Hasta La Gadget!

Once again, the rich are getting richer. In spite of the massive economic crises that have plagued the world in recent years, the ranks of billionaires has increased by 199 members. By Forbes’s most recent count, there are some 1,210 billionaires in the world, right now, raking in a combined $4.5 trillion–that’s nearly a $1 trillion increase from last year’s combined $3.6 trillion.

A number of familiar techy names made the list, this year. Bill Gates at $56 billion, naturally, was pretty close to the top. This year, the Microsoft chief was in the second spot, behind Mexican telecom magnate, Carlos Slim (at $74 billion), thanks in large part the large chunk of his fortune Gates has given to charity over the past few years. Oracle chief Larry Ellison rounded out the top five, with $39.5 billion.

Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin also made the top 25, tying for the 24th spot, with $19.8 billion a piece. Also in the top 100, Amazon chief Jeff Bezos (418.8 billion, Michael Dell ($14.6 billion), Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer ($14.5 billion), Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg ($13.5 billion), and Microsoft’s Paul Allen ($13 billion) rounded out the top 100.

Steve Jobs and Google’s Eric Schmidt took the 110 and 136 slots, with $8.3 and $7 billion, respectively.