Taikichiro Mori, an 87-year-old Japanese real estate tycoon worth about $15 billion, is the world's richest man, Forbes Magazine reported in its July 22 issue.
Four of the world's 10 richest people are Japanese, Forbes said.Mori is a former economics professor who became a developer and owns dozens of office buildings and 25 acres of undeveloped land in Tokyo.
He surpassed Yoshiaki Tsutsumi, a railroad and golf course tycoon, now worth more than $14 billion. Forbes had ranked him as the world's richest man for four years.
Tsutsumi owns 40 percent of his holding company, Kokudo Keikaku, which is the basis of Forbes' estimate of his wealth. The magazine does not know who owns the other 60 percent.
If Tsutsumi owns the entire company, he could be worth up to $35 billion, according to Forbes.
Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart Stores, would be the world's richest man if he had not split his fortune among five family members. Forbes lists Walton as the third-richest man but puts the family fortune at $18 billion. Wal-Mart, a discount chain, is headquartered in Bentonville, Ark.
Fourth was the du Pont family with $10 billion. E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., based in Wilmington, Del., is the largest chemical producer in the United States.
Hans and Gad Rausing, Swedish brothers worth $9 billion, were fifth on the Forbes list. The family business makes containers to keep milk and other perishables fresh for months without refrigeration.
In the No. 6 position was Kitaro Watanabe, another Japanese, at more than $7 billion. He funded corporate raider T. Boone Pickens' purchase of 26.4 percent of Japan's Koito Manufacturing. Japanese news reports say Pickens sold the stock back to Watanabe in June at the price he purchased the stock.
The Reichmann brothers, Paul, Albert and Ralph, a Canadian family, are the seventh-richest, with $7 billion. The brothers have extensive real estate holdings.
At No. 8 is Forrest E. Mars and family at $6.8 billion. Mars Inc. is the world's second-largest candy maker behind Hershey Foods Corp.
Next is Kenneth Roy Thomson, also with $6.8 billion. Thomson, a Canadian, has extensive media holdings, from small-town newspapers to Jane's Fighting Ships.
The 10th-richest group is Kenkichi Nakajima and family with $6.1 billion. The family owns $6.1 billion worth of stock in Heiwa Corp., Japan's largest maker of machines for pachinko parlors. Pachinko is similar to a pinball machine.