World's 100 wealthiest people lose $26 bn as fiscal cliff nears

NEW YORK: The 100 wealthiest people on the planet lost $26.1 billion from their collective networth this week as global markets fell amid concern about US' so- called fiscal cliff and Europe's debt crisis.

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, 57, lost $1.8 billion as shares of the world's largest software maker retreated 8% during the week.

The company replaced its Windows division chief Steven Sinofsky on Wednesday, less than a month after the release of Windows 8. Gates, the world's second-richest man, is worth $60.4 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

"Investors got buried under global headlines," Jack Ablin, CIO at BMO Harris Private Bank in Chicago, which oversees about $60 billion of assets, said. "Anything with an international growth bias got hammered."

S&P's 500 Index has dropped 4.8% since Obama was re-elected on November 6. He met with congressional leaders Friday to discuss the fiscal cliff, a collection of $607 billion in tax increases and spending cuts to take effect next year.