LIVERPOOL Football Club owner Tom Hicks has lost his billionaire status, according to figures published yesterday by global wealth magazine Forbes.

The Texas financier, who made his money back in the late 1980s when he bought and sold Dr Pepper’s drinks, has dropped out of Forbes’ list of world billionaires.

Mr Hicks had been ranked 701st richest man in the world by Forbes in 2009. However, he only just scraped into last year’s list when the magazine valued his personal wealth at the cut-off point of $1bn exactly.

Forbes senior editor Matthew Miller said: “We all know about his problems with his sports clubs here in the US and over there in England. He has had some debt problems. He has only just missed the cut. We think he is a $900m to $950m guy.”

Mr Hicks and fellow Liverpool co-owner George Gillett, who has not featured in any recent Forbes listing, and Liverpool FC owe Royal Bank of Scotland £237m.

They have also been unable to raise the money needed to build the club’s proposed stadium at Stanley Park. Mr Hicks is currently in talks to sell his Texas ice hockey and baseball teams. Last year he defaulted on $10m of interest owed to a US lender to whom he owes $525m.

Professor Tom Cannon, who has previously collated data on the richest people in the world for the Guinness Book of Records and who is professor of strategic development at the University of Liverpool’s management school, said: “Liverpool fans should have a whip-round for him.

“I don’t think owning Liverpool has done him any good.

“The club isn’t worth what it used to be. There aren’t that many billionaires out there who have the liquid resources to buy a football club. A lot of the wealth shown in Forbes list is tied up in property and shares.”