The two Google Inc. founders were also big earners. Sergey Brin and Larry Page gained about $13 million a day over the past two years, according to Forbes. That puts them in 12th and 13th place, up from a tie at 16th place last year.

Page and Brin also share the distinction of being, at 33 years old, the two youngest people on the list and two of only eight who are younger than 40.

The list was led off by technologists, such as Gates, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, Dell Inc.'s Michael Dell and Ellison, and rounded out by five members of the Walton clan who have fortunes amassed from sales by the world's largest retailer.

Ellison, with $19.5 billion, moved to fourth place from fifth, while Allen, last year's No. 3, was fifth this year with $16 billion. Dell fell to a tie at ninth place from fourth in last year's list; he is worth $15.5 billion

Adelson's ascension knocks Helen Walton, the wife of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. founder Sam Walton, into 11th place with a net worth of $15.3 billion. Her children, Jim, S. Robson and Alice, and Christy Walton, the widow of her son John, ranked in the bottom half of the top 10 this year. Each was worth between $15.5 billion and $15.7 billion, Forbes reported.

The biggest number of people on the list live in California, which houses 90 of the 400, and another 44 live in New York City.

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Contributing: Greg Kratz

On the Net: Forbes.com list of 400 richest Americans: www.forbes.com/400richest

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