Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Kun-hee, South Korea's richest person, has fallen off the list of the world's top 100 wealthiest people due to a slump in the group's key unit, Samsung Electronics Co., data showed on Monday.
Lee's assets were estimated at US$10.2 billion and ranked 107th as of Friday, according to a daily ranking of the world's wealthiest people compiled by Bloomberg.
The figure was down $1.2 billion from the end of last year.
The Bloomberg Billionaires Index is a daily ranking of the world's richest people.
Lee, 71, had been on the list since last year. But due to a slump in shares of Samsung Electronics, Lee's assets have decreased since early this year. Lee has not been on the world's top 100 list since early July.
Shares of Samsung Electronics, the world's largest smartphone maker, lost some 15 percent this year on concerns that its smartphone business may suffer a decline in profitability due to increased competition with low-end smartphone manufacturers.
Bill Gates, chairman and founder of Microsoft Corp., was the world's richest person with $72.4 billion in net assets.
Carlos Slim, the telecommunications tycoon who controls Mexico's America Movil SAB, followed with $65.6 billion, trailed by Warren Buffett, chairman and chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway, with $58.4 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. (Yonhap News)
