Q. Who Is The Richest American? A. Bill Gates
While
a billion dollars will certainly make your life considerably easier
and, well, richer; it does not by any means guarantee you a spot on the
list of America’s richest men and women. Ok, almost entirely men. 61
people with a net worth of over $1 billion failed to make the list,
something unheard of just ten years ago.
“Basically, the mega rich are mega richer,” said Forbes Senior Editor Kerry Dolan.
Bill Gates is the richest American
In something of a milestone, especially
given his propensity towards giving money away, Bill Gates topped the
list of the richest Americans for the 20th consecutive year with a net
worth of $72 billion, up from “just” $66 billion the year prior.
Warren Buffett scores second position
Warren Buffett was a distant second with
more money than god and a net worth of $58.5 billion, up from just $46
billion in 2012. Ok, perhaps your god has more than that or can actually
create the fabled tree from which money does in fact grow.
Not unlike Buffett’s unmoved place in
second, third place remained the bastion of Oracle Corp. co-founder
Larry Ellison whose wealth was unchanged at $41 billion. What ever was
he doing with his money? I imagined him doing a Scrooge McDuck imitation
and rolling around nak…that’s where I comfortably stopped myself.
Ellison was the only one on the list whose wealth saw no change from
last year.
Brothers Charles and David Koch,
co-owners of Koch Industries Inc., stay tied for fourth with $36 billion
each, up from $31 billion in 2012.
Despite seemingly nicer business
practices and a softer approach to doing business with lead pipe
cruelty, Christy, Jim, Alice, and S. Robson Walton took the next four
spots with holdings ranging from $33.3 billion to $35.4 billion, all
increasing from year-ago levels.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg,
the founder of the eponymous financial information company, rounds out
the top 10 with $31 billion, up from $25 billion. That’s a lot of soda
of any size. Or a number of soda companies.
Somewhat surprisingly, 273 members of
the list are self-made billionaires, while 71 inherited their wealth and
another 56 inherited at least some of it but are still growing it.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg returned to
the list’s top 20 following what can only be called a tumultuous year
following the IPO of Facebook and its descent and phoenix-like rise that
may very well continue for some time.
A total of 20 new people joined the
rankings, including Richard Yuengling Jr. of Pennsylvania beer maker
D.G. Yuengling & Son, who ranked at No. 371 with $1.4 billion.
Twenty-eight people dropped off the
list, including six who did it the hard way, by dying. Don’t feel to
bad for a few who are just on the cusp of a billion including: T. Boone
Pickens at $950 million, Graham Weston of Rackspace Hosting Inc. at
$920 million and Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder at $1.2 billion.
Jennifer Pritzker, the Hyatt Hotels
heir, becaming the list’s first transgendered member after ditching the
name James. 48 woman with less interesting stories also joined Pritzker
on the list.
According to Forbes, the 400 people on
the annual list posted a combined net worth of $2 trillion, up from $1.7
trillion a year ago. That marks their highest combined value ever.
Meanwhile, the average net worth of the
list’s members rose to $5 billion, also the highest ever, up from $4.2
billion in 2012. Net worth grew for 314 members and fell for 30, Forbes
said.
Check out the list of richest Americans
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