CMC:

Jamaican-Canadian billionaire Michael Lee Chin has dropped further down in the ranking by Forbes Magazine of the world's richest people.

The list for 2009, which was published on Wednesday, showed Lee Chin, who was said to be worth US$1.8 billion last year, falling to 701 on the list of billionaires.

Lee-Chin was last year ranked 667 out of the world's more than 1,000 billionaires.

This year, he just made it on the list of less than 800 persons.

According to Forbes magazine, Lee Chin, who is the chairman of AIC Mutual Funds based in Canada, has seen assets under management plunge by 42 per cent since investors started cashing out due to the financial downturn.

Lee Chin, 58, also owns majority stakes in National Commercial Bank Jamaica, Total Finance in Trinidad and Tobago as well as Columbus Communications, a cable company based in Barbados.

His personal real estate portfolio includes 250 acres of beach front property in Ocho Rios, St Ann and homes in Canada and Florida.

With the global financial crisis taking its toll, some 332 names have been wiped off Forbes magazine's list of world billionaires.

Embattled Texan Allen Stanford has also been booted off the coveted list.

The magazine said the number of billionaires in the world fell by nearly a third to 793 in the past year, with large numbers dropping off the list in Russia, India and Turkey.

Richest man

Microsoft founder Bill Gates regained his title as the richest man in the world, with US$40 billion after slipping to third last year when he was worth US$58 billion.

He ousted investor Warren Buffet, whose fortune declined from US$62 billion to US$37 billion.

In 2008, Buffet had managed to end Bill Gates' 13-year reign at the top as shares in his firm Berkshire Hathaway surged to a record high just before Forbes formulated its 2008 ultra-rich list.

Indian businessman Anil Ambani experienced the biggest reversal of fortunes, slipping to number 34 on the list from number six last year, as his net worth sank by US$31.9 billion to US$10 billion over the past 12 months.