This year there are 13 Israelis on Forbes business magazine’s annual list of the world’s billionaires, which was released yesterday. Last year there were 16.

Top ranking among Israel’s billionaires went to Idan Ofer, the son of Sami Ofer of the Ofer Brothers group of companies. The elder Ofer, who died last June, took the top spot in last year’s Forbes list among Israel’s wealthiest. Idan Ofer ranked 161 on this year’s list, with a fortune reportedly estimated at $6.2 billion.

Beny Steinmetz, who currently lives in Switzerland and whose holdings include diamond interests, is ranked 169th worldwide with an estimated worth of $5.9 billion. The third wealthiest Israeli on the list is Idan Ofer’s brother, Eyal, at the 173th spot with $5.8 billion.

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Other Israelis to make the Forbes list in descending order include Stef Wertheimer, whose Iscar firm sold a substantial interest in the company to American billionaire Warren Buffett; Shari Arison, of the Arison Group, whose interests include Bank Hapoalim; Hollywood film producer Arnon Milchan; Alexander Mashkevitch, who holds Israeli citizenship but lives in Kazakhstan; Gil Shwed of Check Point Software Technologies; Yitzhak Tshuva of the Delek Group; and Lev Leviev, whose interests include diamond industry holdings.

For more go to Haaretz.com

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