Bill Gates claims stake as richest American for 20th straight year

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has topped the Fortune 400 list as the wealthiest American for the 20th year in a row. His total net worth of $72 billion kept him well ahead of Warren Buffett’s second place finish of $58.5 billion. Gates saw his fortune increase by $6 billion over the past year while Buffett’s wealth ballooned by $12.5 billion during the same period.

Oracle CEO Larry Ellison’s $41 billion nest egg remained flat over the year and was good for a third place finish, cementing the technology industry as the second-largest generator of billionaires. Nearly 50 of the people on the top 400 list are in the tech industry which accounts for a 12 percent share of the overall money pool.

Further down the list is Amazon’s Jeff Bezos (12th place) at $27.2 billion. Following in 13th and 14th place are Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Collectively, the Google duo are worth $49.3 billion. Facebook founder Mark Zuckberger is one of the youngest billionaires on the list. His estimated wealth of $19 billion is up thanks to the company’s recent turnaround on the stock market following a year of dismal results.

Interestingly enough, outgoing Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer placed 21st on the list at $18 billion. Last month, Ballmer announced plans to retire within the next 12 months. He has held the title of Microsoft CEO for nearly 13 years following Gates’ departure in January 2000.

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Microsoft to acquire multi-touch company Perceptive Pixel

Microsoft has announced that they will beacquiring Perceptive Pixel Inc., a large-scale multi-touch hardware and software developer. PPI will no doubt help to bolster Microsoft’s touch ambitions in Windows 8 and beyond as the company has received several accolades since its inception in 2006.

PPI was founded by renowned multi-touch pioneer Jeff Han. The company shipped their first products in early 2007 and garnered industry recognition by supplying CNN and other broadcasters with large-screen multi-touch monitors to assist in covering the 2008 US presidential election. PPI was awarded the National Design Award by the Smithsonian in 2009.

The company’s patents are used across multiple fields including government, defense, broadcast, energy exploration, engineering and higher education.

Steve Ballmer announced the acquisition at Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference in Los Angeles earlier today. PPI’s founder joined Ballmer on stage to demonstrate how their technology can work with Windows 8 on a large-screen display. Han showed those in attendance basic multi-touch gestures in addition to demoing how a stylus is used to mark a document while content can be manipulated with the free hand.

“By joining Microsoft, we will be able to take advantage of the tremendous momentum of the Microsoft Office Division, tightly interoperate with its products, and deliver this technology to a very broad set of customers,” Han said.

“The acquisition of PPI allows us to draw on our complementary strengths, and we’re excited to accelerate this market evolution,” said Kurt DelBene, president of the Office Division at Microsoft. “PPI’s large touch displays, when combined with hardware from our OEMs, will become powerful Windows 8-based PCs and open new possibilities for productivity and collaboration.”

Terms of the deal were not disclosed and the acquisition is pending customary regulatory approval, although the size and scope of the purchase isn’t expected to throw up any red flags.