TAIPANS Lucio Tan and Henry Sy have landed in Forbes magazine's latest list of top 1,000 billionaires.

The net worth of Tan, ranked at No. 785, was placed by Forbes at $1.5 billion and that of Sy, ranked at No. 843, at $1.4 billion.

No. 1 in the list was Warren Buffet, the American investor who heads Berkshire Hathaway, with a net worth of $62 billion. He replaced his friend Microsoft founder Bill Gates as the richest man in the world.

Gates, with a net worth of $58 billion, dropped to No. 3, after Mexican telecom magnate Carlos Slim.

Completing the Top 10 were Lakshmi Mittal of India (steel) with $45 billion, Mukes Ambani of India (petrochemicals) with $43 billion, Anil Ambani of India (diversified) with $42 billion, Ingvar Kamprad of Sweden (Ikea) with $31 billion, K.P. Singh of India (real estate) with $30 billion, Oleg Deripaska of Russia (aluminum) with $28 billion, and Karl Albrecht of Germany (supermarkets) $27 billion.

Tan, 73, a self-made immigrant from Fujian in China, started out mopping floors to put himself to school. He owns interests in aviation, real estate, mining, liquor and tobacco. He also owns businesses in China and Hong Kong.

Sy, 83, also a self-made magnate, owns the SM Group which has expanded from malls to banking and real estate development. He has also expanded to China.