Jeff Bezos retains world's richest title

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has retained his position as the world's richest person, according to the Forbes 33rd annual ranking of the world's billionaires.

Bezos's fortune increased to $131 billion, up $19 billion from a year previous.

Bill Gates, who previously held the top spot for a record time, saw his wealth rise to $96.5 billion from $90 billion last year, putting him in second place. He was followed by Warren Buffett, whose net worth fell by $1.5 billion to $82.5 billion.

There are 2,153 billionaires on the 2019 list, 55 fewer from the 2,208 in 2018, Forbes said.

The top 20 billionaires have a combined net worth of $1.2 trillion, unchanged from last year and still the highest amount ever. The minimum net worth to make the top 20 was $38.8 billion, $200 million less than 2018.

Tencent founder Pony Ma Huateng, with a fortune of $38.8 billion, and Alibaba founder, Jack Ma, at $37.3 billion, rank 20th and 21st in global ranking, respectively.