Microsoft chairman and chief software architect Bill Gates has once again topped the annual Forbes list of the world's wealthiest people with an estimated net worth of $50bn.

Paul Allen, Microsoft co-founder and investor, claims fifth place with an estimated $22bn, and Steve Ballmer, Microsoft chief executive, comes in at number 24 with $13.6bn.

Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page are ranked 26 and 27, with $12.9bn and $12.8bn respectively.

Yahoo founders David Filo and Jerry Yang did not do quite as well as their competitors, ranking 240 and 317 with $2.9bn and $2.4bn respectively.

EBay founder Pierre Omidyar's $10.1bn fortune lands him at number 43, while the company's first president, Jeff Skoll, is ranked 114 with $5bn. Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos has amassed $4.3bn, ranking him at 147.

In the enterprise software segment, Oracle's Larry Ellison remains king. His $16bn made him 15th in the overall list.

Azim Premji, founder of the Wipro software development company is valued at $13.3bn, and SAP co-founder Hasso Plattner trails in 89th place with $6.4bn.

In the hardware sector, Michael Dell's investment in building the Dell PC and server empire landed him the 12th position and a net worth of $17.1bn.

Samsung founder Kun-Hee Lee comes in at position 82 with $6.6bn, followed by Apple chief executive Steve Jobs (ranked 140 at $4.4bn) and Intel co-founder Gordon Moore (ranked 181 at $3.7bn).