For 17th year in a row, Bill Gates tops richest Americans' list

Boston: Microsoft founder Bill Gates has retained his position as the richest man in the US with a net worth of $54 billion, topping Forbes '400 Richest Americans List' for the 17th year in a row.

Industrialist Warren Buffett, Chief Executive Officer of Berkshire Hathaway Inc, has bagged the second place this year with fortunes worth $45 billion. While worth $27 billion dollars, software company Oracle's co-founder and CEO Larry Ellison is the third richest American.

Among others in the list, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg ranks 35th with a net worth of $6.9 billion.

Zuckerberg is richer than Apple's boss Steve Jobs and media mogul Oprah Winfrey. Jobs comes 42nd on the list with a net worth of $6.1 billion while Winfrey is on the 130th position with total valuation of $2.7 billion.

Global chemical manufacturing major Warren Buffet to set up R 1,150 cr plant

Ahmedabad/Gandhinagar: Lubrizol Corporation, a specialty chemical manufacturing company, recently acquired by billionaire investor Warren Buffet, has finalised plans to invest $245 million (approx. Rs 1,150 crore) for setting up a Chlorinated Poly Vinyl Chloride (CPVC) manufacturing plant in Dahej.

According to officials, the plant would be set up in Dahej GIDC in Bharuch by a joint venture of Lubrizol Corporation, USA, and Ahmedabad-based Astral Poly Technik.

Construction work of the plant will begin in January 2013, while production is expected to start by October 2014. The total investment for the plant would be to the tune of $245 million.

Tom Frubus, chief of Lubrizol, and Sandeep Engineer, MD of Astral Poly Technik, met chief minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday and informed him about their investment plans in the state. Maheshwar Sahu, principal secretary of industries department, was also present. Frubus told Modi that besides India, CPVC products were also in great demand in South East Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

"The company has chosen the state for setting up its unit considering the investor-friendly and transparent policies of the state government and the best infrastructural facilities," said officials.