Three Irish billionaires are officially in the money after making the esteemed Forbes Rich List for 2013.

Denis O’Brien, Dermot Desmond and Martin Naughton are all included on the listings of the world’s richest people.

O’Brien, who owns the Digicel telecoms giant, is ranked at 233 in the list of the world’s wealthiest people with a net worth of $5.2bn as of March 2013.

Cork born O’Brien enjoys a number of media interests and is the biggest shareholder in Independent News & Media, publishers of the Irish Independent.

The paper owned by O’Brien reports that Glen Dimplex heating group founder Martin Naughton is listed at 736 and enjoys a net value of $2bn.

Financier Dermot Desmond, who counts Celtic football club amongst his investments, ranks at 831 in the world with a net worth of $1.8bn.

Indian born Pallonji Mistri, the patriarch of Indian construction giant Shapoorji Pallonji, tops the list of Irish as he is ranked at 103 with a value of $10.5bn.

The report states that Mistri is an Irish citizen as is Campbell Soup executive John Dorrance who sits at 613 on the list with a net worth of $2.4bn.

Mexican telecoms billionaire Carlos Slim tops the list as the richest man in the world with a net worth of $73bn with Bill Gates again the richest America.

Amancio Ortego, from clothing giant Zara fame, moves into number three position for the first time sending Warren Buffett back to number 4 despite adding $9.5bn to his worth.

The United States leads in terms of location with 442 billionaires compared with 366 in Europe.
Forbes said growth in the wealth of the richest was down to stronger stock market and international property price performance.