Yanai, Japan's wealthiest man, ranks 88th on Forbes' list of world's richest

SINGAPORE — Japan's richest man, Tadashi Yanai, has been ranked 88th on the Forbes business magazine list of the world's wealthiest people. Forbes said Thursday that Yanai, founder and president of Fast Retailing Co., which operates the Uniqlo casual clothing chain, is tied for 88th on the list with a net worth of $10 billion, up from 122nd last year. He is the only Japanese on Forbes' top 100 lists for this year. Mexican telecommunications magnate Carlos Slim Helu, with a net worth of $69 billion, is at the top, followed by Americans Bill Gates and Warren Buffet. More than one-third of the people on the top 100 list are from the United States. Among the Asian region, Hong Kong and India have four each, Malaysia two and mainland China one. Overall, Japan has 24 people mentioned in the Forbes' global list of 1,226 billionaires, down from 26 last year. The United States has the most billionaires, at 425, the Asia-Pacific region has 315 and Europe has 310. China has 95 billionaires on the list this year, down from 115 last year, while India has 48, down from 55 last year. Source: http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nb20120309a5.html

VOCABULARY

1.       Ranked (v) - to have a particular position in a list of people or things that have been put in order of quality or importance

2.       Founder (n) - someone who establishes/makes  a business, organization, school etc

3.       Tied (v) - finish it with an equal number of points

4.       Magnate(n) - a rich and powerful person in industry or business [= tycoon]

5.       Mentioned (v) - to talk or write about something or someone, usually quickly and without saying very much or giving details

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

1.       What do you think about billionaires?

2.       Name some rich people in your country. What do they do?

3.       If you were a billionaire, what would you do with your money?

4.       Finish the sentence, “I would stop spending money on ___.”

5.       Choose one of these Proverbs and explain.

a.       Time is money

b.      Money doesn’t grow on trees

c.       The best things in life are free.