Former premier and media baron Silvio Berlusconi is no longer Italy's richest man, having been overtaken in the annual Forbes magazine billionaires' list by both Michele Ferrero and Leonardo Del Vecchio.
Ferrero, whose confectionary company produces, among other things, the popular chocolate-hazelnut spread Nutella, has a calculated wealth of $11 billion, while eyeglass Luxottica tycoon Del Vecchio is worth $10 billion and Berlusconi 'only' $9.4 billion, the American business magazine said.
Last year Forbes put the ex-premier's fortune at $11.8, while Del Vecchio was second with $11.5 billion and Ferrero third with $10 billion.
Aside from Nutella, Ferrero also produces such popular brands as Kinder, Tic-Tac and Ferrero-Rocher.
In the overall Forbes list, Ferrero came in at number 68, down from 62 last year, while Del Vecchio fell from 52nd to 77th place and Berlusconi was ranked 90th, down from 51st in 2007.
There was also some leapfrogging at the top of the Forbes list where Warren Buffett overcame Bill Gates, who had led the list for the past 13 years.
Gates this year fell to third place, overtaken by Mexican telecommunication baron Carlo Slim..
Forbes valued Buffet at $62 billion, Slim at $60 billion and Gates at $58 billion.
This year there were 1,125 billionaires on the Forbes list.
The other Italians on the Forbes list were: fashion icon Giorgio Armani, 203rd with $5 billion; the Benetton siblings and Geox king Mario Moretti Polegata, tied at 396th place with $2.9 billion; real estate developer and publisher Francesco Gaetano Caltagirone, 446th with $2.6 billion; pharmaceuticals baron Stefano Pessina, 524th with $2.3 billion; banker Ennio Doris, 573rd with $2.1 billion; and self-made telecom billionaire Silvio Scaglia, 962rd with $1.2 billion.
