americans in Forbes list of US' richest

[email protected] (PTI)
September 20, 2012

New York, September 20: Five Indian-Americans, including Silicon Valley venture capitalist Vinod Khosla and founder of IT major Syntel, Bharat Desai, have been named among the richest people in the US by Forbes, a list of 400 billionaires topped by Microsoft founder Bill Gates. See images


Gates, 56, whose net worth grew $7 billion from a year earlier to $66 billion in 2012, topped the list for the 19th year in a row.

He is followed by Berkshire Hathaway Inc.'s Buffett (No. 2) with $46 billion, also up $7 billion from last year, and Oracle Corp's Larry Ellison (No. 3) with $41 billion, up $8 billion—and the biggest dollar gainer this year.

Desai with a net worth of $2 billion as of September 2012 has been ranked 239 in Forbes' annual list released yesterday.

Desai, 59, started Syntel in 1980 with his wife while earning his MBA from the University of Michigan. An IIT Mumbai alumnus, Desai stepped down as chief executive of the firm in 2009 but remains chairman.

Founder and chairman of the Symphony Technology Group, Romesh Wadhwani is ranked 250 with a net worth $1.9 billion.

Google board member and shareholder Kavitark Ram Shriram occupies the 298th rank with a net worth of $1.6 billion. Manoj Bhargava, founder and CEO of the popular energy drink '5-hour energy' is ranked 311 and has a $1.5 billion net worth.

He is followed by Khosla on the 328th rank and a $1.4 billion net worth.

The net worth of the richest Americans grew by 13 per cent in the past year to $1.7 trillion, Forbes magazine said in a statement.

A graduate of Carnegie Mellon University and IIT Mumbai, Wadhwani, 65, developed business software firm Aspect Development which he sold in 2000 during the height of the tech bubble for $9.3 billion.

A "notable" newcomer on the list, Bhargava, 59, is a Princeton University drop out who "chose one of the roads less traveled to the American Dream".

Described as a math whiz, Bhargava lived as a monk in the mountains of India for 12 years before returning to the US to forge a successful career in plastics.

Forbes said Stanford and IIT alumnus Khosla, 57, "isn't afraid to fail”. His firm also had a stake in social enterprise software company Yammer, which was purchased by Microsoft in July for $1.2 billion.

A Google board member and large shareholder, Shriram, 55, has stakes in online outsourcer 24/7 Customer and serendipitous website picker StumbleUpon.

He also invested in Inkling, which makes interactive textbooks for the iPad.

He serves as a trustee at Stanford University, where he and his wife endowed the Shriram Family Professorship in Science Education.


Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has been pushed down in the rankings to the No. 36 spot with his estimated net worth falling by about $8 billion to $9.4 billion since Facebook went public in May.

bharat_desai

Bharat Desai | Rank: 239 | Net worth: $2 billion

Desai, 59, is the chairman and co-founder of Syntel, which he started in 1980 with his wife while earning his MBA from the University of Michigan. An IIT Mumbai alumnus, Desai stepped down as chief executive of the firm in 2009.

romesh-wadhwani

Romesh Wadhwani | Rank: 250 | Net worth: $1.9 billion

Wadhwani, 65, is the founder and chairman of Symphony Technology Group, a private equity firm that invests in software and software services companies.

kavitark-ram-shriram

Kavitark Ram Shriram | Rank: 298 | Net worth: $1.6 billion

Shriram, 55, is a Google board member and shareholder. He also has stakes in online outsourcer 24/7 Customer and website picker StumbleUpon. He was one of the first people to write a check to Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page in 1998.

manoj-bhargava

Manoj Bhargava | Rank: 311 | Net worth: $1.5 billion

Bhargava, 59, is the founder and CEO of the popular energy drink brand '5-hour energy'. He is a Princeton University drop out who "chose one of the roads less travelled to the American Dream".

vinod-khosla

Vinod Khosla | Rank: 328 | Net Worth: $1.4 billion

Khosla, 57, is a partner at Khosla Ventures. The Stanford and IIT alumnus "isn't afraid to fail, and has staked a big claim in clean tech—including on some companies he refers to as science experiments".


Comments

Add new comment

About text formats
  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
January 24,2020

Davos, Jan 24: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan claimed that he met with a “brick wall” when he approached Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a peace proposal, soon after assuming office.

In an interview to Foreign Policy magazine on the sidelines of WEF 2020 here, Khan also said he told Modi that Pakistan will act firmly if it was given evidence of any involvement in the Pulwama terror attack, but India instead “bombed” Pakistan.

Tensions have escalated between the two countries, following India withdrawing the special status of Jammu and Kashmir in August 2019. Even since, Khan has been trying to seek global intervention to de-escalate the tensions between the two countries.

On Thursday, India's External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar categorically ruled out any third party role on the Kashmir issue, asserting that any issue between the two countries should be resolved bilaterally.

In the interview, Khan said that he is a firm believer that military means are not a solution to ending conflicts. “After assuming office, I immediately reached out to Prime Minister Modi. I was amazed by the reaction I got, which was quite weird.

The subcontinent hosts the greatest number of poor people in the world, and the best way to fight poverty is to have a trading relationship between the two countries rather than spending money on arms. This is what I said to the Indian Prime Minister. But I was met by brick wall,” Khan said.

Khan took charge as Prime Minister in August 2018. Referring to the suicide attack in Pulwama, Khan said he immediately told Modi ,“if you can give us any actionable intelligence (that Pakistanis were involved), we will act on it. But rather than do so, they bombed us.”

Noting that the both countries are not close to conflict right now, Khan said that it is important that the UN and the US act.

When asked about US President Donald Trump’s close relationship with Modi, Khan said the relationship is understandable because India is a huge market. “My concern is not about the US-India relationship. My concern is the direction in which India is going,” Khan said.

Khan also sought to compare the events in India to what happened in Nazi Germany.

“Between 1930 and 1934, Germany went from a liberal democracy to a fascist, totalitarian, racist state. If you look at what is happening in India under the BJP in the last five years, look where it's heading, you'll see the danger. And you're talking about a huge country of 1.3 billion people that is nuclear-armed,” he said.

Comments

Add new comment

About text formats
  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
February 26,2020

Tokyo, Feb 26: Two more Indians onboard quarantined cruise ship -- Diamond Princess -- were tested positive for novel coronavirus, the Indian embassy here said on Tuesday, adding that those Indians not infected by the virus will be repatriated to the homeland on February 26.

A total of 16 Indian nationals onboard the luxury ship -- quarantined off the coast of Japan since February 5 -- have been tested positive for coronavirus so far, the embassy informed.

"A chartered flight is being arranged to repatriate Indian nationals onboard #DiamondPrincess, provided they have (a) consented; (b) not tested positive for #COVID19; (c) cleared by the medical team. An email advisory to this effect, with details, has been sent to them," the embassy tweeted.

The repatriation of the Indian nationals will be facilitated by the Indian government.

"PCR test results for ALL Indian nationals declared-02 more Indians tested positive to #COVID19, taking the total to 16. Those fulfilling conditions and consenting to repatriation to India on 26 Feb being facilitated by the Indian Government. Details shared with them," the following tweet read.

A total of 138 Indians, including 132 crew and 6 passengers, were among the 3,711 people on board the luxury cruise ship which was quarantine off Japan on February 5 after it emerged that a former passenger had tested positive for the virus.

Comments

Add new comment

About text formats
  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
August 3,2020

Manila, Aug 2: The number of COVID-19 cases in the Philippines has exceeded the 100,000 marks with a record 5,032 new infections registered on Sunday, the Health Ministry's data showed.

With the total cases now reaching 103,185, the spread of COVID-19 in the Southeast Asian nation is steeply rising. The daily growth rate just this Thursday set a record at over 3,800 cases, the next day there were nearly 4,000 new infections detected and on Saturday, over 4,800 cases were detected.

More than 65,000 people have recovered from the ailment, while 2,059 people have died.

The Philippines' epidemiological dynamic mirrors that of many Southeast Asian nations, where COVID-19 infections have only recently begun to climb. 

Most other nations in Europe and the Americas experienced an initial spread of the virus which later tailed off only to begin climbing again after easing of restrictions.

Comments

Add new comment

About text formats
  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.