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Bill Gates might still be the richest, but the growing clout of Google is evident in Forbes magazine’s latest list of the wealthiest Americans.

According to the magazine, Gates is the richest person in America for the 14th year in a row.

Gates’ fortune grew by $US6 billion in the past year to $US59 billion, Forbes said.

Gates was one of 34 rich list members - all of them men - who made their money in a technology-related area. Five of them appear in the top ten.

Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page came in at No 5 with fortunes of $US18.5 billion. They are also jointly the second-youngest billionaires on the list.

That said and done, here’s the list.
The Tech Top 20:
1. Bill Gates $US59.0 Microsoft

4. Larry Ellison $US26.0 Oracle

5. Sergey Brin $US18.5 Google

5. Larry Page $US18.5 Google

8. Michael Dell $US17.2 Dell

11. Paul Allen $US16.8 Microsoft

16. Steve Ballmer $US15.2 Microsoft

32. Pierre Omidyar $US8.9 eBay

35. Jeff Bezos $US8.7 Amazon

35. James Goodnight $US8.7 SAS Institute

48. Eric Schmidt $US6.5 Google

56. Steve Jobs $US5.7 Apple, Pixar

64. Min Kao $US4.7 Garmin

68. Gordon Moore $US4.5 Intel

76. John Sall $US4.4 SAS Institute

114. Gary Burrell $US3.1 Garmin

135. Craig McCaw $US2.8 McCaw Cellular

149. Ray Dolby $US2.7 Dolby Laboratories

161. Mark Cuban $US2.6 Broadcast.com

165. David Sun $US2.5 Kingston Technology

165. John Tu $US2.5 Kingston Technology

Ranking refers to position in overall Top 400 list. All $US in billions.

Source: Forbes

Microsoft chairman Bill Gates (left) and right, from top to bottom: Google’s Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Oracle’s Larry Ellison, and Dell’s Michael Dell.