Steve Ballmer, who after all is a "mere" executive, not a founder like the rest of them, comes in at number fifteen in the newly-released Forbes 400 Richest Americans list. The list confirms the hugely dominant role played by technology in creating billionaires in the USA: no fewer than seven out of the fifteen richest Americans derived their personal wealth from technology.

Here are the seven:

• No .1 –$53 Billion: Bill Gates
  
• No.4 – $19.5 Billion: Larry Ellison
  
• No.5 – $16 Billion: Paul Allen
  
• No.9 – $15.5 Billion: Michael Dell
  
• No.12 – $14.1 Billion: Sergey Brin
  
• No.13 – $14.0 Billion: Larry Page
  
• No.15 – $13.6 Billion Steve Ballmer