Archive for July, 2009

AS-Korsel Tuding Korut Dalang Serangan Cyber

Washington – Amerika Serikat dan Korea Selatan disibukkan oleh serangan cyber besar-besaran yang menimpa sejumlah situs penting mereka. Selama beberapa hari, sejak awal bulan ini, puluhan situs pemerintahan diserang melalui metode Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS).

Metode DDOS ini melumpuhkan situs yang diserang dengan cara membanjiri situs dengan data yang menyebabkan layanan menjadi down.

Beberapa situs yang menjadi objek sasaran cyber ini adalah Treasury Department, Secret Service, Federal Trade Commission, Pentagon dan Department of Homeland Security, juga termasuk situs White House. Sedangkan di Korea Selatan, situs pemerintah yang kena terjangan yakni situs kantor presiden, the National Assembly, Defense and Foreign Ministries.

Selama beberapa hari, terhitung lebih dari 2 lusin situs telah diserang. Setelah dilakukan penyelidikan, diduga bahwa Korea Utara (Korut) merupakan biang keladi di balik serangan cyber ini. Dikutip detikINET dari Forbes, Kamis (9/7/2009), semua itu didasarkan pada penyelidikan alamat internet yang mengarah pada negara tersebut.. ( sha / faw )

Santi Dwi Jayanti – detikinet

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25 Orang Paling Berpengaruh di Dunia Web

Weleh-weleh bro ni ada lagi kumpulan artikel 25 Orang Paling Berpengaruh di Dunia Web diambil dari sumbernya langsung. Seperti biasa di blog ini kalo gak ada potonya kurang asik dan gak seru so lihat aja poto-potonya sapa tahu satu saat nanti ada diantara bro-bro sekalian yang nyelip di deretan om dan tante ini.. yuk kita kemon…

( bahasa  )

1. The Seeker:

Steve Ballmer

microsoft.com

Ballmer has his work cut out. He needs to make Microsoft an Internet player without jeopardizing its desktop monopolies, restore customers’ faith in Windows after Vista sapped it, and imbue the company with a sense of direction after its failure to reel in Yahoo. Microsoft continues to mint money, bringing in about $1.8 billion monthly in cash. But in a world where software is moving from the PC to the Web, the company is being outmaneuvered by Google. Microsoft’s ad unit is bleeding cash, and its search sites accounted for just 8.3% of U.S. users’ queries in August. Buying Yahoo was supposed to help, but now Ballmer likely will need to chart a new course—without daily help from Bill Gates, who retired in June.

2. The Marshall:

Mitchell Baker

mozilla.org

When Baker, the “Lizard Wrangler” at the Mozilla Foundation, launched the Firefox browser four years ago, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer was in her sights. Baker’s overarching goal was to keep the Web open. Now, Firefox’s market share has risen to nearly 20% while IE’s has slipped from 95% to 72%, and most Web sites treat all browsers equally. These days, Mozilla is faced with a threat of its own: Google’s Chrome browser, which launched Sept. 1. Baker says the new browser on the block “forces us to do our best.” Mozilla’s latest foray is into mobile browsing.

3. The Innovator:

Jeff Bezos

amazon.com

By sending Amazon’s stock to all-time highs during the past year, Bezos effectively hushed critics who worried that the company was spending too much on technology and shipping discounts. Now, the company he founded 14 years ago is firmly focused on exactly the kind of new ventures that Bezos relishes. Whether it’s the Kindle e-book or cloud computing services aimed at businesses that want to store data and their operations on Amazon’s massive server farms, Bezos is committed to developing new kinds of revenue streams for the digital future.

4. The Searchers:

Sergey Brin, Larry Page, and Eric Schmidt

google.com

The Google executive triumvirate, with Schmidt as CEO and co-founders Brin and Page as respective presidents of technology and products, works as a seamless team at the top of the search giant. Up to now, their key task has been to manage the breakneck growth of the company, now comprising more than 18,000 employees and expecting $16.2 billion in sales this year, up 53%. Even the declining economy has not yet seemed to slow its dominance in Web search and search-based advertising. But that very success is creating challenges, namely a backlash against their increasing power online from competitors, advertisers, and government regulators. Now, their main job will be convincing the world they mean it when they spout their informal corporate motto, “Don’t be evil.”

5. The Investor:

Jeff Clavier

softtechvc.com

A onetime angel investor in more than Web 2.0 startups, Clavier last year started a bona fide venture capital firm, SoftTech VC in Palo Alto, Calif. The French native has none of the press star power of better known VCs such as Sequoia Capital’s Michael Moritz or John Doerr of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, but Clavier is the one all the newly minted entrepreneurs are flocking around at countless Web 2.0 conferences. For good reason: Clavier has an eye for fast-rising startups, such as news feed aggregator NetVibes, personal-finance service Mint, and social advertising network SocialMedia. And five of his startups had successful “exits” through acquisition by the likes of Yahoo, AOL, and others.

6. The Papa Bear:

Paul Graham

ycombinator.com

Graham, a computer programmer turned author, developed a devoted following among would-be tech entrepreneurs with his essay “How to Start a Startup.” Several years ago, he put his money where his mouth was, launching Y Combinator, a venture firm that incubates technology companies. Twice a year, the firm provides seed money, typically $20,000 or less, to help select young entrepreneurs bring their ideas to life. Social news site Reddit is among the most successful Y Combinator companies, having been acquired by Condé Nast Publications in 2006.

7. The Muckracker:

Arianna Huffington

huffingtonpost.com

As election day draws nigh, Huffington’s liberal political blog The Huffington Post has become a must-read for the Washington media as well as left-leaning voters. More than 8 million people per month reportedly visit the site, which includes commentary, discussion of breaking news stories, and political coverage. Huffington, a Cambridge University grad and author of 12 books, steers the conversation in the mainstream media with what she focuses on in her blog and during her frequent public appearances. Her next venture? Local news. In June, Huffington announced plans to launch a local news aggregation site for major metropolitan areas.

8. The Adviser:

Joi Ito

joi.ito.com

When Joichi “Joi” Ito speaks, the digerati listen. The onetime college dropout and nightclub DJ has become one of the Web’s leading thinkers and writers on a number of cutting-edge technologies, from online multiplayer games such as World of Warcraft to social networks. The Japanese native is also an entrepreneur, angel investor in companies such as Flickr (later acquired by Yahoo) and Six Apart, and board member at companies such as corporate collaboration firm Socialtext and blog tracker Technorati. Currently, among his seemingly endless list of activities, he’s CEO of the nonprofit group Creative Commons, which helps authors, artists, and others easily mark how they’d like their work to be used online.

9. The Mastermind:

Steve Jobs

apple.com

Having brought Apple back from the brink of a premature death following his return to the CEO’s office in 1996, Jobs has revolutionized how we consume media of all kinds, whether music, TV shows, and movies. Itunes is now the biggest retailer of music, be it digital or tangible—in the U.S., having sold 5 billion songs as of June. Since 2007 he’s turned his attention to the wireless world, challenging entrenched players like Motorola and Research In Motion with the iPhone.

10. The Filmer:

Jonathan Kaplan

theflip.com

Here’s a familiar scenario: Buy a video camera when the first child comes along. Take loads of video. Stick tapes in a drawer. Shelve camcorder until the next child is born. Pure Digital Technologies CEO Kaplan set out seven years ago to turn that old saw on its head. The company’s $130 Flip video camcorder, a compact device where you simply frame your subject in a small screen and press a button to record, made it so easy to shoot video and upload it to a PC or YouTube that even a child can use it. Flip’s astounding success has turbocharged video sharing online—and in the process it forced Sony, Samsung and others to create a slew of easy-to-use devices that will compete with it.

11. The Communicator:

Loic Le Meur

Leweb3.com
seesmic.com

Le Meur is a compulsive communicator. And that has served him well. He has run a string of startups, founded a popular conference in Paris called Le Web that brings together bloggers from around the world, and started one of the most popular blogs in France. Right now, few people are more rabid about the possibilities of Twitter and its short burst of communications than Le Meur. He parlayed that obsession into a startup, Seesmic, a sort of video version of Twitter, where people can post short videos and react to each other’s clips. But mostly, it’s Le Meur’s irrepressible enthusiasm for all things Internet that has made him someone to watch.

12. The Trader:

Jack Ma

alibaba.com

For many Chinese entrepreneurs, Ma is a hero. A former school teacher, Ma, 43, is the founder and CEO of the Alibaba Group, China’s premier e-commerce player. The company, headquartered in Ma’s hometown, the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou, controls Yahoo China and Taobao, the country’s top consumer Web site. The flagship of the group is Alibaba.com, a business-to-business service that connects small and midsized importers and exporters in China with counterparts worldwide. Ma successfully guided Alibaba’s $1.5 billion Hong Kong initial private offering last November and is now using that cash pile to expand into new markets in Japan, India, and Korea.

13. The Publisher:

Matt Mullenweg

WordPress.org

As the importance of social media expands, so does the influence of WordPress, the blogging service that most serious bloggers turn to. And though blogging might seem well established, WordPress just keeps on growing. Open source software is part of the reason for WordPress’ success. When Mullenweg started blogging in 2001, he used open source software to develop his own Web tools, which became WordPress. Traffic to WordPress’ service more than doubled during the last year to 103 million global visitors, compared with main rival Typepad’s 20 million.

14. The Mogul:

Rupert Murdoch

myspace.com

Murdoch made his career—and billions—developing media properties into powerhouses. He’s aiming to do it again with MySpace, the social network he bought in 2005 for a mere $580 million. Under the ownership of News Corp. (NWS), MySpace has morphed from a site where users post messages to friends and listen to unsigned bands into a full-fledged Web portal for entertainment content that pulls in an estimated $800 million per year in revenue. The site, which has more than 117 million users worldwide, has signed deals to distribute television shows and original programming and, this September, launched MySpace Music—a joint venture with the four major record labels and Indie players. Now Murdoch’s challenge is to turn all the traffic and premium content into ad buys capable of competing with the likes of Yahoo.

15. The Community Organizer:

Craig Newmark

craigslist.com

The former Charles Schwab Internet consultant started Craigslist in 2004 to help people connect and publicize events. The site has since dramatically altered the classified advertising universe and the business model of local newspapers with its largely free want ads and “for sale” postings. But don’t ask Newmark how much the site is capable of raking in. Newmark insists that he’s not in it for the money and, after a company employee sold a 25% stake to eBay, has filed suit over what he describes as the e-commerce giant’s relentless attempts to turn the site into an eBay business.

\16. The Traffic Driver:

Gabe Rivera

techmeme.com

Rivera’s Techmeme has fast become the tech news source of record by aggregating the top industry news from more than 1,000 blogs and mainstream media sources in one convenient location. Unlike Digg and other community edited sites, the ad-supported site is entirely automated. Rivera tweaks the algorithms, but the prominence of stories is all based on links and blog buzz, among other things. Last year the site launched a “leader board” to show the news sources that most frequently have their stories posted on the site.

17. The Poster Boy:

Kevin Rose

digg.com

The founder of Digg is one of the most well-known faces of the new Web elite. That’s partly because the computer-science dropout from the University of Nevada-Las Vegas changed the way millions of people each month get the news, taking power from front page editors and giving it to people who submit and vote for stories on Digg.com. The site, which has somewhere between 10 million and 22 million visitors a month, depending on who you ask, has a dedicated fan base. But Rose’s high recognition factor is mostly because the 31-year old can’t get out of the news and away from rumors of Digg’s imminent sale to Google or Microsoft.

18. The Adult:

Sheryl Sandberg

facebook.com

Since Mark Zuckerberg co-founded Facebook in his dorm room at Harvard University, the social networking giant has been dominated by a freewheeling culture of young, mostly male computer engineers. That all changed in April when the company hired former Google executive Sandberg to become Facebook’s chief operating officer. Sandberg, 38, was brought in to provide some adult supervision and help Silicon Valley’s hottest startup to grow up—and make oodles of money. If anyone can figure out how to capitalize on Web 2.0, it’s Sandberg. As vice-president of global online sales and operations at Google, she oversaw huge growth in its international operations and managed its lucrative advertising business. As COO, Sandberg will be responsible for helping Facebook scale its operations and build its business model.

19. The Edutainer:

Jon Stewart

thedailyshow.com

With the 2008 election, Stewart is increasing his influence exponentially this year. And a big part of the reason why is the Web. After some messy quarrels with YouTube over illegal copies running on the video service, Comedy Central, which produces The Daily Show, finally started putting all its shows up for free on its own Web site and allowing people to share them. With more people than ever turning to the Web for news and videos, The Daily Show has become the place where many claim to be getting their best coverage of the elections. So while Stewart wasn’t a pioneer in going online, his embrace of the Net is an example of good timing.

20. The Money Man:

Peter Thiel

clariumcapital.com
thefoundersfund.com

One of the most prominent members of Silicon Valley’s PayPal mafia (a group of savvy entrepreneurs who emerged from the online payment firm), Thiel has invested in some of the hottest startups through The Founders Fund. Thiel started the venture capital fund, adapting to Web 2.0 entrepreneurs who don’t need much money to get off the ground and don’t want to give up big chunks of their companies. Thiel’s investments include Facebook, Slide, and Yammer. Still, Thiel does much more than focus on startups. After selling PayPal to eBay, Thiel left to found Clarium Capital Management, a global macro hedge fund that now manages more than $7 billion in investments.

21. The Crafter:

Maria Thomas

etsy.com

Etsy is a happening little company with a lot of promise. The three-year-old site, where people buy and sell homemade arts and crafts, last year sold $27 million in goods with very little marketing. Its secret? Hitting a chord with people who are tired of the ordinary and the mass produced. Thomas’ job is to let more people aware that Etsy is the alternative they didn’t know was there for them. She has plenty of experience building new models on top of old habits. As the Vice President and General Manager of NPR, she spearheaded the organization’s wildly popular and innovative podcasting offerings. Now Thomas, a onetime exec at Amazon, is back at her e-commerce roots.

22. The Advocate:

Anssi Vanjoki

nokia.com

Nokia (NOK) veteran Vanjoki is the most visible advocate for the Finnish handset maker’s transition from hardware manufacturer to provider of mobile Internet services. As executive vice-president, markets, Vanjoki is responsible for convincing consumers as well as business partners that Nokia’s devices are useful for much more than talking and occasionally snapping a photo. The “multimedia computers,” as Vanjoki likes to call Nokia smartphones, are becoming gateways to the Internet and services such as social networking, music downloads or navigation. Nokia will need all the determination that the hard-driving Vanjoki, who hunts bear in his spare time, can muster. It’s directly taking on Apple, Google, and Research in Motion.

23. The Crowd Sourcer:

Jimmy Wales

wikia-inc.com/wiki/wikia

Wales is best known as the founder of Wikipedia, a community edited online encyclopedia that has grown from a niche site in 2001 to the source of all things pop culture. It is ranked by Web rating service Alexa as one of the top 10 popular sites in the world. But Wales would like also to be known as the force that bested Google at its own game. Wales has started the for-profit company Wikia Inc., which includes an open source search engine named Wikia Search. The project has received more than $4 million in funding from Bessemer Venture Partners and the Omidyar Network.

24. The Blogger:

Evan Williams

twitter.com

Williams has a knack for figuring out how people want to keep in touch—even before they seem to know it themselves. In 1999 he launched Blogger, a service that allows people to post their every thought online. That turned anyone with a computer into a global publisher. After selling Blogger to Google, Williams created a podcasting startup named Odeo that didn’t take off. But in the meantime, Jack Dorsey, an employee at Williams’ company, came up with Twitter. Twitter has popularized microblogging, the streams of short posts people write to groups of friends. During the past two years, the popularity of Twitter has exploded, as people turn to new ways to stay in touch.

25. The Fighter:

Jerry Yang

yahoo.com

Still embattled after a bruising five-month campaign that repulsed Microsoft’s $45 billion takeover bid, Yahoo! (YHOO) CEO and co-founder Yang must find ways to recharge growth at the struggling Internet portal. Despite speculation that Yahoo might be interested in buying Time Warner’s AOL unit, Yang is publicly banking on new services such as a display-advertising system announced on Sept. 24. But activist investor Carl Icahn and two of his cohorts on Yahoo’s board, along with many other shareholders, still favor a deal with Microsoft. Meantime, regulators are scrutinizing a proposed search ad deal with Google that Yahoo says would bring in $800 million a year. So Yang’s running room is short. And with the economy already slowing the growth of Yahoo’s mainstay display advertising revenues, his effort to keep Yahoo independent faces steep odds.

Sumber : BusinessWeek

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Blog Termahal

Blog termahal yang pernah terjual; BankRate.com merogoh kocek yang cukup dalam untuk mengakuisisi Bankaholic.com sebuah blog informasi keuangan. Johns Wu, pendiri dan satu-satunya karyawan Bankaholic, dibayar $ 12,4 juta untuk blog keuangannya, dan menerima tambahan hingga $ 2,5 juta. Blog ini dibuat di WordPress dan sumber pendapatan dari Google AdSense dan link afiliasi kartu kredit. John Wu akan membantu dalam proses transisi akuisisi ini.

Rinciannya :

Sumber : SoloCyberCity

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Jika Bill Gates Jadi MENRISTEK Indonesia

Presiden berencana akan mengganti beberapa menteri di jajaran kabinetnya. Untuk mengantisipasi perkembangan
teknologi informasi di Indonesia, bagaimana jika
presiden menunjuk Bill Gates yang baru saja mundur sebagai CEO Microsoft sebagai Menristek?
Berikut ini adalah beberapa tanggapan yang diambil dari beberapa mailing list..

1. Mas Bill bakal mengusulkan supaya FreeCell, Solitaire, dan Minesweeper dipertandingkan di PON
2. Setiap Warga Negara Indonesia akan mempunyai alamat email di Hotmail dan alamat tsb tercantum dlm KTP
3. Akan dibuat pasal baru yg berbunyi “Setiap PC dan Operating System selain MS Windows di dalamnya, dikuasai oleh
negara dan dipergunakan untuk sebesar-besarnya kemakmuran rakyat”
4. Istilah RUU akan dirubah menjadi Undang-Undang Beta Ver. dan UU yang sudah disahkan DPR menjadi UU Final Retail
Ver.
5. Di layar TVRI bisa kita scrolling layarnya dan dibagian bawahnya ada tulisan “Best Viewed with 800×600″
6. Menghentikan demo mahasiswa cukup tekan alt+f4 dan untuk menghentikan kerusuhan tekan ctrl+alt+del
7. Kantor Microsoft di Seattle dipindahkan ke Sentul
8. Sidang-sidang kabinet cukup lewat MS NetMeeting, ‘gak usah ke Binagraha (ngirit duit)
9. Cak Bill akan mengubah ICMI yd dibuat pendahulunya menjadi Ikatan Cendekiawan Microsoft Indonesia
10. Jangan-jangan akan muncul e-corruption
11. Menristek akan diubah menjadi Men-Soft-Tek
12. Dengan munculnya Bill Gates, Baligate dan Lippogate bakal cepat diungkap tuntas
13. Menggunakan Netscape bisa-bisa dianggap “Illegal Operation” dan dijerat dengan pasal-pasal subversi
14. PT Kantor Pos Indonesia diubah menjadi PT Hotmail!
15. Televisi kita, apabila ditinggal sebentar, akan muncul screen savernya
16. Headline sebuah surat kabar “Windows NT 6.0 dipesan Thailand, untuk ditukar dengan beras”
17. Proyek pesawat N-250 akan diubah namanya menjadi NT-250 yang dilengkapi fasilitas feature “Plug and Play”
18. Microsoft akan menjadi BUMN dan pengelolaan sahamnya diurus oleh BPPN
19. Mahasiswa akan sulit untuk membeli Windows bajakan
20. Ruangan-ruangan di Indonesia akan ebih sejuk karena memakai Windows
21. Institusi pemerintah akan memaik o/s (operating system) ber-platform Windows, sedangkan oposisi memakai Linux
22. Java Script akan menjadi bahasa nasional
23. WNI menjadi Windows Negara Indonesia
24. Pada setiap komputer perwira POLRI dan TNI akan selalu muncul “It is now ok to shut down your Corruptor and
Provicateur”
25. Setiap Keputusan Menteri, PP, dll akan diberi Certificate of Authencity berikut serial number-nya
26. Supaya negara aman, Bill Gates akan menyarankan pemerintahan berjalan “Safe Mode”
27. Ijazah yang berlaku untuk BPPT, IPTN, PAL, dan yang lainnya hanyalah Microsoft Certificate Engineer
28. Gak perlu repot-repot untuk nyoblos pas Pemilu, cukup ke website pemilu
29. Negara Repblik Indonesia diganti menjadi Negara E-Republic Windowsnesia
30. Kantor Menristek perlu tambahan supir karena setiap penambahan aparat memerlukan “Driver”
31. Prosedur Operasi Rempur TNI berbasis Windows sehingga sering muncul “Illegal Operation”
32. Bahasa resmi negara adalah Vbasic dan VBScript adalah bahasa pengantar di sekolah dasar
33. Produknya berupa peraturan dengan versi 1.0, 1.1 dst, dan setiap penggunanya dikenakan lisensi per pemakai
34. Peraturan Pemerintah setiap 3 bulan sekali akan selalu di-update dari PP 1/2000 menjadi PP 1/2000 SE (Second
Edition)
35. Akan ada TVRI versi 1..1, TVRI versi 1.2, RRI versi 2.5 dll
36. Akan ada keputusan Menteri Final Preview
37. Semua Paket Kebijaksanaan Pemerintah akan diberi versi dan akan selalu dikeluarkan bug fixed dan service pack
38. Windows akan bebas di-download di Indonesia dan berfungsi sebagai public domain, sementara distribusi Linux
akan dikenakan PPN BM
39. Semua pesawat IPTN akan ditempeli stiker “MS Windows Compatible”
40. Fasilitas ctrl+alt+del akan ditemui di Gedung MPR/DPR
41. Siapa “provokator” tinggal ketik nama atau initialnya lalu klik search, dan provokator itu akan langsung
ketangkap
42. Bill Gates jadi Menristek bakal banyak bugs-nya, jadi mesti di patch uland dengan service pack 7 or higher

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10 Orang Terkaya di Dunia 2009

Akhirnya Bill Gates kembali ke singgasananya jadi orang terkaya di dunia setelah beberapa saat digeser Warren Buffett. Well…, seperti dikutip dari forbes.com tanggal 11-03-2009 ada perubahan daftar peringkat orang terkaya di dunia… ( bahasa  )

RANK

NAME

CITIZENSHIP

AGE

NET WORTH ($BIL)

RESIDENCE

1

William Gates III United States

53

40.0

United States

2

Warren Buffett United States

78

37.0

United States

3

Carlos Slim Helu & family Mexico

69

35.0

Mexico

4

Lawrence Ellison United States

64

22.5

United States

5

Ingvar Kamprad & family Sweden

83

22.0

Switzerland

6

Karl Albrecht Germany

89

21.5

Germany

7

Mukesh Ambani India

51

19.5

India

8

Lakshmi Mittal India

58

19.3

United Kingdom

9

Theo Albrecht Germany

87

18.8

Germany

10

Amancio Ortega Spain

73

18.3

Spain

1. William Gates III

Net Worth : $40.0 bil
Fortune : self made
Source : Microsoft
Age : 53
Country Of Citizenship : United States
Residence : Medina, Washington
Industry : Software
Education : Harvard University, Drop Out,
Marital Status : married, 3 children

Software visionary regains title as the world’s richest man despite losing $18 billion in the past 12 months. Stepped down from day-to-day duties at Microsoft last summer to devote his talents and riches to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Organization’s assets were $30 billion in January; annual letter lauds endowment manager Michael Larson for limiting last year’s losses to 20%. Gates decided to increase donations in 2009 to $3.8 billion, up 15% from 2008. Dedicated to fighting hunger in developing countries, improving education in America’s high schools and developing vaccines against malaria, tuberculosis and AIDS. Appointed Microsoft Office veteran Jeffrey Raikes chief exec of Gates Foundation in September. Gates remains Microsoft chairman. Sells shares each quarter, redeploys proceeds via investment vehicle Cascade; more than half of fortune invested outside Microsoft. Stock down 45% in past 12 months. “Creative capitalist” wants companies to match profitmaking with doing good.

2. Warren Buffett

Net Worth : $37.0 bil
Fortune : self made
Source : Berkshire Hathaway
Age : 78
Country Of Citizenship : United States
Residence : Omaha, Nebraska
Industry : Investments
Education : University of Nebraska Lincoln, Bachelor of Arts / Science, Columbia University, Master of Science
Marital Status : widowed, remarried, 3 children

Last year America’s most beloved investor was the world’s richest man. This year he has to settle for second place after losing $25 billion in 12 months. Shares of Berkshire Hathaway down 45% since last March. Injected billions of dollars into Goldman Sachs, GE in exchange for preferred stock last fall; propped up insurance firm Swiss Re in February with $2.6 billion infusion. Admits he made some “dumb” investment mistakes in 2008. Upbeat about America’s future: “Our economic system has worked extraordinarily well over time. It has unleashed human potential as no other system has, and it will continue to do so.” Scoffs at Wall Street’s over-reliance on “history-based” models: “If merely looking up past financial data would tell you what the future holds, the Forbes 400 would consist of librarians.” Son of Nebraska politician delivered newspapers as a boy. Filed first tax return at age 13, claiming $35 deduction for bicycle. Studied under value investing guru Benjamin Graham at Columbia. Took over textile firm Berkshire Hathaway 1965. Today holding company invested in insurance (Geico, General Re), jewelry (Borsheim’s), utilities (MidAmerican Energy), food (Dairy Queen, See’s Candies). Also has noncontrolling stakes in Anheuser-Busch, Coca-Cola, Wells Fargo.

3. Carlos Slim Helu & family

Net Worth  :$35.0 bil
Fortune : self made
Source : telecom
Age : 69
Country Of Citizenship : Mexico
Residence : Mexico City
Industry : Telecommunications
Education : NA,
Marital Status : widowed, 6 children

Economic downturn and plunging peso shaved $25 billion from the fortune of Latin America’s richest man. Global recession testing his ability to live up to the principles he sets for his employees: “Maintain austerity in times of fat cows.” Son of a Lebanese immigrant bought fixed line operator Telefonos de Mexico (Telmex) in 1990; now controls 90% of Mexico’s telephone landlines. Would be a billionaire based on his dividends alone. Biggest holding: $16 billion stake in America Movil, Latin America’s largest mobile phone company with 173 million customers. America Movil and Telmex reportedly planning to jointly invest $4 billion to bolster telecom infrastructure in Latin America. Buying up cheap media, energy and retail assets. Last year took stakes in New York Times Co., former billionaire Anthony O’Reilly’s Independent News & Media and Bronco Drilling; also increased position in Saks. Baseball statistics aficionado, art collector.

4. Lawrence Ellison

Net Worth : $22.5 bil
Fortune : self made
Source : Oracle
Age : 64
Country Of Citizenship : United States
Residence : Redwood City, California
Industry : Software
Education : University of Illinois, Drop Out,
Marital Status : married, 2 children

Database titan continues to engulf the competition; Oracle has racked up 49 acquisitions in the past 4 years. Bought BEA Systems for $8.5 billion last year. Still sitting on $7 billion in cash. Revenues up 11% to $10.9 billion in the six months ended November 30; profits also up 11% to $2.4 billion. Stock down 25% in past 12 months. Invested $125 million in Web software outfit Netsuite; took public in 2007, stock has fallen 80% since. His shares still worth $300 million. Chicago native studied physics at U. of Chicago, didn’t graduate. Started Oracle in 1977. Public 1986, a day before Microsoft. Owns 453-foot Rising Sun; built a smaller leisure boat because superyacht is hard to park. Squabbling in court with Swiss boating billionaire Ernesto Bertarelli over terms of next America’s Cup. Recently unveiled hulking 90-foot trimaran he intends to use to win it.

5. Ingvar Kamprad & family

Net Worth : $22.0 bil
Fortune : self made
Source : Ikea
Age : 83
Country Of Citizenship : Sweden
Residence : Lausanne
Industry : Retail
Education : NA,
Marital Status : married, 4 children

Peddled matches, fish, pens, Christmas cards and other items by bicycle as a teenager. Started selling furniture in 1947. Opened first Ikea store 50 years ago; stores’s name is a combination of initials of his first and last name, his family farm and the nearest village. Retired in 1986; company’s “senior adviser” still reportedly works tirelessly on his brand. Discount retailer now sells 9,500 items in 36 countries; prints catalog in 27 languages. Revenues up 7% to $27.4 billion in fiscal year 2008. Opened tenth store in China this February; planning to open first in Dominican Republic later this year. Three sons all work at the company. Thrifty entrepreneur flies economy class, frequents cheap restaurants and furnishes his home mostly with Ikea products.

6. Karl Albrecht

Net Worth : $21.5 bil
Fortune : self made
Source : Aldi
Age : 89
Country Of Citizenship : Germany
Residence : Mulheim an der Ruhr
Industry : Retail
Education : NA,

Marital Status:married, 2 children Germany’s richest person owns discount supermarket giant Aldi Sud. Retailer faring well amid economic downturn; analysts expect its 2008 sales to be up 9.4% to $33.7 billion. Sales in the U.S. up estimated 20% last year to $7 billion. Plans to open 75 U.S. stores in 2009, including first in New York City. With younger brother, Theo, transformed their mother’s corner grocery store into Aldi after World War II. Brothers split ownership in 1961; Karl took the stores in southern Germany, plus the rights to the brand in the U.K., Australia and the U.S. Theo got northern Germany and the rest of Europe. Retired from daily operations. Fiercely private: little known about him other than that he apparently raises orchids and plays golf.

7. Mukesh Ambani

Net Worth : $19.5 bil
Fortune : inherited and growing
Source : petrochemicals
Age : 51
Country Of Citizenship : India
Residence : Mumbai
Industry : Manufacturing
Education : University of Bombay, Bachelor of Arts / Science, Stanford University, Drop Out
Marital Status : married, 3 children

Oversees Reliance Industries, India’s most valuable company by market cap despite stock falling 40% in past year. Merging his Reliance Petroleum with flagship Reliance Industries. As part of deal, will exercise right to buy back Chevron’s 5% stake in Reliance Petroleum at $1.20 per share—the same price at which he sold it 3 years ago. Today the stock trades for $1.80 a share. Increased stake in Reliance Industries in October; paid $3.4 billion to convert 120 million preferential warrants into shares. Reliance Petroleum refinery on India’s western coast began operating in December despite falling global demand and declining margins. Late father Dhirubhai founded Reliance and built it into a massive conglomerate. After he died Mukesh and his brother, Anil, ran the family business together for a brief time. But siblings feuded over control; mother eventually brokered split of assets. Brothers may be looking to bury hatchet; played joint hosts at mother’s recent 75th-birthday bash. Has yet to move into his 27-story home that he’s building at a reported cost of $1 billion. Ardent fan of Bollywood films. Wife, Nita, oversees school named after his father.

8. Lakshmi Mittal

Net Worth : $19.3 bil
Fortune : inherited and growing
Source : steel
Age : 58
Country Of Citizenship : India
Residence : London
Industry : Steel
Education : St Xavier’s College Calcutta, Bachelor of Arts / Science,
Marital Status : married, 2 children

Indian immigrant heads world’s largest steel company; ArcelorMittal was formed via hostile takeover 3 years ago. Stock in company makes up bulk of his fortune; shares at a 4-year low with steel prices down 75% since last summer. Company forced to pay heavy fines after a French antitrust investigation found 10 companies guilty of price-fixing in European steel markets. Arcelor posted $2.6 billion loss in most recent quarter; announced plans to slow acquisitions, cut capital expenditures, pay down debt. Started in family steel business in the 1970s, branched out on his own in 1994. Initially bought up steel mills on the cheap in Eastern Europe. Company bought 19.9% stake in Australia’s Macarthur Coal last year. Also owns pieces of Mumbai’s Indiabulls Group, London’s RAB Capital; owns stake in, sits on board of Goldman Sachs. Holds substantial cash; owns 12-bedroom mansion in London’s posh Kensington neighborhood.

9. Theo Albrecht

Net Worth : $18.8 bil
Fortune : self made
Source : Aldi, Trader Joe’s
Age : 87
Country Of Citizenship : Germany
Residence : Foehr
Industry : Retail
Education : NA,
Marital Status : married, 2 children

Runs discount supermarket group Aldi Nord; firm holding up amid economic downturn. Sales expected to hit $31 billion in 2008. After World War II he and older brother Karl transformed their mother’s corner grocery into Aldi. Brothers split ownership in 1961; Karl took the stores in southern Germany, plus the rights to the brand in the U.K., Australia and the U.S. Theo got the northern Germany stores and the rest of Europe. Unable to operate Aldi stores in U.S., Theo developed discount food store Trader Joe’s; now has more than 320 U.S. stores. Also owns stake in Supervalu. Became a recluse after being kidnapped for 17 days in 1971; said to collect old typewriters; loves golf.

10. Amancio Ortega

Net Worth : $18.3 bil
Fortune : self made
Source : Zara
Age : 73
Country Of Citizenship : Spain
Residence : La Coruna
Industry : Retail
Education : NA,
Marital Status : married, 3 children

Railway worker’s son started as a gofer in a shirt store. With then-wife Rosalia Mera, also now a billionaire, started making dressing gowns and lingerie in their living room. Business became one of world’s most successful apparel manufacturers. Today Inditex has more than 4,000 stores in 71 countries. Sales: $12.3 billion. Ortega is chairman. Company exported its cheap chic Zara stores to 4 new markets last year: Ukraine, South Korea, Montenegro and Honduras. Stock up 1% in past 12 months, but fortune down because of weak euro. Also has personal investments in gas, tourism, banks and real estate. Owns properties in Madrid, Paris, London, Lisbon, plus a luxury hotel and apartment complex in Miami, a horse-jumping circuit, and an interest in a soccer league. Shuns neckties and fanfare. Daughter Marta works for Inditex; recent speculation suggests she is being groomed to eventually replace her father.

Sumber : www.forbes.com

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