NEW YORK — As emerging stock markets surged during the past year, 102 wealthy people around the world won a much-coveted title along with their stellar gains — they all became billionaires. But tepid returns in the United States ate into the fortunes of some of the richest Americans, including the founding family of Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

The number of billionaires around the world rose by 102 to a record 793 over the past year, and their combined wealth grew 18 percent to $2.6 trillion, according to Forbes magazine's 2006 rankings of the world's richest people.

But Utah actually lost one of its three billionaires, as Forbes no longer considers Robert Earl Holding, known for his Sinclair Oil company, Little and Grand America hotels and resorts like Snowbasin, to be a resident of the state.

Medical-devices entrepreneur and real-estate developer James LeVoy Sorenson was the top Utahn on the Forbes list, nabbing the 174th spot overall with $3.8 billion. Sorenson was 138th with an estimated $4 billion in 2005.

Jon Huntsman Sr., founder of Salt Lake-based chemical company Huntsman Corp., was the second-ranking Utahn on the list and came in 486th overall with $1.6 billion, down from a ranking of 321 with $2 billion in 2005.

Holding, who is classified as an Idaho resident by Forbes, ranked 606th with $1.3 billion.

Forbes editor Luisa Kroll noted that Russia's stock market jumped 108 percent between February 2005 and February 2006, while India's market rose by more than 54 percent during the same period. Brazil "was another bright star" with a market gain of 38 percent, she said.

Kroll said the changes on the list weren't driven by U.S. investments.

"The more exciting story is these emerging markets," she said. "The U.S. stock market was quite a laggard, with only a 1 percent increase."

The growth in emerging markets also meant the Czech Republic placed a billionaire on the list for the first time: Petr Kellner, who debuted at No. 224 with $3 billion. And while China's market grew just 3 percent, the country added eight more billionaires, up from two last year.

Microsoft Corp. founder Bill Gates was the world's richest man for the 12th year running. Gates grew wealthier, with his net worth rising to $50 billion from $46.5 billion. Investor Warren Buffett, the chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., again ranked second; his fortune fell by $2 billion to $42 billion.

The rest of the top 10 underwent a major reshuffling, with three familiar names dropping out of that select group: German supermarket company owner Karl Albrecht, Oracle Corp.'s Lawrence Ellison and Wal-Mart chairman S. Robson Walton.