For the 16th straight year, America's richest man is Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. Warren Buffett, who lost $10 billion from his personal balance sheet this year is America's second-richest citizen. 

Rounding out the top 10 on The Forbes 400: Oracle founder Larry Ellison ($27 billion); Wal-Mart heirs Christy Walton ($21.5 billion), Jim C. Walton ($19.6 billion), Alice Walton ($19.3 billion), and S. Robson Walton ($19 billion); media maven Michael Bloomberg ($17.5 billion) and energy titans Charles and David Koch ($16 billion each).

The 10 richest Americans lost a combined $39.2 billion in the past 12 months, a 14% decline.

Oprah Winfrey is once again the on Black American on the Forbes 400 list. Winfrey saw her net worth declined over the past year to $2.3 billion, making her the 141st richest American.  The queen of television talk cantinues the expansion of her empire. Last year she partnered with Discovery Communications to create the Oprah Winfrey Network but the launch date has been pushed back to 2010.

SOURCE: Forbes magazine

Multiplatinum-selling and three-time Grammy-winning Sean “Diddy” Combs, has signed with Interscope Geffen A&M, it was announced yesterday by Jimmy Iovine, Chairman of Interscope Geffen A&M. Under the new partnership, all of Diddy's future releases will be distributed via Interscope Records, as will albums by any future artists to join the Bad Boy roster. All artists currently signed to Bad Boy Records will still continue to release projects through Warner Music Group. Diddy’s upcoming album, Last Train To Paris, will be the first release on the new joint venture. The single “Love Come Down” will be serviced physically and digitally this week with a video, directed by Rage, to follow shortly.

Ursula Burns, is the fourteenth most powerful woman and most powerful black woman in the world according to Forbes magazine's annual ranking of The 100 Most Powerful Women in the world. Burns is the first black woman to head a Fortune 500 company. She became the CEO of Xerox Corporation which reported revenue of $17.6 billion in 2008 on July 1, 2009. She's also the first to succeed another woman, Anne Mulcahy, credited with turning the struggling company around. While Mulcahy focused on customer service and the bottom line, Burns saw to the day-to-day operations, helping to cut Xerox's workforce by nearly 40%. Burns joined the printing giant in 1980 as a mechanical engineering summer intern and partially credits her early success to Xerox's search for diversity in talent.

AIC Limited announced today that Manulife Financial has signed an agreement to acquire AIC’s Canadian retail investment fund business. 

The business is being sold by privately held Portland Holdings Inc., which is owned by prominent Jamaican Canadian billionaire Michael Lee-Chin.

Under the agreement, Manulife Mutual Funds would manage all AIC funds in Canada and AIC would continue to act as a fund sub-advisor for Manulife Mutual Funds.

“This sale reflects our overall strategy to return to our roots of managing money and concentrate on our investment advisory services, said Michael Lee-Chin, Executive Chairman of AIC Limited. We are committed to ensuring our clients continue to receive high-quality service and are very pleased that Manulife Financial is the purchaser of our retail fund business, since they share our passion for providing advisors and clients with a broad array of products and services.”

Upon completion of the transaction with Manulife, AIC Investment Services Inc. is expected to commence operations under a new name to aptly reflect the values and principals of founder Michael Lee-Chin, Executive Chairman. The new company will be a Portland Holdings company.

“Our intent is to build on our core competencies and service the investment advisory market across Canada,” said Michael Lee-Chin, Executive Chairman, AIC Limited. “While a number of our staff members are expected to join the Manulife organization, we intend to remain an active employer within the Burlington community as we have been for years.”

As the market meltdown whipped AIC, the billionaire fund manager began quietly shopping the company around more than a year ago finally finding a buyer in Manulife.

“It is a bittersweet day,” said Mr. Lee-Chin, who bought the AIC Advantage Fund in 1987 with less than C$1-million in assets. “It's been my baby for nearly 23 years. It's my passion and my legacy.”

While Mr. Lee-Chin and the Manulife Financial did not release a price, sources estimate he will receive less than C$150-million. Mr. Lee Chin is taking full payment in Manulife stock, reflexing his faith in the financial services sector.

Born in Port Antonio, Jamaica in 1951, Michael immigrated to Canada in 1970 to study civil engineering at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. After beginning post-graduate studies, Michael decided to explore career opportunities within the mutual fund industry. At the age of 26, Michael became a financial advisor and, with growing success, progressed to the position of branch manager.

In 1983, at the age of 32, Michael borrowed money to purchase C$500,000 of Mackenzie Financial stock. After four years, this stock appreciated seven-fold, and Michael used the profits to make his first acquisition, a small Ontario-based investment firm called AIC Limited. At that time, Advantage Investment Counsel (a division of AIC Limited) had assets under management of just C$800,000. Within 20 years, assets under management for this 1987 acquisition had surpassed C$4 billion. AIC Limited was to become the first in a series of acquisitions for Portland Holdings Inc., which has  made Mr. Lee-Chin a billionaire, and he has all the toys, including the same type of C$60-million Global Express corporate jet used by Bill Gates.

Portland Holdings Inc. is a privately held investment company which owns a collection of diversified businesses operating in sectors that include media, tourism, health care, telecommunications and financial services. Portland Holdings Inc., holdings include, Advantage General Insurance Company Limited, AIC Financial Group Limited (Trinidad), AIC International Investments Limited, AIC Limited, CVM Communications Group, Medical Associates Limited, National Commercial Bank Jamaica Limited (NCB), Reggae Beach, Senvia Money Services Inc., Trident Villas & Hotel Jamaica.

Unlike traditional music genres like pop, rock and country, whose artists generally make the bulk of their money selling albums and touring, hip-hop has spawned an impressive cadre of musicians-cum-entrepreneurs who have parlayed their fame into lucrative entertainment empires.

While endorsement deals with top-shelf brands used to be the exclusive domain of pop's biggest acts--Michael Jackson and Madonna, among them--hip-hop artists now routinely land such gigs.

Last year, the top 20 Hip-Hop Cash Kings made $500 million; this year they made $300 million, a 40% drop. 50 Cent's VitaminWater stake was responsible for one-fifth of the total take last year. Its absence accounts for half of hip-hop's year-over-year decline.

The Forbes Hip-Hop Cash Kings list includes male recording artists whose work is primarily classified as hip-hop or rap. Earnings estimates, which include income from record sales, digital downloads, touring, films, TV shows, endorsements, books and other entertainment ventures, are calculated between June 2008 and June 2009. Management, agent and attorney fees are not deducted.

This Years Hip Hop Cash Kings Are:

• 1. Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter, $35 million
• 2. Sean "Diddy" Combs, $30 million
• 3. Kanye West, $25 million
• 4. Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson, $20 million, tie
• 4. Aliaune "Akon" Thiam, $20 million, tie
• 6. Dwayne "Lil Wayne" Carter, $18 million
• 7. Timothy "Timbaland" Mosley, $17 million
• 8. Pharrell Williams, $16 million
• 9. Faheem "T-Pain" Najm, $15 million
• 10. Marshall "Eminem" Mathers, $14 million
• 11. Andre "Dr. Dre" Young, $13 million
• 12. Calvin "Snoop Dogg" Broadus, $11 million
• 13. Christopher "Ludacris" Bridges, $10 million
• 14. Lonnie "Common" Lynn, Jr., $8 million, tie
• 14. William "will.i.am" Adams, $8 million, tie
• 14. Clifford "T.I." Harris, $8 million, tie
• 14. Kasseem "Swizz Beatz" Dean, $8 million, tie
• 18. Andre "Andre 3000" Benjamin, $7 million, tie
• 18. Antwan "Big Boi" Patton, $7 million, tie
• 20. Tramar "Flo Rida" Dillard, $6 million, tie
• 20. William "Rick Ross" Roberts, $6 million tie
• 20. Jayceon "The Game" Taylor, $6 million tie
• 20. Jay "Young Jeezy" Jenkins, $6 million, tie

 SOURCE: Forbes.com

“We did not simply want to ‘tick the box’”, said Norman Adami, Managing Director of SAB Ltd. “We were determined to design a transaction that would work in delivering real benefits to genuinely broad-based constituencies. What we have on the table is a truly innovative transaction that, through the combination of participants, will deliver deep positive impact to the lives of many thousands of people in South Africa.

Participants in the transaction include SAB employees and black-owned beer and soft drink retailers and, through a new SAB Foundation, historically disadvantaged communities.

Since the end of apartheid, South Africa’s companies have come under pressure to comply with strict ownership quotas as well as other equal opportunities rules.

The spokeswoman, Tracy Nguyen, said the Vibe staff would be formally notified in a meeting at 2 p.m. She said she did not know how many people would be laid off as a result of the closure.

Vibe's closure is the lates in a string of print media failures. The print media business has experienced massive declines in advertising revenue over the last year.

In a memo to the staff announcing the closure, Steve Aaron, CEO of Vibe Media Group said, “The print advertising collapse hit Vibe hard, especially as key ad categories like automotive and fashion, which represented the bulk of our top 10 advertisers, have stopped advertising or gone out of business.”

The Wicks Group, a private equity firm, bought the magazine in 2006. Vibe’s closure leaves just one large-circulation magazine, The Source, focusing on hip-hop and R&B.

SOURCE: Media Decoder