Five Indian-Americans in Forbes list of US' richest

New York, September 20: Five Indian-Americans, including Silicon Valley venture capitalist Vinod Khosla and founder of IT major Syntel, Bharat Desai, have been named among the richest people in the US by Forbes, a list of 400 billionaires topped by Microsoft founder Bill Gates. See images

Gates, 56, whose net worth grew $7 billion from a year earlier to $66 billion in 2012, topped the list for the 19th year in a row.

He is followed by Berkshire Hathaway Inc.'s Buffett (No. 2) with $46 billion, also up $7 billion from last year, and Oracle Corp's Larry Ellison (No. 3) with $41 billion, up $8 billion—and the biggest dollar gainer this year.

Desai with a net worth of $2 billion as of September 2012 has been ranked 239 in Forbes' annual list released yesterday.

Desai, 59, started Syntel in 1980 with his wife while earning his MBA from the University of Michigan. An IIT Mumbai alumnus, Desai stepped down as chief executive of the firm in 2009 but remains chairman.

Founder and chairman of the Symphony Technology Group, Romesh Wadhwani is ranked 250 with a net worth $1.9 billion.

Google board member and shareholder Kavitark Ram Shriram occupies the 298th rank with a net worth of $1.6 billion. Manoj Bhargava, founder and CEO of the popular energy drink '5-hour energy' is ranked 311 and has a $1.5 billion net worth.

He is followed by Khosla on the 328th rank and a $1.4 billion net worth.

The net worth of the richest Americans grew by 13 per cent in the past year to $1.7 trillion, Forbes magazine said in a statement.

A graduate of Carnegie Mellon University and IIT Mumbai, Wadhwani, 65, developed business software firm Aspect Development which he sold in 2000 during the height of the tech bubble for $9.3 billion.

A "notable" newcomer on the list, Bhargava, 59, is a Princeton University drop out who "chose one of the roads less traveled to the American Dream".

Described as a math whiz, Bhargava lived as a monk in the mountains of India for 12 years before returning to the US to forge a successful career in plastics.

Forbes said Stanford and IIT alumnus Khosla, 57, "isn't afraid to fail”. His firm also had a stake in social enterprise software company Yammer, which was purchased by Microsoft in July for $1.2 billion.

A Google board member and large shareholder, Shriram, 55, has stakes in online outsourcer 24/7 Customer and serendipitous website picker StumbleUpon.

He also invested in Inkling, which makes interactive textbooks for the iPad.

He serves as a trustee at Stanford University, where he and his wife endowed the Shriram Family Professorship in Science Education.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has been pushed down in the rankings to the No. 36 spot with his estimated net worth falling by about $8 billion to $9.4 billion since Facebook went public in May.

Bharat Desai | Rank: 239 | Net worth: $2 billion

Desai, 59, is the chairman and co-founder of Syntel, which he started in 1980 with his wife while earning his MBA from the University of Michigan. An IIT Mumbai alumnus, Desai stepped down as chief executive of the firm in 2009.

Romesh Wadhwani | Rank: 250 | Net worth: $1.9 billion

Wadhwani, 65, is the founder and chairman of Symphony Technology Group, a private equity firm that invests in software and software services companies.

Kavitark Ram Shriram | Rank: 298 | Net worth: $1.6 billion

Shriram, 55, is a Google board member and shareholder. He also has stakes in online outsourcer 24/7 Customer and website picker StumbleUpon. He was one of the first people to write a check to Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page in 1998.

Manoj Bhargava | Rank: 311 | Net worth: $1.5 billion

Bhargava, 59, is the founder and CEO of the popular energy drink brand '5-hour energy'. He is a Princeton University drop out who "chose one of the roads less travelled to the American Dream".

Vinod Khosla | Rank: 328 | Net Worth: $1.4 billion

Khosla, 57, is a partner at Khosla Ventures. The Stanford and IIT alumnus "isn't afraid to fail, and has staked a big claim in clean tech—including on some companies he refers to as science experiments".

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Cut all ties with Israel and impose arms, trade embargo; history will record our action: Iran to Muslim countries

News Network

May 5,2024

Iran has urged Muslim countries to cut all relations with the Israeli regime as means of pressuring Tel Aviv to end its ongoing genocidal war on the Gaza Strip.

Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian made the remarks on Saturday, addressing the 15th Heads of State and Government Summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Gambia’s capital Banjul.

“Beyond doubt, this time period will also pass by, despite all its hardships and adversities for the Palestinian nation,” he said.

“However, the manner and quality of the role that is played by us, Muslim states, in the face of this crisis will go down in history,” the top diplomat added.

“Undoubtedly, severance of diplomatic and economic ties and [imposition of] practical arms and trade embargo [on Israel] serves as an important means of cessation of its genocide in Gaza and atrocities in the West Bank and the Noble al-Quds.”

At least 34,654 people have died in Gaza since October 7, when the Israeli regime began the war in response to al-Aqsa Storm, a retaliatory operation by the coastal sliver’s resistance groups.

Despite the unabated campaign of bloodshed and destruction, the regime has so far fallen short of realizing its goals, including defeating Gaza’s resistance, causing forced displacement of the territory’s entire population to neighboring Egypt, and enabling the release of those who were taken captive during al-Aqsa Storm.

Amir-Abdollahian said Gaza’s developments proved that elimination of the Palestinian resistance “was nothing but an illusion.”

“Because the Israeli regime is not a legitimate government. It is only an occupying apartheid power,” he said, adding, “Passage of time is not going to lend legitimacy to an occupying power.”

The foreign minister asserted that realization of sustainable peace and security in the region was only possible through cessation of the regime’s occupation of Palestine, Syria, and Lebanon, return of the Palestinian refugees to their homeland, and manifestation of Palestinians’ right to self-determination.

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