Avis pays $491 million for Zipcar John Catsimatidis, billionaire owner of Red Apple Group, on how much richer the world's wealthiest people got in 2012. The richest person remained Mexican telecom magnate Carlos Slim at $75 billion, followed by Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates at $63 billion. The reports should help identify winners and losers of the holiday shopping season and offer fresh evidence of whether American consumers are tapped out or ready to go back to the mall.