The ranks of Asia-Pacific millionaires are likely to continue growing faster than those from developed countries as regional economies led by China and India power ahead, a report said on Tuesday.

The study on high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) — defined as anyone with investable assets of at least one million US dollars — was issued by Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management and consultancy firm Capgemini.

“Moving forward, China and India will lead the way in the region with economic expansion and HNWI growth likely to keep outpacing more developed economies,” the Asia-Pacific Wealth Report said.

Forbes released its 2010 list of the 400 richest people in America this week, and Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates was in the top spot for the 17th consecutive year.

Industrialist Warren Buffett, Chief Executive Officer of Berkshire Hathaway Inc, has bagged the second place this year with fortunes worth $45 billion.

While worth $27 billion dollars, software company Oracle’s co-founder and CEO Larry Ellison is the third richest American.

With a net worth that grew by nearly $4.9 billion, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg had the largest percentage gain this year, jumping from 158 to number 35 with $6.9 billion.

With 62 of its alumni now billionaires, Harvard tops Forbes’ list of ‘Billionaire Universities’, followed by Stanford that boasts of 28 billionaire graduates.

The number of Harvard alumni who are billionaires swelled to 62, up from 54 in 2009, “more than any other American university by a long shot,” Forbes said.

Harvard’s billionaire alumni are an accomplished group. They include Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and media tycoon Sumner Redstone.

New York had 667,200 millionaires in 2009, a whopping 18.7% increase from the year before, according to a study released by the consulting firm Capgemini.

The French consulting firm, calculated the number of individuals with a net worth of over $1 million, excluding real estate, in the 10 largest metropolitan areas in the United States.

The results provide further indication that the nation’s wealthy have recovered more swiftly than the nation’s less-well-off.

Hassanal Bolkiah, Sultan of Brunei is the proud collector of what is undeniably the world’s most unique and gargantuan car collection.

The Sultan of Brunei’s collection of over 7,000 cars includes some of the fastest, most expensive and rarest motors on the planet.

According to the Daily Mirror, he owns 604 Rolls Royces, 574 Mercedes-Benzes, 452 Ferraris, 382 Bentleys, 209 BMWs, 179 Jaguars, 134 Koenigseggs, 21 Lamborghinis, 11 Aston Martins, and 1 SSC.

In what could be called as a lavish fight, a pair of rival billionaires set a new world record at a French nightclub to see who could order the most champagne.

Zhen Low – the younger brother of big-spending Malaysian billionaire Jho Low – squared off against Winston Fisher of the prominent New York real-estate family Thursday night at Les Caves du Roy nightclub in St. Tropez.

The bill? A staggering 2 million euros, or $2.6 million, according to an announcement made at the club.