Jack Ma The Owner Of Alibaba made $18.5 billion this year

Alibaba (BABA, Tech30) founder Jack Ma made more money than anyone this year, increasing his wealth by 173% -- a gain of $18.5 billion -- according to a list of the year's biggest winners and losers, from the research firm Wealth-X.
Ma, a former English teacher who started the Chinese online marketplace with $60,000, is now worth a total of $29.2 billion. His banner year is tied to Alibaba's IPO in September -- the biggest IPO ever.
Second on the winners list is Warren Buffett, whose savvy investing netted $13.5 billion so far in 2014 -- a gain of 23%. The Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA) chairman is now worth $72.6 billion.

Bill Gates, the world's richest man with a fortune of $83.1 billion, comes in at No. 3. Gates made $10.5 billion this year. While Gates founded Microsoft (MSFT, Tech30), most of his money now comes from a variety of investments, including Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA).
Rounding out the top five are Facebook (FB, Tech30) founder Mark Zuckerberg, who made $8.4 billion, and Swiss telecom magnate Patrick Drahi with a $5.1 billion gain.

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