The economic crisis has cost US billionaires 300 billion dollars in the past year.

Every year, Forbes business magazine compiles a list of the 400 richest Americans. This year, it discovered many of them made huge losses. Investor Warren Buffet lost the biggest amount of capital, as he saw his 40-billion-dollar fortune shrink to just 10 billion.

Bill Gates tops the list for the 16th time in a row. The richest woman is Wal-Mart heiress Christy Walton. She is in fourth place just ahead of her brother and sister.

In spite of a loss of 400 million dollars, Oprah Winfrey came in 144th place.

Only 28 Americans on the Forbes list have seen their fortunes grow this year.
 

Photo: Dollar sign - Flickr/Pfala