Yahoo! News - Wal-Mart, Dollar Rattle Billionaire Ranks
Will Wal-Mart's low low prices start to rise?

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Four heirs to Wal-Mart Stores Inc. founder Sam Walton dropped out of the Forbes Magazine's top 10 list of the world's billionaires in 2004, brought down by the retailer's stagnating shares.

They were largely replaced by businessmen from other regions of the world, who benefited in part from the impact of the weak dollar.

Wal-Mart Chairman S. Robson Walton, with a personal wealth of $18.3 billion, was the only Walton to make the top 10 this year after several years in which all five Waltons made the cut.

Slow growth and a bevy of legal problems at the retail behemoth has prompted a 10.8 percent decline in Wal-Mart's stock price since March 2004, cutting the personal wealth of Walton's five heirs by almost $2 billion each.

And the dollar's steady slide in 2004 has fattened the coffers of billionaires abroad. Of the top 10 billionaires, half live outside of the United States, compared with two last year, and several saw their wealth increase by as little as $2.2 billion to as much as $18.8 billion.

It must be that they pay their employees too much. Yeah, that's it. Better cut those wages and benefits.