4 of the 400

Did you all catch the most recent edition of the Forbes 400 Richest People in America? I was shocked that Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg is richer than Steve Jobs and Rupert Murdoch?!? How is that even possible? I have never spent a single dollar surfing Facebook (as far as I know). I am looking forward to seeing the new biopic on him though because there have been nothing but rave reviews so far. Anyways, getting finally to the desi hook. There are four desis on the list:

Four Indian-Americans are among Forbes 400 Richest People in America, a list topped by Microsoft founder Bill Gates. The Indians who made the cut include Sun Microsystems co-founder Vinod Khosla, outsourcing firm Syntel’s founder Bharat Desai, venture capitalist Kavitark Ram Shriram and software king Romesh Wadhwani.

While Desai ranks 252 with a net worth of $1.6 billion, Khosla occupies the 308th spot in the list with fortunes worth $1.3 billion. Shriram is at 288 with assets worth $1.45 billion and Wadhwani 290 with a total valuation of $1.4 billion. [Link]

Maybe Desai, the highest Indian American on the list (who is the founder of an outsourcing firm), should have been hired as an advisor for NBC’s new show because they clearly did not have a clue.

Now I just have to figure out how I can make money from all of you surfing this site for free and I can be #5.

9 thoughts on “4 of the 400

  1. Indians are about 1% of the US population, and we’re also about 1% of the Fortune 400. That’s a mediocre achievement: Not good or bad.

  2. 4 out of 400 means it’s perfect representation, since now ~3 million indian americans live in the USA.

  3. oooh…so just 2 more and we’ll be overrepresented by a whopping 50%. thats gotta make us the most overepped gang in the hood. someone should sneak a bindi on oprah and we’ll be down to one

  4. Great. Another Gujarati fellow. I just don’t know how they do it? Desai received an MBA in finance from Stephen M. Ross School of Business, University of Michigan and a Bachelor of Technology degree in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mumbai, India. On the other hand I know a Gujarati fellow who was born in America and who has a bachelor’s degree from Michigan and a PhD from UCLA, yet not even a millionare;-) Who needs money when one is having fun with mutiny at SM?

  5. Dear goddess, that Outsourced SUCKED! They weren’t even trying.

    Great. Another Gujarati fellow. I just don’t know how they do it?

    Take heart, there are some rather ghetto gujjus in Houston. Still rich, but hood-rich.

  6. I have never spent a single dollar surfing Facebook (as far as I know).

    Advertisers have spent billions of dollars on the space sold by Facebook to show you their products, though. That’s why Facebook is so into having you fill out all the demographic and interest sections. They even sell to you based on the pages you like.

    You’re not Facebook’s customer. You’re Facebook’s commodity.

  7. @YoDad:

    Why are you singling out Desai just because he’s Gujarati? The others on this list are Punjabi, Telegu, and Sindhi. Also, Gujaratis are over-represented when compared to many Indian groups. Growing up, we only knew Gujjus and Punjabis.

    • b_M: I am not singling out because Bharat Desai is “Gujarati” [btw it’s never Gujjus it should be always Gujarati – there is no such word in authentic Gujarati language as Gujjus, – Kapish?]. The reference to Gujarati was due to the fact that Richest Indian “Mukesh Ambani” is also Gujarati – just like me – and I posted a story by FORBES few weeks ago on SM, which predicted that Mukesh will be the richest man in the “World” by 2014. That’s all. I have nothing against Punjabis, Telugus, or Sindhis, or for that matter any others from any state in India.