Forbes World's Billionaires 2024

April 2, 2024 (4/2/24)

Bernard Arnault & family

$233B
● Bernard Arnault oversees the LVMH empire of 75 fashion and cosmetics brands,
including Louis Vuitton and Sephora.
● LVMH acquired American jeweler Tiffany & Co. in 2021 for $15.8 billion, believed to
be the biggest luxury brand acquisition ever.
● Arnault's holding company Agache backs venture capital firm Aglaé Ventures, which
has investments in businesses such as Netflix and TikTok parent company
ByteDance.
● His father made a small fortune in construction; Arnault got his start by putting up $15
million from that business to buy Christian Dior in 1984.
● Arnault's five children all work at LVMH; in July 2022, he proposed a reorganization
of his holding company Agache to give them equal stakes.

Elon Musk
$195B
● Elon Musk cofounded six companies, including electric car maker Tesla, rocket
producer SpaceX and tunneling startup Boring Company.
● He owns about 12% of Tesla excluding options, but has pledged more than half his
shares as collateral for personal loans of up to $3.5 billion.
● In early 2024, a Delaware judge voided Musk's 2018 deal to receive options equaling
an additional 9% of Tesla. Forbes has discounted the options by 50% pending Musk's
appeal.
● SpaceX, founded in 2002, is worth nearly $180 billion after a December 2023 tender
offer of up to $750 million; SpaceX stock has quintupled its value in four years.
● Musk bought Twitter in 2022 for $44 billion, after later trying to back out of the deal.
He owns an estimated 74% of the company, now called X.
● Forbes estimates that Musk's stake in X is now worth nearly 70% less than he paid
for it based on investor Fidelity's valuation of the company as of December 2023.

Jeff Bezos
$194B
● Jeff Bezos founded e-commerce giant Amazon in 1994 out of his Seattle garage.
● Bezos stepped down as CEO to become executive chairman in 2021. He owns a bit
less than 10% of the company.
● He and his wife MacKenzie divorced in 2019 after 25 years of marriage and he
transferred a quarter of his then-16% Amazon stake to her.
● Bezos donated more than $1.1 billion worth of stock to nonprofits in 2023, though it's
unclear which organizations received those shares.
● He owns The Washington Post and Blue Origin, an aerospace company developing
rockets; he briefly flew to space in one in July 2021.
● Bezos said in a November 2022 interview with CNN that he plans to give away the
majority of his wealth in his lifetime, without disclosing specific details.

Mark Zuckerberg
$177B
● A 19-year-old Mark Zuckerberg started Facebook in 2004 for students to match
names with photos of classmates.
● Zuckerberg took Facebook public in 2012; he now owns about 13% of the company's
stock.
● Facebook changed its name to Meta in 2021 to shift the company's focus to the
metaverse.
● In 2015, Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, pledged to give away 99% of their
Meta stake over their lifetimes.

Larry Ellison
$141B
● Larry Ellison is chairman, chief technology officer and cofounder of software giant
Oracle, of which he owns just under 40%.
● He gave up the Oracle CEO role in 2014 after 37 years at the helm.
● Oracle has grown in part through steady acquisitions of software companies: the
biggest was $28.3 billion for electronic health records company Cerner in 2021.
● In 2020, Ellison moved permanently to the Hawaiian island Lanai, which he bought
nearly all of in 2012 for $300 million.
● Ellison sat on Tesla's board from December 2018 to August 2022. He still owns about
15 million shares in the electric carmaker.

Warren Buffett
$133B
● Known as the "Oracle of Omaha," Warren Buffett is one of the most successful
investors of all time.
● Buffett runs Berkshire Hathaway, which owns dozens of companies, including insurer
Geico, battery maker Duracell and restaurant chain Dairy Queen.
● The son of a U.S. congressman, he first bought stock at age 11 and first filed taxes at
age 13.
● He has promised to donate over 99% of his wealth. So far he has given more than
$56 billion, mostly through the Gates Foundation and his kids' foundations.
● In 2010, he and Bill Gates launched the Giving Pledge, asking other billionaires to
commit to donating at least half of their fortune to charitable causes.

Bill Gates
$128B
● Bill Gates diversified his fortune from software firm Microsoft into dozens of holdings,
including waste disposal firm Republic Services and tractor maker Deere & Co.
● Gates, a computer enthusiast from a young age, dropped out of Harvard to cofound
Microsoft with Paul Allen (d. 2018) in 1975, hoping to capitalize on the spread of
personal computers.
● As of March 2020, when Gates stepped down from the Microsoft board, he owned
about 1.3% of the software and computing company's shares.
● In May 2021, Bill and Melinda Gates each announced on Twitter they were ending
their marriage after 27 years. They still co-chair the charitable Gates Foundation.
● To date, Gates has donated more than $59 billion to the Gates Foundation, including
a $20 billion gift announced in July 2022. Most of his early donations were gifts of
Microsoft stock.

Steve Ballmer
$121B
● Steve Ballmer is the high-wattage former CEO of Microsoft, who led the company
from 2000 to 2014.
● He joined Microsoft in 1980 as employee No. 30 after dropping out of Stanford's MBA
program.
● Ballmer ran Microsoft as CEO after the first dot-com crash and through efforts to
catch up to Google in search capabilities and Apple in mobile phones.
● In 2014, the year he retired from Microsoft, he bought the NBA's Los Angeles
Clippers for $2 billion; Forbes now values the team at $4.65 billion.
● He has ramped up his philanthropy since 2014, putting over $2 billion into a
donor-advised fund, with a focus on economic mobility; to date the Ballmers have
given away nearly $3.5 billion.
● In 2022, he and his wife Connie donated some $425 million to the University of
Oregon to create an institute aimed at the behavioral and mental health needs of
children in the state.

Mukesh Ambani
$116B
● Mukesh Ambani chairs and runs $110 billion (revenue) Reliance Industries, which
has interests in petrochemicals, oil and gas, telecom, retail and financial services.
● Reliance was founded by his late father Dhirubhai Ambani, a yarn trader, in 1966 as
a small textile manufacturer. After his father's death in 2002, Ambani and his younger
sibling Anil divvied up the family empire.
● Reliance's telecom and broadband service Jio has more than 470 million subscribers.
In August 2023, Reliance listed its finance arm, Jio Financial Services.
● Ambani is pivoting Reliance into green energy. The company will be investing $80
billion over the next 10-15 years on renewable energy and building a new complex
next to its refinery.
● Ambani's three children joined the board of Reliance in 2023. Son Akash heads Jio;
daughter Isha oversees retail and financial services; and younger son Anant is in the
energy business.
Larry Page
$114B
● Larry Page stepped down as CEO of Alphabet, the parent company of Google, in
2019 but remains a board member and a controlling shareholder.
● He cofounded Google in 1998 with fellow Stanford Ph.D. student Sergey Brin.
● With Brin, Page invented Google's PageRank algorithm, which powers the search
engine.
● Page was CEO until 2001, when Eric Schmidt took over, and then from 2011 until
2015, when he became CEO of Google's new parent firm Alphabet.

Sergey Brin
$110B
● Sergey Brin stepped down as president of Alphabet, parent company of Google, in
December 2019 but remains a board member and a controlling shareholder.
● Brin moved to the U.S. from Russia when he was 6 years old in the wake of
anti-Semitism against his family.
● He cofounded Google with Larry Page in 1998 after the two met at Stanford
University while studying for advanced degrees in computer science.
● Google went public in 2004 and began trading as Alphabet, a newly created parent
company, in 2015.
● Brin is reportedly funding a high-tech airship project.

Michael Bloomberg
$106B
● Michael Bloomberg cofounded financial information and media company Bloomberg
LP in 1981.
● He put in the seed funding for the company and now owns 88% of the business,
which has estimated revenues north of $13 billion.
● In August 2023, he appointed product head Vlad Kliatchko as CEO of Bloomberg LP
and former Bank of England governor Mark Carney as non-executive chair of a new
board of directors.
● Bloomberg got his start on Wall Street in 1966 with an entry level job at investment
bank Salomon Brothers. He was fired 15 years later.
● A major philanthropist, he gave away $3 billion in 2023, and has donated more than
$17.4 billion in his lifetime to gun safety, climate change, education and other causes.
● He has committed to donating his stake in Bloomberg LP to Bloomberg
Philanthropies when he dies, if not sooner.
● Bloomberg served as mayor of New York City for 12 years, from 2002 to 2013, and
launched an unsuccessful bid for president in the 2020 race.

Amancio Ortega
$103B
● Amancio Ortega of Spain is one of the wealthiest clothing retailers in the world.
● A pioneer in fast fashion, he cofounded Inditex, known for its Zara fashion chain, with
his ex-wife Rosalia Mera (d. 2013) in 1975.
● He owns about 60% of Madrid-listed Inditex, which has 8 brands, including Massimo
Dutti and Pull & Bear, and 7,500 stores around the world.
● Ortega typically earns more than $400 million in dividends a year. In November 2021,
Inditex announced that his daughter Marta Ortega Pérez will become chairperson in
April 2022.
● He has invested his dividends primarily into real estate in Madrid, Barcelona, London,
Chicago, Miami and New York.

Carlos Slim Helú & family

$102B
● Mexico's richest person, Carlos Slim Helú and his family control América Móvil, Latin
America's biggest mobile telecom firm.
● With foreign telecom partners, Slim bought a stake in Telmex, Mexico's only phone
company, in 1990. Telmex is now part of América Móvil.
● He also owns stakes in Mexican construction, consumer goods, mining and real
estate companies. He previously held a 17% stake in The New York Times.
● His son-in-law Fernando Romero designed the Soumaya Museum in Mexico City,
home to Slim's extensive, eclectic art collection.
● Slim and his family own 76% of Grupo Carso, one of Latin America's largest
conglomerates.

Françoise Bettencourt Meyers & family

$99.5B
● Françoise Bettencourt Meyers, the granddaughter of the founder of L'Oréal, is the
richest woman in the world.
● Bettencourt Meyers and her family own more than a third of publicly traded L'Oréal.
● She has served on L'Oréal's board since 1997 and is chairwoman of the family
holding company.
● She became France's reigning L'Oréal heiress in 2017 when her mother Liliane
Bettencourt, then the world's richest woman, died at age 94.
● Bettencourt Meyers also serves as the president of her family's philanthropic
foundation, which encourages French progress in the sciences and arts.
● Together, L'Oréal and the Bettencourt Meyers family agreed to donate $226 million to
repair Notre Dame Cathedral following the April 2019 fire.

Michael Dell
$91B
● Michael Dell is chairman and CEO of Dell Technologies, which formed in 2016 via
Dell's $60 billion merger with computer storage giant EMC.
● In late 2018 Dell Technologies returned to public markets through a complicated
financial restructuring.
● Dell's cloud software arm, VMware, spun off in 2021; microchip firm Broadcom
bought it in 2023 for $69 billion, 39% of which went to Dell.
● Much of Dell's fortune lies in his private investment firm DFO Management, which
has stakes in hotels and invests in liquid corporate credit.
● In 2023, Dell gifted over $3 billion worth of cash and stock to his foundation, which
focuses on child poverty, and his donor-advised fund.

Gautam Adani
$84B
● Gautam Adani is chairman of the $32 billion (revenue) Adani Group, with interests in
ports, airports, power generation and transmission, and green energy, among others.
● The Adani Group, which began in 1988 as a commodities trading firm, expanded
through acquisitions and with the support of Indian prime minister Narendra Modi.
● Adani is India's biggest airport operator and also controls Mundra Port, India's
largest, in his home state of Gujarat.
● In January 2023, U.S. firm Hindenburg Research accused Adani and his companies
of financial fraud and stock market manipulation. The Adani Group has denied any
wrongdoing.
● Adani Group's shares, which had plummeted following the Hindenburg report,
recovered substantially after India's Supreme Court ruled in the group's favour a year
later.

Jensen Huang
$77B
● Jensen Huang cofounded graphics-chip maker Nvidia in 1993, and has served as its
CEO and president ever since.
● Huang owns approximately 3% of Nvidia, which went public in 1999.
● Born in Taiwan, Huang moved to Thailand as a child, but his family sent him and his
brother to the U.S as civil unrest mounted in the Asian nation.
● Under Huang, Nvidia became a dominant force in computer gaming chips and has
expanded to design chips for data centers and autonomous cars.
● He's given Stanford $30 million for an engineering center and, in 2022, gave $50
million to Oregon State University for a namesake research center.

David Thomson & family

$67.8B
● David Thomson and his family control a media and publishing empire founded by his
grandfather Roy Thomson.
● The family's biggest holding: more than 310 million shares of Thomson Reuters,
where Thomson serves as chairman.
● In 2018, Thomson Reuters announced it was selling a controlling stake in Refinitiv, a
financial data provider, to Blackstone for $17 billion.
● The family also holds a stake in telecom giant Bell Canada and own the
Toronto-based Globe and Mail newspaper.
Giovanni Ferrero
$43.8B
● Giovanni Ferrero is executive chairman of his family's namesake confections
business, which posted $18 billion sales in 2023.
● The firm is best known for its iconic Nutella chocolate-hazelnut spread, Kinder
chocolates and Tic Tac mints.
● Giovanni served as co-CEO with his brother, Pietro, who died of a heart attack in
2011.
● In 2017 he stepped down as CEO but stayed on as executive chairman to focus on
corporate strategy.
● Ferrero acquired Nestle's entire U.S. confections business in 2018 for $2.8 billion.

Tadashi Yanai & family

$42.8B
● Tadashi Yanai built and runs Tokyo-listed retail clothing empire Fast Retailing, parent
of the Uniqlo chain.
● Fast Retailing's other brands include Theory, Helmut Lang, J Brand and GU.
● The company reported net profit of $2 billion on revenue of $19 billion for the fiscal
year ended August 2023.
● Flagship brand Uniqlo has nearly 2,500 stores across 25 countries.
● Yanai wants his company to become the world's largest retailer, which means it
would have to surpass H&M and Inditex (parent of Zara).

Phil Knight & family

$40.9B
● Phil Knight, cofounder of shoe giant Nike, retired as chairman in 2016 after 52 years
at the company.
● Knight ran track at the University of Oregon and created Nike shoes with his former
track coach, Bill Bowerman.
● In 1964, they each put up $500 to start Blue Ribbon Sports. Knight & family still own
20% of the $51 billion (fiscal 2023 revenue) company now known as Nike.
● Knight and his wife Penny have given $3.6 billion to charity so far--mainly through
their Knight Foundation. They rank among America's top philanthropists.
● The Knights have pledged over $500 million in donations to each of the University of
Oregon and Stanford University, Phil's alma maters.
● The couple pledged another $400 million to help rebuild Portland, Oregon's
historically Black Albina neighborhood in 2023.

Mark Mateschitz
$39.6B
● Mark Mateschitz is the only child of the late Austrian billionaire Dietrich Mateschitz,
who cofounded energy drink firm Red Bull in 1987.
● He inherited his father's 49% stake in Red Bull after the elder Mateschitz died in
October 2022 at the age of 78.
● Dietrich Mateschitz cofounded Red Bull with Thai businessman Chaleo Yoovidhya (d.
2012); Yoovidhya's son Chalerm is a billionaire today.
● Red Bull sold 12.1 billion cans worldwide in 2023, enough to caffeinate every person
on the planet.
● After his father's death, Mark Mateschitz stepped down from his role as Head of
Organics at the $11.4 billion (2023 sales) company to concentrate on his role as a
shareholder.

Klaus-Michael Kuehne
$39.2B
● Logistics magnate Klaus-Michael Kuehne is honorary chairman of Kuehne + Nagel
International AG, based in ‎Schindellegi‎, Switzerland.
● He joined the company, cofounded by his grandfather, in 1958, eventually taking over
as CEO in 1966.
● In 2016, his Kuehne Holding AG acquired 20% of VTG, a rail logistics company. Two
years later, it sold the stake to Morgan Stanley Infrastructure.
● He owns roughly 30% of shipping and logistics company Hapag-Lloyd, a holding he
has steadily increased in recent years.
● Throughout the course of 2022, he acquired a 17.5% in Lufthansa, the German
airline carrier, and became its largest single investor.

Stephen Schwarzman
$38.8B
● The son of a dry goods store owner, Stephen Schwarzman founded private equity
firm Blackstone with Peter Peterson in 1985.
● Initially a boutique merger-and-acquisition advisory business, Blackstone grew into
the world's largest buyout firm, with over $1 trillion in assets.
● While Peter Peterson (d. 2018) retired shortly after Blackstone's 2007 IPO,
Schwarzman still presides over the business as chairman and CEO.
● Schwarzman got his start on Wall Street at Lehman Brothers; he writes in his 2019
memoir about mistakes by management at that firm.
● He started his first business, a lawn-mowing operation, at age 14, employing his
younger twin brothers to mow while he brought in the clients.

Jacqueline Mars
$38.5B
● Jacqueline Mars owns an estimated one-third of Mars, the candy, food and pet care
firm founded by her grandfather.
● She worked for the company for nearly 20 years and served on the board until 2016.
● Her son Stephen Badger is on Mars' board of directors.
● Mars serves on the board of the National Archives and was formerly on the board of
the Washington National Opera.
● Her brother John owns an estimated third of Mars; her late brother Forrest Jr.'s four
daughters own the rest.

John Mars
$38.5B
● John Mars and his siblings Jacqueline and Forrest Jr. (d. 2016) inherited stakes in
the candy firm Mars when their father died in 1999.
● He and Jacqueline each own an estimated one-third of the company. His late brother
Forrest Jr.'s four daughters are believed to own the rest.
● The $45 billion (sales) business was founded by John's grandfather, Frank, in 1911.
● Mars is also a big name in pet care, with brands including Pedigree and Whiskas, as
well as food, including Ben's Original rice.

Dieter Schwarz
$38B
● Dieter Schwarz's Schwarz Group, with revenue of over $160 billion, is comprised of
the Kaufland and Lidl (rhymes with needle) discount supermarkets.
● Schwarz inherited the company from his father, Josef, who became a partner in
Suedfruechte Grosshandel Lidl & Co., a fruit wholesaler, in 1930.
● Dieter opened the first Lidl store in 1973, became CEO in 1977 when Josef died, and
built Schwarz Group into Europe's largest retail empire, with 500,000 employees.
● Lidl entered the U.S. in 2017, promising to convince consumers to "Rethink Grocery."
Its stores are mostly in Virginia and North and South Carolina.
● Schwarz Group is owned by a foundation, technically a limited liability company, but
Dieter maintains full control and is the effective owner.

Li Ka-shing
$37.3B
● Nicknamed Superman, Li Ka-shing is revered as one of the most influential
businessmen in Asia.
● Li retired as chairman of CK Hutchison Holdings and CK Asset Holdings in May 2018
but remains senior advisor.
● His son Victor now heads the conglomerate, which has more than 300,000
employees and operates in more than 50 nations.
● Li started Cheung Kong plastics, named after the Yangtze River, in 1950 at age 21
with $6,500 in savings and loans from relatives.
● His Li Ka Shing Foundation has donated more than $3.8 billion; over 80% has gone
to Greater China.

Alain Wertheimer
$36.8B
● Alain Wertheimer is the chairman of Chanel, the French luxury brand.
● He owns the company with his brother Gerard, who oversees the watch division.
● His grandfather Pierre Wertheimer founded it with Gabrielle (Coco) Chanel, the
company's namesake.
● Karl Lagerfeld, the public face of Chanel, died in February 2019 at the age of 85. He
had been the company's creative director for over 35 years.

Gerard Wertheimer
$36.8B
● Gerard Wertheimer and his brother Alain own French luxury brand Chanel.
● Gerard heads the company's watch division and lives in Switzerland.
● His grandfather, Pierre, partnered with Gabrielle (Coco) Chanel, the company's
namesake, in the 1920s.
● Karl Lagerfeld, the public face of Chanel, died in February 2019 at the age of 85. He
had been the company's creative director for over 35 years.

Ken Griffin
$36.4B
● Ken Griffin founded and runs Citadel, a Miami-based hedge fund firm that manages
$59 billion in assets.
● Griffin founded Citadel in 1990 but first began trading from his Harvard dorm in 1987.
He put a satellite dish on the roof to get real-time stock quotes.
● Citadel Securities, one of Wall Street's biggest market-making firms, is responsible
for one of every five stock trades in the U.S.
● Griffin has given some $2.2 billion to philanthropic causes, including $300 million to
Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences in April 2023; the graduate school of arts and
sciences bears his name.
● In January 2024, Griffin said he would pause his support for Harvard, citing its
handling of antisemitic incidents on campus.

MacKenzie Scott
$35.6B
● MacKenzie Scott is a philanthropist, author and the ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff
Bezos, to whom she was married for 25 years. As part of their 2019 divorce, she
received a 4% stake in the online retailer.
● In May 2019, shortly after she announced the terms of the divorce on Twitter, she
signed the Giving Pledge, promising to give away at least half of her wealth over the
course of her lifetime.
● In a website called Yield Giving, Scott shares details of the $16.6 billion (49% of her
Amazon shares) she has given to nearly 2,000 nonprofits.
● Scott employs a "no strings attached" style of giving, wherein the nonprofits to which
she donates have full control over how to best deploy the new funds.
● Scott, who has published two novels, was a student of author Toni Morrison at
Princeton and worked as a research assistant for her.
Thomas Peterffy
$34B
● A digital trading pioneer, Thomas Peterffy chairs Interactive Brokers, which markets
its specialized trading platform to sophisticated investors.
● He founded Interactive Brokers in 1993 after originally starting in market-making, and
was CEO until December 2019.
● In March 2017, he announced part of his market-making operation would phase out.
It had been under attack by faster competitors.
● Peterffy arrived in America in 1965 at age 21, the penniless descendant of Hungarian
aristocrats who lost nearly everything to the Soviets.
● He is a major landowner, with more than 560,000 acres, primarily located in his home
state of Florida.

Reinhold Wuerth & family

$33.6B
● Reinhold Wuerth entered his father's wholesale screw business in 1949, at age 14,
as the company's second employee and first apprentice.
● He took the reins in 1954 and honed a competitive advantage by delivering goods
directly to customers on construction sites and in mechanical shops.
● Today, with annual sales of over $16 billion, the Wuerth Group has more than 400
companies and 83,000 employees around the world.
● Reinhold retired in 1994, but he still serves as chairman of the supervisory board of
the Wuerth Group's family trusts.
● Daughter Bettina Wuerth is chairwoman of the advisory board of Wuerth Group.

Savitri Jindal & family

$33.5B
● Jindal Group, whose interests include steel, power, cement and infrastructure, is
chaired by Savitri Jindal, widow of founder Om Prakash Jindal.
● Upon O.P. Jindal's death in 2005 in a helicopter crash, the group's companies were
divided among his four sons, who now run them independently.
● The biggest assets of the group are overseen by her Mumbai-based son Sajjan
Jindal, who runs JSW Steel, among much else.
● In September 2023, Sajjan Jindal took ports arm JSW Infrastructure public.
● Jindal's younger Delhi-based son, Naveen, manages Jindal Steel & Power.

Gianluigi Aponte
$33.1B
● Gianluigi Aponte and his wife Rafaela each own a 50% stake in MSC, the world's
largest shipping line.
● Gianluigi first met Rafaela on a trip to the Italian island of Capri in the 1960s, when
he was a ship captain.
● They entered the shipping industry together in 1970, when they purchased a ship
with a $200,000 loan.
● MSC also operates in holiday cruises (MSC Cruises), inland logistics (Medlog) and
port operations (Terminal Investment Limited).
● Gianluigi is MSC's executive chairman; Rafaela is responsible for decorating ships
for MSC Cruises and their son, Diego, is MSC's president.

Rafaela Aponte-Diamant
$33.1B
● Rafaela Aponte-Diamant and her husband Gianluigi each own a 50% stake in MSC,
the world's largest shipping line.
● Rafaela first met Gianluigi on a trip to the Italian island of Capri in the 1960s, when
Gianluigi was a ship captain.
● They entered the shipping industry together in 1970, when they purchased a ship
with a $200,000 loan.
● MSC also operates in holiday cruises (MSC Cruises), inland logistics (Medlog) and
port operations (Terminal Investment Limited).
● Rafaela is responsible for decorating ships for MSC Cruises; Gianluigi is MSC's
executive chairman and their son, Diego, is MSC's president.

Masayoshi Son
$32.7B
● Masayoshi Son founded and runs investment giant SoftBank Group.
● Investors in Son's Vision Fund 1 include Apple, Qualcomm, Foxconn, the family
office of billionaire Larry Ellison and Saudi Arabia's sovereign fund.
● The Vision Funds have invested in over 400 companies, including ride-share firm
Grab, Korean e-commerce leader Coupang and India's food-delivery platform
Swiggy.
● For the year ended March 2023, SoftBank Group reported a $7.3 billion loss.
● Son is looking to raise $100 billion to fund an AI chip initiative codenamed Izanagi,
named after the Japanese god of creation.

Len Blavatnik
$32.1B
● Born in Ukraine, raised north of Moscow, Len Blavatnik immigrated to the U.S. in
1978 with his family; he studied computer science at Columbia University and
received an MBA from Harvard Business School.
● He made an early fortune from Russian oil company TNK-BP, including billions in
dividends paid by the joint venture and the sale of his stake in 2013 for $7 billion.
● After purchasing Warner Music in 2011 for $3.3 billion, he took the company public in
June 2020 at quadruple the value.
● His investment firm Access Industries holds stakes in chemicals firm LyondellBasell,
energy conglomerate Calpine and house flipping website Opendoor.
● Blavatnik says he has given or pledged over $1 billion to philanthropy, mostly to
universities, including Oxford, Stanford, Harvard and Yale.
● He is a dual citizen of the U.S. and the U.K.
Miriam Adelson & family
$32B
● Miriam Adelson is the widow of Sheldon Adelson, the former CEO and chairman of
casino company Las Vegas Sands, who died at 87 in 2021.
● She and her family now own more than half of the New York Stock Exchange-listed
gambling empire, which has casinos in Singapore and Macao.
● As GOP megadonors, Miriam and Sheldon Adelson donated $180 million to
Republican campaigns and political action committees in 2020.
● Born in Israel, she became a medical doctor focusing on addiction.
● In February 2022, Las Vegas Sands sold its assets on the Vegas Strip, the Venetian
Resort and the Sands Expo and Convention Center, to Apollo Global and VICI
Properties for $6.25 billion.

François Pinault & family

$31.6B
● François Pinault is honorary chairman of luxury group Kering, which owns fashion
brands Saint Laurent, Alexander McQueen and Gucci.
● Pinault founded Kering, which started as a wood and building materials company, in
1963.
● In 1999, Pinault changed the direction of the business toward luxury goods when he
bought a controlling stake in Gucci Group.
● Today the $22 billion (2022 sales) company, which also owns watch brand
Girard-Perregaux, is run by Pinault's son, François-Henri.
● Pinault and his family own iconic auction house Christie's, plus a 3,000-piece art
collection with works by Picasso, Mondrian and Koons.
● In 2023, they bought a majority stake in talent agency Creative Artists Agency from
private-equity firm TPG.

Jim Simons
$31.4B
● Jim Simons is the founder of Renaissance Technologies, an esteemed quantitative
trading hedge fund firm that manages about $50 billion.
● He founded Renaissance Technologies in 1982 and retired in 2010, but he still plays
a role at Renaissance and benefits from its funds.
● Renaissance Technologies is famous for its Medallion Fund, a $10 billion black-box
strategy that is only open to Renaissance's owners and employees.
● Simons has given $6 billion to philanthropic causes. His foundation is the primary
funder of Math For America. He also supports autism research.
● In September 2021, Renaissance executives agreed to pay $7 billion to the IRS to
settle a tax dispute over trades made by the Medallion Fund.
Gina Rinehart
$30.8B
● Australia's richest citizen, Gina Rinehart built her wealth on iron ore.
● The daughter of iron ore explorer Lang Hancock, Rinehart rebuilt her late father's
financially distressed company, Hancock Prospecting, becoming executive
chairwoman in 1992.
● Hancock's biggest asset is the Roy Hill mining project, which started shipments to
Asia in 2015. She's paid off the $7.2 billion debt taken on for this project.
● Rinehart has made significant investments into rare earth minerals and the gas
sector. She's also Australia's second-largest cattle producer, with a portfolio of
properties across the country.
● In December 2023, Hancock Prospecting and Chilean mineral company SQM made
a joint $1.1 billon bid to acquire lithium outfit Azure Minerals in western Australia.

Abigail Johnson
$29B
● Abigail Johnson has served as CEO of Fidelity Investments since 2014, when she
took over for her father, and has been chairman since 2016.
● Her grandfather, Edward Johnson II, founded the Boston-based mutual fund giant in
1946.
● She owns an estimated 28.5% stake of the firm, which as of September 2023
manages discretionary assets totaling $4.5 trillion.
● Johnson has embraced cryptocurrencies and, in 2018, Fidelity launched a platform
that allows institutional investors to trade bitcoin and ether.
● She worked summers at Fidelity through college and joined full-time as an analyst in
1988 after receiving a Harvard M.B.A.

Eduardo Saverin
$28B
● Eduardo Saverin cofounded Meta Platforms, formerly Facebook, with Harvard
classmate Mark Zuckerberg in 2004.
● Now a venture capitalist, he still derives most of his wealth from his small but
valuable stake in Meta.
● In 2016, he launched venture fund B Capital, with BCG and Bain Capital veteran Raj
Ganguly. The fund had more than $5.5 billion in assets under management in 2023.
● In July 2022, B Capital raised $250 million to invest in early stage startups.
● A Brazilian native, Saverin has been a Singapore resident since renouncing his U.S.
citizenship in 2012 ahead of Facebook's IPO.

Germán Larrea Mota Velasco & family

$27.9B
● Germán Larrea Mota Velasco owns the majority of Mexico's largest copper mining
company, Grupo México, which also has operations in Perú and the U.S.
● Under his leadership as president and CEO, Grupo México expanded into the
infrastructure and rail transportation sectors.
● In 2014, the mining company faced scrutiny after a spill at its copper mine in Sonora,
Mexico, contaminated two rivers nearby.
● The company agreed with a government request to deposit $150 million in a trust to
compensate local residents harmed by the spill.
● In 2017, Larrea spun off Grupo México's transport arm into a new company, GMexico
Transportes, part owned by two of Carlos Slim Helú's firms.

Stefan Quandt
$27.3B
● Stefan Quandt owns 23.6% of automaker BMW; his sister, Susanne Klatten, the
richest woman in Germany, owns 19.1%.
● Their late mother, Johanna, was the third wife of legendary industrialist Herbert
Quandt, who guided BMW to preeminence in the luxury market.
● Both siblings serve on BMW's supervisory board; Quandt is deputy chairman.
● His holdings also include Heel (homeopathic medicine), Entrust (digital identity and
data security) and Logwin (logistics).
● He graduated from the Technical University of Karlsruhe, where he studied
economics and engineering.

Dilip Shanghvi
$26.7B
● The son of a pharmaceuticals distributor, Dilip Shanghvi borrowed $200 from his
father to start Sun Pharmaceutical Industries in 1983 to make psychiatric drugs.
● The company is India's most valuable listed pharma outfit and gets two-thirds of its
$5.3 billion annual revenue from overseas markets.
● He grew Sun through a series of acquisitions, the biggest of which was the 2014
purchase of scandal-tainted rival Ranbaxy Laboratories for $4 billion.
● In 2023, Sun Pharma completed the $576 million acquisition of U.S.-based Concert
Pharmaceuticals.

Susanne Klatten
$26.5B
● Susanne Klatten owns about 19% of automaker BMW; her brother, Stefan Quandt,
owns nearly 24%.
● Their late mother, Johanna, was the third wife of legendary industrialist Herbert
Quandt, who guided BMW to preeminence in the luxury market.
● An economist with an M.B.A., Klatten helped transform her grandfather's Altana AG
into a world-class pharmaceutical/specialty chemical corporation.
● Klatten is the sole owner and deputy chair of Altana, which has more than $2.5 billion
in annual sales.
● She also holds stakes in Entrust, which specializes in digital identity and data
security, and carbon and graphite producer SGL Group.
R. Budi Hartono
$26.5B
● R. Budi Hartono and his brother, Michael (whose fortune is listed separately), are
among the richest in Indonesia.
● The brothers get the bulk of their fortune from their investment in Bank Central Asia.
● The Hartonos bought a stake in BCA, after another wealthy family, the Salims, lost
control of the bank during the 1997-1998 Asian economic crisis.
● The family first got rich in tobacco and is still one of the biggest clove cigarette
makers in the nation.
● In what was Indonesia's second-largest IPO of 2022, the brothers listed Global Digital
Niaga, which owns e-commerce giant Blibli, raising $510 million.

Thomas Frist, Jr. & family

$26.2B
● Thomas Frist Jr., a former Air Force flight surgeon, founded Hospital Corp. of
America with his father in 1968.
● He took it public for the third time in 2011 after two management buyouts and owns
over 20% of the company with his family.
● HCA Healthcare owns and operates 182 hospitals and around 2,300 sites of care in
20 states in the U.S. and U.K.
● Frist Jr. doesn't have an executive position at HCA, but his sons, Thomas Frist III and
William Frist, are board members.

Daniel Gilbert
$26.2B
● Dan Gilbert cofounded what would become Quicken Loans, the largest mortgage
lender in the U.S., in 1985 at 22 years old.
● Quicken, which originated $320 billion in mortgages in 2020, went public as Rocket
Companies in August 2020 at a $36 billion valuation.
● He also owns the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers.
● He and his companies have invested $5.6 billion to purchase and rehab a swath of
buildings in downtown Detroit, with a plan to create 24,000 jobs.
● He also cofounded online sneaker sale platform StockX, which became a unicorn in
2019 and was most recently valued by investors at $3.8 billion.

Iris Fontbona & family

$25.7B
● Iris Fontbona is the widow of Andrónico Luksic, who built a fortune in mining and
beverages before dying of cancer in 2005.
● He left his businesses to Fontbona and his three sons: Jean-Paul, Andrónico and
Guillermo Luksic (who died of lung cancer in 2013 at age 57).
● Fontbona and her children control Antofagasta Plc, which owns copper mines in
Chile and trades on the London Stock Exchange.
● Fontbona and her children also own a majority stake in Quiñenco, a publicly-traded
Chilean conglomerate active in banking, beer and manufacturing.
● Jean-Paul Luksic is chairman of Antofagasta; Andrónico Luksic, who headed up
Quiñenco since 2013, stepped down in December 2023.

Emmanuel Besnier
$25.5B
● Emmanuel Besnier is the controlling shareholder of family-held Lactalis, the world's
largest dairy conglomerate, with more than $30 billion in annual revenues.
● His grandfather founded the company in 1933. It now sells products including
President brie, Siggi's yogurt and Stonyfield.
● His younger siblings, Jean-Michel and Marie, split the rest of the ownership in the
family's milk and cheese giant.
● The world's biggest dairy company, Lactalis now employs 85,000 and owns more
than 266 plants in 51 countries.

Michael Hartono
$25.5B
● Michael "Bambang" Hartono and his brother R. Budi are among the richest in
Indonesia.
● The brothers get the bulk of their fortune from their investment in Bank Central Asia.
● The Hartonos bought the stake in BCA after another wealthy family, the Salims, lost
control of the bank during the 1997-1998 Asian economic crisis.
● The family first got rich in tobacco and is still one of the biggest clove cigarette
makers in the nation.
● In what was Indonesia's second-largest IPO of 2022, the brothers listed Global Digital
Niaga, which owns e-commerce giant Blibli, raising $510 million.

John Menard, Jr.

$25.2B
● John Menard's home improvement retailer Menards brings in an estimated $13 billion
in sales from more than 300 stores.
● His stores, which compete with Home Depot and Lowe's, are concentrated in the
middle of the U.S., from Wyoming to Ohio.
● Menard first started a construction business in 1958, 20 years before Home Depot
launched.
● Menard has developed a reputation for keeping a tight grip on his business, requiring
even top executives to punch a time clock every morning.
● Menard sponsored the winning car at the 2019 Indy 500, his first win in nearly 40
years of involvement in racing.
Autry Stephens
$24.3B
● Oil tycoon Autry Stephens started a sole proprietor business in Texas and drilled his
first well in 1979.
● That company grew into Endeavor Energy Resources, a privately held oil exploration
and production firm.
● Endeavor is one of the largest private oil producers in the U.S., generating some
311,100 barrels of oil equivalent per day.
● The company has the rights to drill on more than 500,000 acres in the U.S., mainly in
Texas.

Takemitsu Takizaki
$23.1B
● Takemitsu Takizaki is the founder of Keyence, a supplier of sensors and electronic
components for factory automation systems.
● He stepped down as chairman in March 2015 but remains on the board of directors
and is honorary chairman.
● Sales to customers outside of Japan have grown steadily and account for more than
60% of revenue.
● Customers include auto parts makers, electronics firms and food packagers.
● In 2022, Takizaki donated shares worth nearly $3 billion to his foundation.

Diane Hendricks
$20.9B
● Diane Hendricks chairs ABC Supply, one of the largest wholesale distributors of
roofing, siding and windows in America.
● Hendricks cofounded the business with her late husband, Ken, in Beloit, Wisconsin,
in 1982. She has chaired it since his death in 2007.
● She led ABC to make the two biggest acquisitions in its history, buying rival Bradco in
2010 and building materials distributor L&W Supply in 2016.
● The company has over 900 branch locations and had $18.5 billion in 2022 revenues.
● Hendricks sold custom homes for a builder before meeting Ken, a roofer.
● She has spent millions on local economic development, rebuilding entire blocks in
Beloit and bringing in several new businesses to the state.

Eric Schmidt
$20.6B
● Eric Schmidt left the board of Google parent company Alphabet in June 2019 after 18
years; he stayed on as a technical advisor until February 2020.
● Schmidt was Google's CEO from 2001 to 2011; prior to that he had stints as CEO of
Novell and chief technology officer at Sun Microsystems.
● He co-founded Innovation Endeavors, a venture capital firm that has invested in
Uber, SoFi, and Zymergen, among others.
● In May 2015, his family's investment vehicle bought a 20% stake in hedge fund firm
D.E. Shaw & Co. for an undisclosed price.

Vicky Safra & family

$20.6B
● Vicky Safra and her four adult children inherited their fortune from her late husband
and their father, banker Joseph Safra, who died in December 2020.
● Vicky, who was born in Greece, maintains both Greek and Brazilian citizenship and
lives mostly in Switzerland.
● Oldest son Jacob Safra, 49, is responsible for the Swiss bank J. Safra Sarasin, Safra
National Bank of New York and the family's international real estate.
● David Safra, 40, manages Banco Safra in Brazil and J. Safra Group's Brazilian real
estate holdings.
● Alberto Safra, 45, founded asset manager ASA Investments. He sued his family in
2023, claiming his stake in Safra National Bank was diluted; the case was dismissed
in March 2024.
● Esther Safra Dayan, 47, is married to Carlos Dayan, a son of a Brazilian banker, and
lives in São Paulo.

David Tepper
$20.6B
● David Tepper, arguably the greatest hedge fund manager of his generation, founded
Appaloosa Management in 1993.
● Tepper has been returning client assets over the last decade, and Appaloosa's $15
billion under management now is primarily his own personal capital.
● He decided to move from New Jersey to Florida in 2016 and relocated his hedge
fund firm there.
● In 2018, Tepper bought the Carolina Panthers professional football team in a $2.3
billion deal.
● Once the head of the junk bond desk at Goldman Sachs, he left after being passed
over for partner to start Appaloosa.

Steve Cohen
$19.8B
● Steve Cohen oversees Point72 Asset Management, a $30.6 billion hedge fund firm
that started managing outside capital in 2018.
● For years Cohen ran SAC Capital, one of the most successful hedge funds ever.
● Cohen was forced to shut down SAC Capital after the firm pleaded guilty to insider
trading charges that cost Cohen $1.8 billion in penalties.
● Cohen bought the New York Mets in 2020 for $2.4 billion, the highest sale price ever
for an MLB team.
● Cohen has given $1 billion to philanthropic causes over his lifetime, including causes
related to veterans and children's health.
Kumar Birla
$19.7B
● Commodities king Kumar Birla is the fourth generation head of the storied, $65 billion
(revenue) Aditya Birla Group. More than half is generated outside India, where it has
a presence in 41 countries.
● The group's interests span cement, textiles and aluminium to telecom, financial
services and paints. It has recently entered new sectors such as branded jewellery
and hospitality.
● Birla, who is a chartered accountant and graduated from London Business School,
inherited the family empire at age 28 when his father Aditya Birla died in 1995.
● In 2021, he stepped down as chairman of debt-strapped telecom firm Vodafone Idea,
formed by the 2018 merger between his Idea Cellular and Vodafone India.
● In 2023, his daughter Ananya and son Aryaman joined the boards of Grasim and
Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail.

Rick Cohen & family

$19.6B
● Rick Cohen is owner and executive chairman of C&S Wholesale Grocers, the
nation's largest grocery wholesaler, with $33 billion in annual revenue.
● The bulk of his family's wealth, however, comes from warehouse automation firm
Symbotic, which has a partnership with Walmart to automate its 42 regional
distribution centers.
● Cohen, whose grandfather started C&S in 1918, launched Symbotic after tinkering
around with technology to solve his own distribution problems at the family grocery
business.
● He built Symbotic largely in stealth, and took it public in a $5.5 billion SPAC deal
sponsored by venture-capital giant SoftBank that closed in 2022.
● Cohen is chairman and CEO of Symbotic, which produces fully automated
warehouses. Its order backlog totals $23 billion.

Rupert Murdoch & family

$19.5B
● Rupert Murdoch built a media empire that includes cable channel Fox News, The
Times of London and The Wall Street Journal. He stepped down as chairman in
September 2023.
● Murdoch sold most of Fox's movie studio, FX, and National Geographic Networks
and its stake in Star India to Disney for $71.3 billion in March 2019.
● Murdoch's son, Lachlan, runs the new Fox, which consists of its broadcast, cable
news, business and sports networks.
● Though several of his companies are known for their conservative tilt, he initially
urged Mike Bloomberg to run for president against Donald Trump.
● A native of Australia, Murdoch inherited a newspaper at age 22 after his father, a
former war correspondent, passed away.
Harold Hamm
$18.5B
● Fracking pioneer Harold Hamm founded and chairs Continental Resources, one of
the nation's biggest independent oil companies.
● The 13th child of Oklahoma sharecroppers, Hamm picked cotton barefoot as a child
and started working at a gas station at age 16 to support his family.
● He eventually started his own trucking company hauling water to and from oilfields,
then in 1971 took out a loan to drill his first well.
● In the 1990s he had the vision to use horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing in
North Dakota's Bakken region, transforming the U.S. oil industry.
● Today, Continental, which went public in 2007, produces 400,000 barrels worth of oil
and gas per day. Hamm and his 5 children took the company private in a $27 billion
deal in 2022.

Dustin Moskovitz
$18.3B
● Dustin Moskovitz helped launch Facebook in 2004 with then-roommate Mark
Zuckerberg from their Harvard dorm.
● After leaving the social network in 2008, he cofounded Asana, a workflow software
company.
● Asana went public in a direct listing on the New York Stock Exchange in September
2020.
● Most of his net worth lies in his estimated 2% stake in Facebook.
● He and his wife built the foundation Good Ventures, which has awarded $2.5 billion in
grants to causes such as biosecurity and effective altruism.

Donald Bren
$18B
● Donald Bren is America's wealthiest real estate baron.
● His Irvine Co. owns 129 million square feet of real estate, mostly in Southern
California.
● His portfolio includes more than 590 office buildings and 125 apartment complexes.
● Bren owns a 97% stake in Manhattan's MetLife Building.
● The son of a real estate investor, Bren worked as a carpenter's helper on his father's
buildings.

Michael Platt
$18B
● Michael Platt is the cofounder and CEO of BlueCrest Capital Management, which he
started in late 2000 after nearly a decade at JP Morgan.
● Platt built BlueCrest into one of the world's largest hedge fund firms; at its peak, it
managed more than $35 billion in assets.
● A push into equities and poor results led to investor exits and he returned outside
investors' money in 2015, remaking BlueCrest into a family office.
● The firm has flourished since then, generating returns as high as 153% in 2022 and
95% in 2020 with no years worse than 20%.

Renata Kellnerova & family

$18B
● Renata Kellnerova is the widow of Petr Kellner, the former richest person in the
Czech Republic, who died in March 2021 at age 56.
● Kellner died in a helicopter crash in Alaska during a heliskiing trip.
● Kellnerova and her four children control PPF Group, the $44 billion (assets)
conglomerate with interests in financial services, telecommunications, media and real
estate.
● She chairs The Kellner Family Foundation, which focuses on education.

John Fredriksen
$16.9B
● Fredriksen's empire includes oil tankers, dry bulkers, LNG carriers and deepwater
drilling rigs.
● He first got into oil trading in the 1960s in Beirut, bought his first tankers in the 1970s,
and ran crude for Iran in the 1980s.
● His offshore drilling rig firm Seadrill emerged from bankruptcy in 2018, with
Fredriksen helping to raise about $1 billion in new debt and equity.
● His biggest holding is Marine Harvest, now named Mowi, which has rolled up
competitors to become the biggest fish farmer in the world.
● Though set to hand control to twins Kathrine and Cecilie, he has said "My daughters
should not have to live with the work everyday I've had."

Harry Triguboff
$16.5B
● Harry Triguboff is one of Australia's richest people. Born in Dalian, China to Russian
parents, he came to Australia as a teenager.
● Triguboff found success in business by providing higher-density living options in
Sydney, Australia's largest city, which has traditionally been dominated by
free-standing homes.
● His apartment-tower development company, Meriton, has a strong presence in
Sydney, while it also has an imprint in southeast Queensland.
● He was one of Australia's first developers to see the potential of apartment living
when most of his countrymen aspired to single-family homes.
● Nicknamed "High Rise Harry," he has put up more than 78,000 apartments.

Jorge Paulo Lemann & family

$16.4B
● Jorge Paulo Lemann started in investment banking and later became a controlling
shareholder of Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world's largest brewer.
● His fellow controlling shareholders at AB Inbev include Brazilian business partners
Carlos Sicupira and Marcel Herrmann Telles, both billionaires.
● In 2016, AB InBev completed its nearly $100 billion acquisition of SABMiller,
acquiring brands including Pilsner Urquell and Foster's Lager.
● Lemann and his partners also own stakes in Restaurant Brands International, parent
of Burger King and Canadian coffee chain Tim Hortons.
● In 2013 Lemann's private equity firm 3G Capital and Warren Buffett's Berkshire
Hathaway bought H.J. Heinz & Company. Then Heinz merged with Kraft.

Lakshmi Mittal
$16.4B
● Lakshmi Mittal serves as chairman of $68 billion (revenue) ArcelorMittal, the world's
largest steel and mining company by output.
● Hailing from a steel clan, he separated from his siblings to start Mittal Steel then went
on to merge the company with France's Arcelor in 2006.
● ArcelorMittal reported net income of $919 million in 2023, a massive drop from $9.3
billion in 2022 after it sold its troubled plants in Kazakhstan and Italy at a loss.
● In 2019, Arcelor and Nippon Steel completed their $5.9 billion acquisition of Essar
Steel, once controlled by billionaires Shashi and Ravi Ruia.
● In 2021, Mittal ceded the CEO's position to his son, Aditya Mittal, but retained the title
of executive chairman of ArcelorMittal.

Jan Koum
$16.1B
● Jan Koum cofounded WhatsApp, now the world's biggest mobile messaging service,
in 2009.
● Facebook bought the startup for $22 billion in cash and stock in 2014.
● He resigned as CEO of WhatsApp in April 2018 and announced he would leave
Facebook's board as well.
● Koum worked at Yahoo for nearly nine years before leaving to found WhatsApp.
● Koum has donated $1.15 billion of Facebook stock to charitable entities, including to
his Koum Family Foundation.

Nicolas Puech
$15.6B
● Nicolas Puech is a fifth-generation descendant of Thierry Hermes, who founded one
of Paris's most famous luxury fashion brands.
● He resigned from Hermes' supervisory board in August 2014 but still owns about 5%
of the company; other family members together hold a majority stake.
● In September 2014, Hermes and luxury giant LVMH reached an agreement to
distribute LVMH's 23% stake in Hermes to its shareholders.
● The agreement settled a four-year dispute launched when LVMH accumulated the
stock without its rival's knowledge.
● It prompted speculation that LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault was planning a takeover.

Pavel Durov
$15.5B
● Pavel Durov is the founder and owner of messaging app Telegram, which has more
than 700 million monthly active users worldwide.
● Telegram, which is free to use, competes with messaging apps like Facebook's
WhatsApp.
● Durov left Russia after he refused to cooperate with the Russian secret service and
provide encrypted data of his first social network's users.
● Durov, who became a French citizen in 2021, moved himself and Telegram to Dubai
in 2017.
● Since the Ukraine war began, Telegram has become a critical source of information,
and plenty of disinformation too, related to the conflict.

Ray Dalio
$15.4B
● Ray Dalio is the founder of the world's biggest hedge fund firm, Bridgewater
Associates, which manages $124 billion.
● Dalio stepped down as CEO in 2017 and retired as co-CIO in 2022, completing a
transition that transferred majority control to the hedge fund's board.
● Dalio grew up in a middle class Long Island neighborhood and started playing the
markets at age 12, getting tips from golfers for whom he caddied.
● In 1975, after earning an MBA from Harvard Business School, he launched
Bridgewater from his two-bedroom New York City apartment.
● Dalio has given more than $1 billion to philanthropic causes. His Dalio Philanthropies
has supported microfinance and public education.

Philip Anschutz
$15.3B
● Over five decades, Philip Anschutz has built fortunes in oil, railroads, telecom, real
estate and entertainment.
● He is the majority owner of the NHL's Los Angeles Kings, with a stake in the MLS's
Los Angeles Galaxy, plus he owns the Crypto.com Arena, where the Kings play.
● His Anschutz Entertainment Group has 350 owned, operated or affiliated arenas and
concert venues worldwide.
● On 320,000 acres in Wyoming, Anschutz aims to build one of the world's biggest
wind farms.
● He started testing his business acumen early: a six-year-old Anschutz sold Kool-Aid
on a nearby college campus using a wheeled stand he built.
Leonard Lauder
$15.1B
● Leonard Lauder spent three decades running his family's publicly traded cosmetics
giant, Estée Lauder.
● The elder son of the eponymous makeup maven, Lauder joined his mother's
company in 1958.
● He created the company's first R&D laboratory and started acquiring brands like
MAC, Bobbi Brown and Aveda in the mid-1990s.
● Lauder stepped down as CEO in 1999. He is now chairman emeritus and is known
around the company as "Chief Teaching Officer."
● He and his brother, Ronald, co-chair the Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation,
which has awarded over $209 million to fund trials in 19 countries.

Andreas von Bechtolsheim & family

$14.8B
● Andreas "Andy" von Bechtolsheim is cofounder, chairman and chief development
officer of network switching company Arista Networks.
● Much of his fortune stems from an early $100,000 investment in Google.
● He has earmarked his nearly 17% stake in Arista for his heirs.
● In 1982, he cofounded tech hardware firm Sun Microsystems with Bill Joy, Scott
McNealy and Vinod Khosla. Oracle bought Sun in 2010 for $7.4 billion.
● Born in Germany, Bechtolsheim studied computer engineering at Carnegie Mellon
University and received his PhD from Stanford University.

George Kaiser
$14.6B
● George Kaiser took over his family's Kaiser-Francis Oil Company in the 1960s.
● Kaiser bought the Bank of Oklahoma in 1991 for $60 million; he owns about 57% of
the publicly-traded bank.
● He also owns 76% of publicly traded LNG firm Excelerate Energy, as well as stakes
in publicly traded fintech firm Alkami and the Oklahoma City Thunder.
● In the 1930s, Kaiser's parents fled Nazi Germany and settled in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
● Kaiser has paid out nearly $2 billion from his George Kaiser Family Foundation,
which focuses on early childhood education.

Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken & family

$14.1B
● Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken is one of the richest women in the world, thanks to
her nearly 24% stake in beer giant Heineken.
● She inherited the Heineken stake in 2002 from her late father, longtime CEO Freddy
Heineken.
● Charlene, husband Michel de Carvalho, sons Charles and Alexander de Carvalho
and daughter Louisa Brassey all sit on Heineken boards.
● Charlene's mother, Martha Lucille Heineken-Cummins, died on Christmas Eve of
2020.

Leon Black
$14B
● Leon Black is the cofounder of private equity behemoth Apollo Global Management,
which manages $600 billion in assets.
● Black stepped down as Apollo's CEO and chairman in March 2021, after a board
investigation found that he paid $158 million in fees to Jeffrey Epstein.
● He spent much of his early career at investment bank Drexel Burnham Lambert,
where he eventually headed the mergers and acquisitions group.
● After Drexel filed for bankruptcy in 1990, Black founded Apollo with colleagues
Joshua Harris and Marc Rowan, both of whom are billionaires.
● Apollo went public in 2011; Black still owns roughly 15% of the company.

Jerry Jones
$13.8B
● Jerry Jones, co-captain of the University of Arkansas 1964 national championship
team, has long had football in his blood.
● His most valuable holding is the Dallas Cowboys, which he bought for $150 million in
1989. The team is currently valued at $9 billion.
● Jones made a name for himself as an oil wildcatter, making his first million in oil
investments in the 1970s.
● He still invests in drilling opportunities as well as retail and residential real estate
projects in Dallas.
● After a 2018 deal, Jones became the controlling shareholder in Comstock
Resources, a publicly traded Texas oil and gas company.
● An avid art collector, Jones owns Norman Rockwell's "Coin Toss" as well as paintings
by Picasso, Renoir and Matisse among others.

David Green & family

$13.7B
● A preacher's son from a poor background, Hobby Lobby founder David Green
opened his first crafts shop in 1970 with a $600 loan.
● His empire has grown from a single 300-square-foot store in Oklahoma City to over
950 locations, generating an estimated $7.9 billion in annual sales.
● A devout Christian, he still serves as Hobby Lobby's CEO and goes to work six days
a week.
● Stores are closed on Sundays and workers make a minimum of $18.50 an hour as of
January 2022, well above the federal minimum wage.
● He has said he plans to give 90% of the company to charity, with the remaining 10%
going to his family.
● He is a donor to a group called He Gets Us, a $100 million campaign to promote
Jesus and Christianity, which ran two ads during the 2023 Super Bowl game.
James Dyson
$13.6B
● Frustrated with his family's vacuum, James Dyson set out to invent a better version in
1978 using a cyclone to lift dirt.
● Dyson employs more than 5,000 engineers around the world and said in 2020 it
would invest the equivalent of $14 million a week on product development through
2025.
● In 2019, Dyson scrapped plans to build electric cars after telling staff they were not
commercially viable.
● Dyson, who attended art school in London, does not have an engineering degree.
● Dyson's popular line of intelligent air purifiers claims to have used the data to create
the most accurate picture of indoor air quality worldwide.

David Sun
$13.6B
● David Sun cofounded and helps run Kingston Technology, which makes storage and
memory products, as COO from a cubicle on the sales floor.
● With longtime partner John Tu, Sun launched a computer memory business out of a
garage and sold it to now defunct PC maker AST a few years later.
● The pair started Kingston by making surface-mount memory chips after losing most
of their first fortune in the stock market.
● Sun and his wife, Diana, have a foundation that provides grants to education
programs for under-served youth in the U.S. and Taiwan.
● The company's name comes from one of John Tu's favorite bands, the Kingston Trio.

John Tu
$13.6B
● Kingston Technology CEO John Tu runs the firm, which makes storage and memory
products, from a cubicle on sales floor.
● With longtime partner David Sun, Tu launched a computer memory business out of a
garage and sold it to now defunct PC maker AST a few years later.
● After losing a fortune in the stock market in 1987, the pair started Kingston to
manufacture surface-mount memory chips.
● Tu, a Chinese native who grew up in Taiwan, got an engineering degree in Germany
and then immigrated to the U.S. in 1971.
● He has invested $50 million in Fluxergy, a medical tech startup that developed a
rapid diagnostic test for COVID-19.

Ricardo Salinas Pliego & family

$13.4B
● Ricardo Salinas Pliego runs the number two Mexican TV broadcaster, TV Azteca,
and retailer Grupo Elektra.
● His Grupo Elektra targets lower middle class consumers who borrow money from his
banking arm, Banco Azteca, to buy items at Elektra stores.
● Elektra, which is publicly traded, was founded in the 1950s by Ricardo's grandfather,
Hugo Salinas Rocha.
● Salinas appointed a new CEO to TV Azteca in January 2021, replacing his son,
Benjamin Salinas Sada, who he'd appointed in 2015.

Laurene Powell Jobs & family

$12.8B
● Laurene Powell Jobs inherited her fortune--mostly through shares of Walt Disney and
Apple--from her late husband, Apple cofounder Steve Jobs, who died in 2011.
● Powell Jobs is the founder and president of the Emerson Collective, an impact
investing, philanthropy and advocacy firm focused on environmental justice, health,
immigration and education.
● Powell Jobs purchased The Atlantic in 2017 and has invested in other media outlets
and nonprofit newsrooms, including Axios, ProPublica, The Athletic and the
Committee to Protect Journalists.
● She owns a minority stake in Monumental Sports, parent of the Wizards (NBA),
Capitals (NHL), and Mystics (WNBA), and in 2022 invested in the WNBA's first-ever
capital raise.
● In 2021, she launched the Waverley Street Foundation and committed to donate $3
billion over a decade to organizations addressing climate change through innovative
solutions and environmental justice.

George Roberts
$12.7B
● George Roberts cofounded private equity giant KKR with Henry Kravis; in October
2021, the two men gave up their co-CEO titles; both serve as executive co-chairs of
the firm.
● Along with his cousin Henry Kravis and their mentor Jerome Kohlberg (d. 2015), the
three led KKR through debt-financed hostile takeovers starting in the 1970s.
● The firm is known for the 1988 buyout of RJR Nabisco, chronicled in the book
"Barbarians At The Gate."
● KKR went public on the New York Stock Exchange in 2010.
● KKR has more than 100 portfolio companies that generate about $300 billion in
revenues, making it one of the five largest private equity firms in the world.

David Cheriton
$12.6B
● "Professor Billionaire" David Cheriton, who is professor emeritus at Stanford
University, made his fortune thanks to an early investment in Google.
● Cheriton and Andreas von Bechtolsheim (also now a billionaire) each invested
$100,000 in Google when it was just getting started.
● The pair cofounded 3 companies: Arista Networks (IPO in 2014), Granite Systems
(sold to Cisco in 1996) and Kealia (sold to Sun Microsystems in 2004).
● Cheriton resigned from Arista's board in 2014.
● Cheriton became chief data center scientist at Juniper Networks after the acquisition
of his company Apstra in 2021.

Jeffery Hildebrand
$12.6B
● Jeffrey Hildebrand cofounded Hilcorp in 1990; he later bought out his partner for
$500 million.
● In 2020, Hilcorp finalized the $5.6 billion acquisition of BP's assets in Alaska.
● He has built Hilcorp into America's biggest privately owned oil company (by
production volumes).
● In 2015, Hildebrand gave each of his 1,400 employees a $100,000 bonus after they
doubled the size of his company in five years.

Georg Stumpf
$12.6B
● Austrian builder and investor Georg Stumpf started the Stumpf Group in 1994 with a
$35,000 loan from his father.
● Its biggest asset is Exyte, a high-tech EPC construction firm based in Stuttgart,
Germany that specializes in semiconductors.
● In November 2022, Exyte announced it would sell a minority stake in the business to
BDT Capital, the private equity group led by fellow billionaire Byron Trott.
● Stumpf also built the Millennium Tower, the tallest building in Vienna, and sold it to
German fund MCP in 2003.
● He grew up playing golf with Karl Ableidinger, who once played golf professionally on
the European Tour and is now his vice chairman.

Anders Holch Povlsen

$12.5B
● Fashion maven Anders Holch Povlsen's fortune stems primarily from his nearly $4
billion (sales) retailer Bestseller.
● Povlsen's parents opened the family's first store in 1975 in the small Danish town of
Ringkobing.
● He took over at age 28 and is now the sole owner of Bestseller, which peddles
apparel under 11 brand names, including Jack & Jones, Only and Vero Moda.
● Povlsen also has significant stakes in retailer ASOS, online grocery store Nemlig and
payments company Klarna.
● Povlsen lost three of his four children and was himself injured in a terrorist attack in
Sri Lanka in 2019.
Johann Rupert & family
$12.2B
● Johann Rupert is chairman of Swiss luxury goods firm Compagnie Financiere
Richemont.
● The company is best known for the brands Cartier and Montblanc.
● It was formed in 1998 through a spinoff of assets owned by Rembrandt Group
Limited (now Remgro Limited), which his father Anton formed in the 1940s.
● He owns 7% of diversified investment firm Remgro, which he chairs, as well as 27%
of Reinet, an investment holding company based in Luxembourg.
● Rupert has been a vocal opponent of plans to allow fracking in the Karoo, a region of
South Africa where he owns land.

Shahid Khan
$12.2B
● Shahid Khan is the owner of auto parts supplier Flex-N-Gate and the NFL's
Jacksonville Jaguars.
● An immigrant from Pakistan, Khan bought Flex-N-Gate from his former employer in
1980.
● An engineer, his design for a one-piece truck bumper was the basis for his success;
the company now has 76 plants worldwide and over 27,000 employees.
● Khan bought the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2012 and the UK's Fulham football club in
2013.
● He and his son, Tony, launched All Elite Wrestling, a professional wrestling
entertainment company and a competitor to WWE, in 2019.
● He owns the Four Seasons Hotel Toronto and will open a new Four Seasons
property in Jacksonville in 2026.

Edward Johnson IV
$11.8B
● Edward Johnson IV is the grandson of Edward Johnson II, who founded Fidelity
Investments in 1946.
● He is the brother of current Fidelity CEO and chairman Abigail Johnson.
● Johnson is the president of Pembroke Real Estate, which is owned by Fidelity's
parent company FMR.
● He owns a 5.56% stake in FMR, according to company documents filed with the Utah
Department of Insurance in 2000.
● The Johnson family is a major donor to nonprofits in Boston and has given to
Harvard, Historic New England and the Institute of Contemporary Art.

Eric Smidt
$11.7B
● Eric Smidt is CEO of $6.5 billion (sales) Harbor Freight Tools, a home improvement
retailer that has over 1,300 stores.
● Smidt was a teenager when he started Harbor Freight Tools with his father Allan in
1977. He earned enough credits at his job to graduate high school.
● In the beginning, Harbor Freight was a mail-order business that sold tools out of a
small warehouse in North Hollywood.
● Smidt became president of the company in 1985 and CEO and sole owner in 1999.
● In 2010, his father Allan sued him for "looting" the company and leveraging it to
finance his own lavish lifestyle. The case was settled out of court.

Henry Kravis
$11.7B
● Henry Kravis and George Roberts, cofounders of private equity firm KKR, gave up
their co-CEO titles in October 2021; both serve as executive co-chairs.
● Kravis cofounded KKR with his cousin, George Roberts, and Jerome Kohlberg (d.
2015) in 1976. Kohlberg left the firm in 1987.
● KKR has more than 100 portfolio companies that generate about $300 billion in
revenues, making it one of the five largest private equity firms in the world.
● Kravis and Roberts took KKR public on the New York Stock Exchange in 2010 and
converted it into a corporation in 2018.
● Kravis donated $100 million to Columbia University Business School in 2010 and
another $25 million in 2015.

Andrew Beal
$11.5B
● Andrew Beal is the founder and owner of Beal Financial Corporation, which owns
Beal Bank and has assets of more than $40 billion.
● The Texas banker is known for gobbling up distressed assets, including mortgages,
bonds backed by commercial planes and IOUs to power plants.
● He made a tidy sum during the Great Recession, scooping up beaten-down assets
while the nation's biggest banks were being bailed out by taxpayers.
● Born in Lansing, Mich., he scraped together cash early on fixing used televisions.
● Beal dropped out of both Michigan State University and Baylor University and bought
a $6,500 house at age 19 that he leased to get a start in real estate.

Jay Y. Lee
$11.5B
● Jay Y. Lee is the executive chairman of Samsung Electronics and leader of South
Korea's biggest conglomerate. He was appointed to the role in October 2022, which
had been left vacant since the death of his father in 2020.
● In 2017 he was jailed and charged with bribing a confidante of the once-imprisoned
former president, Park Geun-hye, but was released in 2018.
● In January 2021, through a retrial, he was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in
prison. In 2022, Lee received a presidential pardon that cleared the 2017 conviction
from his record.
● In February 2024, Lee was acquitted of stock manipulation charges related to a 2015
merger between two Samsung affiliates that prosecutors said helped Lee cement
control of the Samsung conglomerate.

Michael Rubin
$11.5B
● Michael Rubin is the founder and CEO of online sports merchandising retailer
Fanatics.
● After dropping out of Villanova University, Rubin started GSI Commerce, which he
sold to eBay for $2.4 billion in 2011.
● As part of the deal he paid $500 million for majority ownership of 3 assets eBay didn't
want: Fanatics, Rue La La and ShopRunner.
● In 2018, flash-sales site Rue La La acquired rival Gilt Groupe. In 2019, mall operator
Simon Property Group took a 50% stake in the combined company.
● Rubin sold ShopRunner to FedEx for an undisclosed amount in 2020. He still owns
minority stakes in Fanatics and Rue Gilt Group.

Giorgio Armani
$11.3B
● A living legend in the fashion world, Giorgio Armani brought softened, minimalist style
to high-end menswear.
● Armani left medical school to fulfill his military service, then got a job as a buyer and
window dresser for Milan department store La Rinascente.
● He left to design clothes for Nino Cerruti and eventually launched his own line in the
mid-1970s with the help of his partner, Sergio Galeotti.
● His business surged after he was asked to design actor Richard Gere's wardrobe for
the 1980 blockbuster film American Gigolo.
● Since then he has expanded into accessories, perfumes, makeup and sportswear --
plus interior design, real estate, restaurants and hotels.

Dan Cathy
$11.2B
● Fried chicken billionaire Dan Cathy is chairman of Chick-fil-A, the fast-food
juggernaut his father, Truett Cathy (d. 2014), founded in 1967.
● He grew up doing odd jobs in his father's restaurants, including scraping chewing
gum from table bottoms with a butter knife.
● Cathy became CEO in 2013, sparking nationwide protests when he made anti-same
sex marriage remarks. His son, Andrew Cathy, took over as CEO in November 2021.
● His brother, Bubba Cathy, serves as executive vice president of the chicken chain,
which is known for staying closed on Sundays.
● Cathy spends much of his time away from the company's Atlanta headquarters,
visiting restaurants and attending grand openings around the country.
Bubba Cathy
$11.2B
● Bubba Cathy and his brother, Dan, run fast-food juggernaut Chick-fil-A, the fried
chicken chain founded by their father, Truett (d. 2014), in 1967.
● He grew up in the business, rising from construction apprentice to senior vice
president in 1995.
● Today, Bubba serves as Chick-fil-A's executive vice president and heads the
company's Georgia-based Dwarf House and Truett's Grill.
● His brother, Dan, serves as chairman of the religious company that is known for
closing every Sunday. His nephew, Andrew, is CEO.

Trudy Cathy White

$11.2B
● Trudy Cathy White is the only daughter of Truett Cathy (d. 2014), the founder of
Chick-fil-A.
● Cathy White serves as an "ambassador" at the company, attending new restaurant
openings and other corporate events.
● Her brothers, billionaires Dan and Bubba Cathy, run the fried chicken chain as
chairman and executive vice president, respectively.
● Cathy White, who spent 10 years as a missionary in Brazil, cofounded Christian
nonprofits Lifeshape and Impact 360 Institute.
● She has written three books, including "A Quiet Strength," a biography of her late
mother, Jeannette Cathy (d. 2015).

Lui Che Woo

$11.2B
● Lui Che Woo chairs Macau casino operator Galaxy Entertainment Group and
property developer K. Wah International Holdings, both listed in Hong Kong.
● Initially a construction materials supplier, K. Wah develops property, principally in
Hong Kong and mainland China.
● Lui donated $1.2 billion in 2015 to endow his foundation and the Lui Che Woo Prize.
● Lui's eldest son, Francis, oversees Galaxy operations while daughter Paddy and son
Alexander focus on K. Wah.
● Lui first made his mark supplying gravel for Hong Kong's postwar construction boom.

Sky Xu
$11.2B
● Sky Xu founded Shein in 2012 and has turned it into a fast-fashion phenomenon with
Gen Z, selling trendy clothes in more than 150 countries.
● Backed by Hongshan, formerly Sequoia China, it's one of the world's most popular
shopping apps whose users love its low prices.
● The company raised money at a valuation of $100 billion in the first half of 2022; it
subsequently fell back amid a global stock rout.
● In 2022, Shein opened its first U.S. distribution center in Whitestown, Indiana and its
first Canadian one in the greater Toronto area.
● It ventured offline in 2023, teaming up with Sparc Group, the operator of fast fashion
chain Forever 21, to step into the retailer's locations across the U.S.

Melinda French Gates

$11.1B
● Melinda French Gates is one of the most powerful women in philanthropy, as co-chair
of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
● In May 2021, Bill and Melinda Gates announced they were getting divorced but
would still remain co-chairs of the foundation.
● After they announced the divorce, Bill transferred at least $5 billion worth of stock in
various public companies to Melinda; Forbes estimates she received an additional $5
billion in other assets.
● As part of the foundation's mission to help all people lead healthy, productive lives,
she has devoted much of her work to women's and girls' rights.
● In her next chapter, Melinda French Gates' mission is to close the funding gap for
female founders through her investment and incubation company, Pivotal Ventures.

Robert Kraft
$11.1B
● Robert Kraft bought the New England Patriots for $172 million in 1994; the team is
now worth about $6 billion and has won six Super Bowl rings.
● Kraft, who sold newspapers outside the old Braves Stadium in Boston as a kid, made
an early fortune in paper and packaging.
● Today, his sports portfolio also includes the New England Revolution MLS club.
● He started a professional videogaming team in Boston, part of the Overwatch esports
league, in 2017.
● His first wife, Myra Hiatt Kraft, died of ovarian cancer in 2011. He married Dana
Blumberg, an ophthalmologist, in October 2022 at a lavish wedding where Elton John
performed.

Donald Newhouse
$11B
● Donald Newhouse and his late brother Samuel "Si" inherited the publishing and
broadcasting empire Advance Publications decades ago.
● Donald long oversaw the newspaper business that his father Sam built up from the
daily Staten Island Advance.
● His brother, Si, who ran magazine publisher Conde Nast for years, died in October
2017.
● Advance Publications also has stakes in Warner Bros. Discovery and social news
site Reddit.
● Amid a tumultuous media environment, Conde Nast sold W Magazine, Brides and
Golf Digest in 2019; it laid off 100 employees in May 2020.
Barry Lam
$11B
● Barry Lam is the founder and chairman of Quanta Computer, one of the world's
largest manufacturers of notebook computers and other electronics.
● A supplier to Tesla and Apple, the company also provides data center and cloud
systems.
● A Shanghai native, Lam moved to Hong Kong after China's revolution in 1949; he
later studied and made his home in Taiwan.

Marcel Herrmann Telles & family

$10.9B
● Marcel Herrmann Telles is a cofounder of private equity firm 3G Capital, best known
for its investments in Anheuser-Busch InBev and Restaurant Brands International,
parent of Burger King and Canadian coffee chain Tim Hortons.
● Telles' controlling shareholders at AB Inbev include longtime Brazilian business
partners Carlos Alberto Sicupira, Jorge Paulo Lemann and Alexandre Behring, who
are also billionaires.
● In December 2023, Telles gifted his stake in Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world's
largest brewer, to his son Max Van Hoegaerden Herrmann Telles.
● In 2013, the trio's private equity firm 3G Capital and Warren Buffett's Berkshire
Hathaway bought H.J. Heinz & Company. Then Heinz merged with Kraft.

Georg Schaeffler
$10.9B
● Georg Schaeffler and his mother, Maria-Elisabeth, own Schaeffler Group, one of the
world's largest producers of ball bearings and machine components.
● In 2009, he joined his mother. She'd been running Schaeffler after the death of her
husband, Wilhelm, who founded the firm with his brother in 1946.
● A year before, the company took over tire and auto parts giant Continental AG in a
$15-billion, debt-financed deal.
● In the wake of the financial crisis, it seemed the high-wire act might fail. But as the
auto market rebounded, Continental's share price soared.
● Georg and Maria-Elisabeth's combined 46% stake in Continental accounts for most
of their wealth.

Patrick Ryan
$10.7B
● Patrick Ryan is CEO and founder of Chicago-based Ryan Specialty Group, a
wholesale brokerage and specialty insurance firm.
● His first brokerage, Ryan Insurance, merged with Combined Insurance in 1982 to
form Aon, one of the largest insurance firms today.
● He left Aon in 2008 after 41 years as CEO, and founded wholesale brokerage and
specialty insurance firm Ryan Specialty Group two years later.
● In July 2021, Ryan brought RSG public in July with an IPO that valued the company
at $1.3 billion.
● Ryan and his wife were already the largest benefactors in Northwestern's history
before announcing a $480 million gift to their alma mater in 2021.

Carl Cook
$10.6B
● Carl Cook took over as CEO of his parents' medical device manufacturer, Cook
Group, when his father Bill died in 2011.
● The $2.3 billion (sales) company sold one of its subsidiaries, Cook Pharmica, to drug
delivery technology company Catalent for $950 million in 2017.
● Cook's parents started the business in their Bloomington, Indiana apartment in 1963.
● Cook is the president of a life sciences division called Cook MyoSite, which is
developing a cell therapy to treat urinary incontinence.

Friedhelm Loh
$10.6B
● Friedhelm Loh's group of companies provides software, products and services to
industries including switchgear manufacturing and utilities.
● His largest company, Rittal, supplies electrical enclosures, climate-control technology,
power-distribution gear and IT infrastructure.
● He inherited the business from his father, Rudolf, who invented the first
mass-produced enclosures for electrical control systems.
● Today, the group has over 12,000 employees, 100 global subsidiaries and annual
revenue of around $3 billion.

Graeme Hart
$10.4B
● New Zealand's perennial richest person, Graeme Hart amassed a packaging empire
using leveraged buyouts.
● Hart's holdings make everyday products like milk cartons, water bottles, paper and
aluminum foil.
● He listed Pactiv Evergreen, formerly known as Reynolds Group Holdings, in
September 2020 on Nasdaq.
● In November 2023, he took delivery of a 102-meter superyacht fitted out with a
hangar, helipad and glass stairways, among much else.

Judy Love & family

$10.2B
● Judy Love and her husband Tom (d. March 2023) founded truck stop and
convenience store chain Love's Travel Stops & Country Stores in 1964.
● Today, she and her four children own the company. Her sons Greg and Frank have
been co-CEOs since 2014.
● The couple leased their first gas station in Watonga, Oklahoma using a $5,000 loan
from Tom's parents.
● Judy kept the books and ran the company until 1975, when she returned to college.
● Love's has more than 644 stores in 42 states and estimated revenues of $26.5
billion.

Stephen Ross
$10.1B
● Stephen Ross was a tax attorney before founding Related Companies in 1972 as an
affordable housing developer.
● In all, Related has developed or acquired more than $60 billion worth of properties of
all kinds from California to Abu Dhabi to Shanghai.
● After a decade of planning and construction, Related Co.'s Hudson Yards on
Manhattan's west side opened to the public in March 2019.
● Related is building two new mega-developments, The 78 in Chicago and Related
Santa Clara in California, that will be comparable in size to Hudson Yards.
● Ross also owns the Miami Dolphins NFL team and has stakes in Equinox Fitness,
SoulCycle and numerous fast casual restaurant chains.
● The NFL suspended Ross for two months in August 2022 and fined him $1.5 million
for tampering; he "strongly disagreed with the [NFL's] conclusions."

Vincent Bolloré & family

$10B
● Vincent Bolloré runs his family's conglomerate Bolloré Group, which was founded in
1822 as a paper manufacturer of cigarettes wrappers and bibles.
● After a quick stint at Edmond de Rothschild bank, Bolloré took control of the
struggling group in 1981 and turned it into a global giant.
● The group, which is active in media, advertising, shipping, construction and logistics,
owns a majority stake in telecom conglomerate Vivendi.
● In 2018, French officials reportedly launched an investigation into Vincent Bolloré's
dealings for alleged corruption. His group denied involvement.
● In December 2019, Vivendi agreed to sell a 10% stake in its Universal Music Group
to billionaire Ma Huateng's Tencent Holdings.

Elizabeth Johnson
$9.9B
● Elizabeth Johnson is the granddaughter of Edward Johnson II, who founded Fidelity
Investments in 1946.
● She is the sister of current Fidelity CEO and chairman Abigail Johnson.
● In 2013, Johnson founded Louisburg Farm, a stable of show jumping horses based in
Wellington, Florida.
● She owns about 6% of FMR, according to company documents filed with the Utah
Department of Insurance in 2000.
● The Johnson family is a major donor to nonprofits in Boston and has given to
Harvard, Historic New England and the Institute of Contemporary Art.

Xavier Niel
$9.9B
● Technology entrepreneur Xavier Neil owns telecoms giant Iliad, the parent company
of Free, one of France's largest internet service providers.
● His portfolio also includes ownership of Monaco Telecom and Orange Switzerland,
the latter of which he acquired in 2014 for $2.9 billion and renamed Salt.
● Niel also owns stakes in French newspaper Le Monde, British telecoms company
Vodafone and Paris-based commercial real estate firm Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield.
● His early venture WorldNet was France's first Internet provider. He started it in 1993
at age 25 and exited seven years later for $50 million.

John Malone
$9.8B
● Nicknamed the Cable Cowboy, John Malone is known for his penchant for media
deals and complicated corporate structures.
● From the 1970s to the 1990s, Malone built up cable TV firm TCI as right hand man to
founder Bob Magness (d. 1996).
● Malone became the CEO of TCI in 1973 at 29 years old, then sold the firm to AT&T
for more than $50 billion in 1999.
● His Liberty Media, which owns the Atlanta Braves baseball team, closed a $4.4 billion
acquisition of auto-racing league Formula 1 in January 2017.
● In 2018, Malone retired from the boards of telecom giant Charter Communications
and entertainment firm Lions Gate.

Harry Stine
$9.7B
● Farm boy turned seed-genetics savant Harry Stine has made a fortune licensing corn
and soybean genetics to multinationals like Monsanto and Syngenta.
● Stine founded and runs Stine Seed; his current obsession is tinkering with seed
genetics that allow for better yields or pesticide resistance.
● The son of a hardscrabble farmer, Stine became fascinated with seeds when he was
a boy growing up in Iowa.
● He started farming at just five years old, driving a tractor to pick up straw bales.
● Stine, who is dyslexic and mildly autistic, is also a math and data wiz and a
formidable negotiator.
● In the 1990s, he struck highly lucrative licensing deals with large multinational
corporations across the globe, which form the backbone of his empire.
● He's donated to numerous Iowa institutions, including McPherson College, Drake
University and Spurgeon Manor, a skilled nursing facility for seniors.
Jack Dangermond
$9.7B
● Jack Dangermond founded Esri, the industry leader in GIS technology, a specialized
software used for creating digital maps.
● He founded the company in 1969 with $1,100 in personal savings and is thought of
as the godfather of digital mapping technology.
● Esri has about a 40% share of the global geographic information system market.
● Esri has pledged $1 billion worth of free GIS Software to all American K-12 schools.

Marijke Mars
$9.6B
● Marijke Mars and her three sisters are heirs to the family's giant candy and pet food
company, Mars, Incorporated.
● All four sisters inherited estimated stakes in the company of 8% apiece when their
father, Forrest Mars Jr., died in 2016.
● Her great-grandfather Frank Mars founded the candy company in 1911.
● Mars serves on the company's board of directors.
● Best known for candy such as Milky Way, Dove and Skittles, Mars also makes Ben's
Original rice and pet food, including Pedigree and Whiskas.

Pamela Mars
$9.6B
● Pamela Mars is an heir to her family's candy and pet food fortune.
● She and her three sisters each inherited an estimated 8% stake in Mars,
Incorporated when their father, Forrest Mars Jr., died in 2016.
● Mars has held various roles at the company since her first job there in 1986.
Currently she is the family's ambassador to the Mars pet care division.
● Mars acquired animal hospital chain VCA in 2017 plus AniCura and U.K. vet chain
Linnaeus, both in 2018.
● Best known for candy including Milky Way, Dove and Skittles, Mars also makes Ben's
Original rice and pet food brands Pedigree and Whiskas.

Valerie Mars
$9.6B
● Valerie Mars and her three sisters each inherited an estimated 8% stake in
candymaker Mars when their father, Forrest Mars Jr., died in 2016.
● Her great-grandfather Frank Mars founded the company in 1911.
● She began working at Mars in 1992 and today is the company's vice president of
corporate development.
● Mars also sits on the company's board of directors.
● Best known for candy such as Milky Way, Dove and Skittles, Mars also makes Ben's
Original rice and pet food, including Pedigree and Whiskas.
Victoria Mars
$9.6B
● Victoria Mars and her three sisters are heirs to the family's giant candy and pet food
company, Mars, Incorporated.
● She and her sisters all inherited their own estimated 8% stakes in the company when
their father Forrest Mars Jr. died in 2016.
● Her great-grandfather Frank Mars founded the candy company in 1911.
● The $45 billion (sales) company is best known for making candy such as M&Ms,
Milky Way and Skittles.
● In addition to sweets, the company also makes Ben's Original rice and pet food,
including Pedigree and Whiskas.

Carrie Perrodo & family

$9.6B
● Singapore-born Ka Yee (Carrie) Wong Perrodo inherited international oil company
Perenco when her husband Hubert Perrodo died in 2006.
● Perenco is one of the world's largest family-owned oil companies, with operations in
Gabon, Peru, Vietnam and elsewhere.
● Carrie's eldest son, François, chairs Perenco while her daughter, Nathalie, oversees
the family's winery investments in Bordeaux.

John Morris
$9.5B
● John Morris is founder and CEO of $8.1 billion (sales) outdoor gear retailer Bass Pro
Shops.
● Morris started the company in 1972 by selling fish tackle from the back of his father's
liquor store in Springfield, Missouri.
● In 2017, he bought rival Cabela's for $5 billion, nearly doubling the size of Bass Pro
Shops.
● His Bass Pro Group also owns the world's largest boat manufacturer by volume,
White River Marine Group, which makes fishing and recreational boats.
● A noted conservationist, Morris spent $300 million to build a 350,000 square-foot
museum and aquarium in Missouri that opened in 2017.

Christopher Hohn
$9.5B
● Activist investor Chris Hohn founded The Children's Investment Fund, a
London-based hedge fund, in 2003.
● The son of a Jamaican car mechanic, Hohn attended Southampton University in the
U.K. and got an MBA at Harvard.
● He briefly worked in consulting and private equity, before joining Richard Perry's
hedge fund, Perry Capital, in 1996.
● He opened Perry's first U.K. office and launched his own portfolio, then left to start
Children's Investment Fund.
Ludwig Merckle
$9.4B
● Most of Ludwig Merckle's wealth is from HeidelbergCement; he owns 27% after
having sold nearly half the company following the 2008 financial crisis.
● Along with other members of his family, he owns Phoenix Pharma SE, a drug
wholesaler that also operates a chain of retail pharmacies.
● After his father Adolf's death in 2009, Ludwig impressively turned around a tumbling
family fortune mired in crisis and debt.
● To finance the rescue, he sold drug maker Ratiopharm and nearly had to sell
Phoenix.
● He owns the snowcat maker Kaessbohrer and is co-owner of Zollern, which makes a
range of products including bearings, gears, winches and motors.

Daniel Kretinsky
$9.4B
● Daniel Kretinsky runs and owns Energeticky a prumyslovy holding (EPH), the biggest
energy group in Central Europe.
● EPH, which employs more than 25,000 people, distributes and supplies electricity as
well as provides gas storage and transmission.
● During the 2020 market crash, he took the stock market by storm making bets on
companies like Macy's, Foot Locker, Sainsbury and Royal Mail.
● Kretinsky also owns stakes in French newspaper Le Monde and German retail giant
Metro AG.

Sandra Ortega Mera

$9.3B
● Sandra Ortega Mera is the daughter of Amancio Ortega, cofounder of clothing giant
Inditex, known for its Zara retail chain.
● She inherited her fortune from her mother, Rosalia Mera, who cofounded Inditex; she
died suddenly in 2013.
● Now the second-richest person in Spain after her father, Sandra holds roughly a
4.5% stake in Inditex, but she is not involved in the company.
● She devotes her time to Fundación Paideia, the nonprofit her mother started that
supports vocational training for people with disabilities.
● She owns a 4.5% stake in publicly traded pharma company PharmaMar, which
specializes in anticancer drugs.

Jim Pattison
$9.3B
● Jim Pattison oversees a sprawling group that operates 20 divisions including
packaging, food and entertainment.
● Pattison's first business was a GM dealership he bought in 1961.
● The Canadian billionaire also controls more than 50% of publicly-traded forest
products company Canfor.
● His entertainment division includes Guinness World Records, the Ripley's Believe It
Or Not! chain and Great Wolf Lodge's Canadian franchise rights.

Todd Graves
$9.1B
● Todd Graves is founder and CEO of fried chicken fast-food chain Raising Cane's.
● Graves came up with the concept for a restaurant serving only chicken finger meals
while in college at Louisiana State University.
● His professor gave his idea the lowest grade in the class and he couldn't get bank
financing, so he worked as a boilermaker and salmon fisher to save up cash.
● He launched Raising Cane's in 1996, using his savings and an SBA loan.
● It's now a fast-growing, $3.3 billion (sales) business serving chicken tenders across
some 700 locations in 37 states.

Ralph Lauren
$9B
● Ralph Lauren is executive chairman and chief creative officer of Ralph Lauren, his
all-American fashion empire. He controls 85% of the voting rights.
● Lauren started the business in 1967 from a tiny office at the Empire State Building.
His first breakthrough came when Neiman Marcus ordered 1,200 ties.
● He stepped down from his position as CEO in 2015; his son, David, is chief branding
and innovation officer.
● Born in the Bronx to Jewish immigrants, Ralph Lifshitz, as he was then known,
worked as a part-time stock boy at a department store as a teenager.
● For 30 years, Lauren has supported breast cancer research, cofounding
Georgetown's Nina Hyde Center for Breast Cancer Research in 1989.

Carlos Alberto Sicupira & family

$8.9B
● Most of Carlos "Beto" Sicupira's wealth comes from his shares of Anheuser-Busch
InBev, the world's largest brewer, in which he owns about a 3% stake.
● His fellow shareholders at AB Inbev include longtime Brazilian business partners
Jorge Paulo Lemann and Marcel Herrmann Telles, both billionaires.
● In 2016, AB InBev completed its nearly $100 billion acquisition of SABMiller,
acquiring brands including Pilsner Urquell and Foster's Lager.
● Sicupira and his partners also own stakes in listed Restaurant Brands International,
parent of Burger King and Canadian coffee chain Tim Hortons.
● In 2013, the trio's private equity firm 3G Capital and Warren Buffett's Berkshire
Hathaway bought H.J. Heinz & Company. Heinz later merged with Kraft.
Robert Rowling
$8.9B
● In 1996, Robert Rowling reinvested $500 million from selling the family's oilfields into
the purchase of Omni Hotels.
● The Omni chain has 60 locations and 21,000 rooms nationwide with big new hotels in
Dallas, Atlanta and Boston.
● He gave $25 million to the University of Texas business school in 2013.
● In 2019, he completed the $170 million renovation of Omni Barton Creek Resort in
Austin.

Jean-Michel Besnier
$8.9B
● Dairy heir Jean-Michel Besnier owns an estimated 21% of French dairy giant
Lactalis, based in his family's ancestral hometown of Laval in western France.
● His grandfather founded the company in 1933, and his older brother Emmanuel now
runs the firm as CEO and majority shareholder.
● Lactalis sells $30 billion of products including President brie, Milkmaid yogurts and
Valbreso Feta.
● The biggest dairy producer in Europe, Lactalis continues to expand internationally in
places like China and Southeast Asia.

Marie Besnier Beauvalot

$8.9B
● Dairy heiress Marie Besnier Beauvalot owns an estimated 21% of French dairy giant
Lactalis, based in her family's ancestral hometown of Laval in western France.
● Her grandfather founded the company in 1933, and her older brother Emmanuel now
runs the firm as CEO and majority shareholder.
● Lactalis sells $30 billion of products including President brie, Milkmaid yogurts and
Valbreso Feta.
● The biggest dairy producer in Europe, Lactalis continues to expand internationally in
places like China and Southeast Asia.

Alexander Otto
$8.8B
● Alexander Otto owns a stake in Otto Group and is majority shareholder and CEO of
ECE Group, a commercial real estate firm focused on shopping centers.
● His late father, Werner Otto, started the empire by founding a mail-order business in
Hamburg in 1949.
● With revenues exceeding $15 billion, Otto Group has more than 40 companies in
retail (including Crate and Barrel), real estate and financial services.
● His stepmother Maren and her daughter Katharina share a 14% stake with him in
Paramount Group, which owns and manages office properties in the U.S.
● Investing heavily in shopping centers, he became a shareholder of publicly-traded
Deutsche EuroShop in 2001.
Piero Ferrari
$8.6B
● Piero Ferrari is vice chairman and 10% owner of luxury race car company Ferrari. His
father Enzo founded Ferrari.
● Piero became a billionaire when Ferrari listed its shares on the New York Stock
Exchange in October 2015.
● The company went public as part of a spinoff from Fiat Chrysler.
● He became the sole heir after his stepbrother and Enzo's first son, Alfredo "Dino"
Ferrari, died from muscular dystrophy in 1956.
● Piero actively supports Centro Dino Ferrari, a research center for muscular and
neurodegenerative diseases that his father cofounded in Dino's memory.

Carl Bennet
$8.5B
● Swedish industrialist Carl Bennet controls five companies on the Stockholm stock
exchange.
● His holdings include business group Lifco, medical supplies company Arjo and
logistics company Elanders.
● He also controls medical products company Getinge, which Bennet and fellow
investor Rune Andersson acquired from Electrolux in 1989.
● They ran the company together for nearly a decade before parting ways.

Eric Wittouck
$8.5B
● An heir to a Belgian sugar fortune, Eric Wittouck is a descendant of the family that
founded Tiense Suicker.
● Wittouck's net worth has expanded dramatically thanks to Invus, a New York private
equity firm that mostly manages Wittouck's money.
● Run by Ray Debbane, Invus has scored huge returns through investments like Cava
and Weight Watchers.
● Wittouck's decision to remain fully invested in Invus is one of the greatest investment
decisions ever. His cousins mostly pulled their cash out 20 years ago.

Josh Harris
$8.4B
● Josh Harris cofounded alternative investment firm Apollo Global Management in
1990 with fellow billionaires Leon Black and Marc Rowan.
● The trio met at investment bank Drexel Burnham Lambert and struck out on their own
after the troubled firm filed for bankruptcy.
● Harris announced in 2021 that he was stepping off of its board and is no longer
involved day to day with Apollo.
● Harris has a stake in and is managing partner of the Philadelphia 76ers, which has
more than quadrupled in value since he bought it with a consortium for $290 million
in 2011.
● The UPenn alum also has stakes in the New Jersey Devils, the Crystal Palace
Football Club and the Washington Commanders.

Ivar Tollefsen
$8.3B
● Real estate investor Ivar Tollefsen started his first company at age 14, Tollefsen
Enterprises, which rented out DJ-services and event equipment.
● With the earnings from his disco business he began building a real estate empire,
now called Fredensborg AS.
● Fredensborg owns 100,000 apartments across Europe and, in 2017, bought an Oslo
building that used to house the U.S. embassy.
● Tollefsen has led several polar expeditions and has competed in the Dakar Rally.

David Shaw
$8.3B
● A former computer science professor at Columbia University, David Shaw is the
founder of D.E. Shaw, which manages over $60 billion in assets.
● Known for its use of sophisticated mathematical modeling and algorithms, the
quantitative hedge fund firm was founded in 1988.
● In 2002, Shaw created an executive committee to oversee the company and has
since stepped away from its day-to-day operations.
● Several former execs have started their own successful businesses, including
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Two Sigma hedge fund's John Overdeck.
● Shaw is now chief scientist at D.E. Shaw Research, a computational biochemistry
research firm.

Paul Tudor Jones II

$8.1B
● Hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones II is known for his macro trades, particularly
his bets on interest rates and currencies.
● In 1980, he founded Tudor Investment Corporation, which now manages $13 billion
in assets.
● Jones got his start at his dad's small business paper, the Memphis Daily News,
where he wrote under the name Paul Eagle in high school and college.
● He cut his teeth trading cotton futures at the New York Cotton Exchange, under the
tutelage of renowned cotton trader Eli Tullis.
● In 1988, he cofounded the Robin Hood Foundation, with the goal of reducing poverty
in New York City.
Michael Otto
$8.1B
● Michael Otto inherited shares in the retail empire his late father, Werner Otto,
founded as a mail-order business in Hamburg in 1949.
● As chief executive, he ran his family's Otto Group for 26 years until 2007. He is now
chairman of its supervisory board.
● With revenues exceeding $15 billion, Otto Group has more than 40 companies in
retail (including Crate and Barrel), real estate and financial services.
● Michael's brother Alexander, stepmother Maren and her daughter Katharina -- all
billionaires -- also own stakes in Otto Group.
● Separate from Michael, they own ECE Group, a real estate company focused on
shopping centers, and a stake in office property firm Paramount Group.

David Geffen
$8B
● David Geffen is the founder of record labels Asylum Records, Geffen Records and
DGC Records, as well as film studio DreamWorks.
● Born to Jewish immigrants in Brooklyn, Geffen started his career in the mailroom of
talent agency William Morris, where he rose to become an agent.
● Throughout the years he has amassed an impressive contemporary art collection,
including works by Jasper Johns, De Kooning and Jackson Pollock.
● A luxury property aficionado, he owns one of NYC's most expensive apartments, a
house in the Hamptons and has owned two estates in Beverly Hills.
● In 2017, Geffen pledged $150 million to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the
largest gift in the museum's history.

Jimmy Haslam
$8B
● Jimmy Haslam is chairman of Pilot Flying J, the truck stop company founded in 1958
by his father, who paid $6,000 for a gas station in Virginia.
● Haslam joined the board in 1975, when he was 20 and a senior at the University of
Tennessee; Pilot's annual revenues were about $50 million at the time.
● Pilot has more than 800 locations in North America and generates about $26 billion
in annual revenue.
● Berkshire Hathaway acquired 100% of Pilot in January 2024, paying a total of $13.6
billion for it across three purchases - 39% in 2017, 41% in January 2023, and the
final 20% in January 2024.
● In 2012, Haslam became the majority owner of the Cleveland Browns.

Jaime Gilinski Bacal

$7.7B
● Jaime Gilinski Bacal built one of the largest banking empires in Latin America
through a series of mergers and acquisitions.
● The Colombian is redeveloping a former U.S. Air Force base alongside the Panama
Canal with British billionaire brothers Ian and Richard Livingstone.
● After getting an MBA at Harvard in 1980, Gilinski worked in Morgan Stanley's
mergers and acquisitions division.
● His primary residence is in London, but Gilinski also has houses in New York,
Panama, Miami and Colombia.
● In 2022, Gilinski purchased large stakes in Colombian food conglomerate Grupo
Nutresa and financial services firm Grupo Sura.

Bruce Kovner
$7.7B
● Bruce Kovner is chairman of CAM Capital, founded in 2012, which manages his
personal investment and business portfolios.
● Kovner is the founder and chairman of Caxton Associates, a global macro hedge
fund. He retired in 2011 after running it for three decades.
● Kovner obtained his B.A. degree in Government from Harvard University in 1966. He
lived in Quincy House during his time there.
● A longtime backer of conservative think tank American Enterprise Institute, Kovner
also supports the Met Opera, Lincoln Center, and Juilliard.

Igor Olenicoff
$7.7B
● Igor Olenicoff was born in Iran, where his tzarist-connected parents had moved to
escape the Soviet Revolution. He moved to the U.S. at age 15 and eventually built up
a substantial real estate empire.
● His Olen Properties owns 8 million square feet of office space and 17,000 residential
units in California and seven other U.S. states.
● Olenicoff's daughter and heir-apparent, Natalia Ostensen, assists in running the
day-to-day operations.
● In 2007, Olenicoff pleaded guilty to lying on his tax return about keeping $200 million
in offshore accounts, and agreed to pay $52 million in back taxes and fraud
penalties.

Thomas Hagen
$7.6B
● Thomas Hagen is chairman of Erie Indemnity and has been a part of the company for
more than 50 years, including three years as CEO from 1990 to 1993.
● The publicly-traded insurance company was cofounded by his late wife Susan's
father, H. O. Hirt, and his friend O. G. Crawford.
● Susan Hagen, who was Erie's longest serving director, died in June 2015 at age 79.
● Now one of the nation's largest insurance companies, the firm began with a business
plan scribbled in a 10-cent notebook in 1925.
● In 2017, Hagen gifted $1.5 million to Mercyhurst University's history department,
which subsequently took his name.
Massimiliana Landini Aleotti & family
$7.6B
● Massimiliana Landini Aleotti and her three children inherited pharmaceutical giant
Menarini from her late husband, Alberto Aleotti, in 2014.
● Alberto built Menarini into one of Italy's leading drug companies, with 16
manufacturing sites around the world and more than 17,000 employees.
● Alberto Aleotti began working at Menarini in 1964, and bought the company from its
owners in the early 1990s.
● In 2011, Aleotti handed over the reins to his daughter Lucia, who became chairman,
and his son Alberto Giovanni, who became vice chairman.
● The family-owned company has an annual revenue of over $4 billion.

Fernando Roberto Moreira Salles

$7.6B
● Fernando Roberto Moreira Salles is a member of one of Brazil's oldest banking
families.
● His late father, Walther Moreira Salles, was the founder of Unibanco and a former
ambassador to the United States.
● In 2008, Unibanco merged with Itaú, one of Brazil's-largest commercial banks,
creating Itaú-Unibanco, the largest private sector bank in Latin America.
● Moreira Salles and his three brothers, all billionaires, also own stakes in CBMM, the
world's leading supplier of the mineral niobium.

Anthony Bamford & family

$7.5B
● Anthony Bamford and his family own JCB, a construction equipment manufacturer
that does nearly $7 billion in annual revenue.
● Bamford's father launched JCB in a garage in Uttoxeter, England, in 1945.
● JCB sells products in 150 countries. Customers include the U.S. military.

Jeff Greene
$7.5B
● Jeff Greene became a billionaire by buying credit default swaps on subprime
mortgage-backed bonds as the housing market crashed.
● Most of his fortune is now held in real estate in Los Angeles and South Florida, plus
equities and other investments.
● Greene spent over $30 million in the summer of 2018 trying unsuccessfully to win the
Democratic primary for governor of Florida.
● To pay for college, he relied on scholarships, loans and part-time jobs; he taught
Hebrew 3 days a week and checked IDs outside the gym and library.
● To pay his way through Harvard Business School, Greene traveled the country
selling circus tickets.
● He bought his first house as an MBA student and rented out rooms. He had 18
properties at graduation.

Peter Thiel
$7.5B
● PayPal cofounder Peter Thiel remains a general partner of venture capital firm
Founders Fund, where he is involved in firm strategy and weighs in on its large
investments.
● Among its investments are Stripe and SpaceX, two of the most valuable unicorns in
the world.
● He also cofounded CIA-backed big data startup Palantir, which went public via a
direct listing in 2020.
● Thiel, the first big investor in Facebook, has sold most of his stake in the social
network; he left the board in 2022.
● His Thiel Foundation gives a small number of young entrepreneurs $100,000 over
two years to skip college and build their own company.
● Thiel moved to Los Angeles from San Francisco in early 2018 after calling Silicon
Valley a "one-party state."

Terry Gou
$7.5B
● Terry Gou is the founder of Hon Hai Precision, the world's largest electronics contract
manufacturer with over 40% market share, whose top customers include Apple.
● He stepped down as the firm's chairman in June 2019, after 45 years at the helm; he
remains at the firm as a director.
● Better known by its trade name, Foxconn, Hon Hai employs roughly a million people.
● The company bought Japanese electronics maker Sharp and Nokia's mobile phone
brand in 2016.
● In September 2019, he withdrew his bid to run for the 2020 Taiwan presidential
election, a few months after announcing his intention. Four years later he entered
and withdrew from the race for a second time.

Don Hankey
$7.4B
● The little-known king of subprime car loans, Don Hankey presides over the $22.5
billion (assets) Hankey Group, a Los Angeles-based auto services empire.
● His Westlake Financial Services works with more than 30,000 car dealerships in all
50 states to provide car loans to people with bad, or no, credit.
● The Hankey Group also includes a real estate firm and a Toyota dealership, plus auto
insurance, rental car and dealer software companies.
● As a teen, Hankey worked as a lot boy, washing and polishing cars, and then as a
salesman at his father's Los Angeles Ford dealership.
● In 1972, he bought control of the dealership and began extending loans to people
with poor credit. The business took off and is now his biggest asset.
Judy Faulkner
$7.4B
● Judy Faulkner founded medical-record software provider Epic Systems in a
Wisconsin basement in 1979.
● Faulkner, a computer programmer, is CEO of the $4.6 billion (2022 sales) company,
of which she owns 47%.
● Epic supports the medical records of over 250 million patients and is used by top
medical centers such as Johns Hopkins and Mayo Clinic.
● The company has never raised venture capital or made an acquisition, and develops
all its software in-house.
● Faulkner signed the Giving Pledge in 2015 and has agreed to eventually give 99% of
her assets to a private charitable foundation.

Niels Peter Louis-Hansen

$7.4B
● Niels Peter Louis-Hansen is the deputy chairman of Coloplast, a large Danish
healthcare company.
● The company provides medical devices and services in the fields of colostomy,
continence and urology; products include colostomy bags and catheters.
● Hansen owns one-fifth of the public company and is its largest shareholder.
● His late father, Aage Louis-Hansen, founded the business in 1957 and took it public
in 1983.
● He also holds a stake in fellow medical care device company Ambu, based right
outside of Copenhagen.

Jonathan Gray
$7.4B
● Jonathan Gray started at asset manager Blackstone Group fresh out of college in
1992 and later rose to head the firm's vaunted real estate group.
● Under Gray, Blackstone's real estate division became one of its most valuable
branches; it now manages $337 billion in investor capital.
● He orchestrated the $26 billion buyout of Hilton hotels in 2007, then took it public
again in 2013; the IPO was then the biggest ever for a hotel firm.
● In February 2018, Gray was named the firm's COO and president; he's considered a
potential successor to cofounder and CEO Steve Schwarzman.
● Gray, whose sister-in-law died of ovarian cancer at age 44, has given over $100
million to BRCA- related cancer research.
● He got his start working as a bus boy at his mother's catering company at age 14.

Charles Simonyi
$7.3B
● Early Microsoft employee Charles Simonyi is the man behind some of the company's
most successful software, including Word and Excel.
● The developer has a Ph.D. in computer science from Stanford, and worked on one of
the first personal computers at Xerox.
● He joined Microsoft, then a fledgling firm, as employee No. 40 in 1981, and spent two
decades in application development.
● A native of Hungary, he left Microsoft in 2002 and founded Intentional Software,
which develops platforms for productivity apps.
● Microsoft acquired Intentional Software in April 2017 for an undisclosed price,
bringing Simonyi back to the Redmond, Washington giant.
● He supports arts and science initiatives, including a $5 million gift to the University of
Washington for a computer science building in 2017.

John Overdeck
$7.3B
● John Overdeck is the cofounder of Two Sigma, a quantitative investing powerhouse
with $60 billion in assets under management.
● Two Sigma's largest business is a data-driven hedge fund that absorbs large
amounts of information to predict the prices of securities.
● Two Sigma also runs a market-making business, owns a Bermuda reinsurance
company, operates a venture capital arm, a private equity arm and invests in real
estate.
● Overdeck has given more than $300 million through his charitable foundation, which
supports education programs and research.
● Overdeck was a math prodigy who won a silver medal at the International
Mathematical Olympiad at age 16.

David Siegel
$7.3B
● David Siegel is the cofounder of Two Sigma, a quantitative investing powerhouse that
manages $60 billion.
● Two Sigma's largest business is a data-driven hedge fund that absorbs large
amounts of information to predict the prices of securities.
● Two Sigma also runs a market-making business, owns a Bermuda reinsurance
company, operates a venture capital arm, operates a private equity arm and invests
in real estate.
● Born in the Bronx, Siegel is a computer fanatic who got a computer science Ph.D.
from MIT and worked at hedge funds D.E. Shaw and Tudor Investments.
● Siegel's charitable foundation, Siegel Family Endowment, is focused on technology
and society and supports programs such as the MIT Center for Brains, Minds and
Machines.

Luis Carlos Sarmiento

$7.3B
● Luis Carlos Sarmiento Angulo took a fortune amassed in the construction industry
and invested it in banks.
● His Grupo Aval now controls one third of all banks in Colombia. The octogenarian still
chairs the company.
● After graduating with a degree in engineering, he briefly worked at a construction
company, but took a 10,000 pesos payout and started his own firm.
● He bought Colombia's largest newspaper El Tiempo in 2012 for an estimated $250
million.
● His construction firm built the Grand Hyatt in Bogota, which opened in August 2018.

Frederik Paulsen
$7.3B
● Frederik Paulsen inherited small drugmaker Ferring Pharmaceuticals, founded by his
father in 1950.
● When he took over running the business in 1983, it generated $15 million in annual
revenue.
● Today the biotech outfit, which makes infertility, obstetrics, urology, gastroenterology
and endocrinology drugs, has estimated sales of $2.2 billion.
● Ferring employs more than 6,500 people and has subsidiaries in nearly 60 countries.
● Board members include Hélène Ploix, former director of the IMF, and Alexandra, the
Countess of Frederiksborg, a former Danish princess.

Reinhold Schmieding
$7.3B
● Michigan native Reinhold Schmieding started Arthrex, an orthopedic surgical tools
company, in 1981 in Munich, Germany.
● Arthrex is now headquartered in Naples, Florida and has developed over 13,000
products used in shoulder, hip and other orthopedic surgeries.
● Privately-held Arthrex has estimated revenues of $3.2 billion; Schmieding owns more
than 90% of the company.
● Schmieding is the son of German immigrants who moved to the U.S. just before he
was born. His father, a dentist, wanted him to be a doctor.
● The notoriously press-shy founder has kept his $50 drafting table where he drafted
his first operating instruments.

Douglas Leone
$7.2B
● Doug Leone ran VC firm Sequoia from 1996 to 2022.
● During his tenure, Leone guided Sequoia into tech investments including Medallia,
Rackspace, RingCentral, ServiceNow and Nubank.
● He inherited the reins from firm founder Don Valentine in the mid-1990s, alongside
Michael Moritz.
● He started his tech career at Sun Microsystems, a firm cofounded by another
billionaire venture capitalist, Vinod Khosla.
● An Italian immigrant, Leone looks for entrepreneurs from humble, far-flung
backgrounds.

Finn Rausing
$7.2B
● Finn Rausing sits on the board of packaging company Tetra Laval with his siblings
Kirsten and Jörn.
● Finn's grandfather founded Tetra Pak, which invented aseptic packaging technology.
● The new packaging made it possible to store beverages like milk and orange juice in
cartons instead of glass bottles.
● His late father, Gad, bought out Finn's uncle Hans in 1995 for an estimated $7 billion.
● With his siblings, Rausing also owns a stake in International Flavors & Fragrances.

Jörn Rausing
$7.2B
● Jörn Rausing's grandfather founded Tetra Pak, which invented aseptic packaging
technology.
● The packaging made it possible to store beverages like milk and orange juice in
cartons instead of glass bottles.
● His late father, Gad, bought out Jörn's uncle Hans in 1995 for an estimated $7 billion.
● Jörn and his two siblings Kirsten and Finn have equal stakes in Tetra Laval and sit on
the board of the parent company.
● Rausing also owns a piece of online grocery retailer Ocado and, with his siblings, a
stake in International Flavors & Fragrances.

Kirsten Rausing
$7.2B
● Kirsten Rausing owns a third of packaging company TetraLaval and sits on the board
together with her brothers Finn and Jörn.
● Kirsten's grandfather founded Tetra Pak, which invented aseptic packaging
technology.
● The new packaging made it possible to store beverages like milk and orange juice in
cartons instead of glass bottles.
● Her late father, Gad, bought out Kirsten's uncle Hans in 1995 for an estimated $7
billion.
● Kirsten and her two siblings Finn and Jörn also own a stake in International Flavors &
Fragrances.

Andreas Halvorsen
$7.2B
● Andreas Halvorsen runs hedge fund Viking Global Investors.
● A former Tiger Cub who once traded equities at Julian Robertson's Tiger
Management, he struck out on his own with Viking in 1999.
● The Connecticut-based firm now manages more than $46 billion in assets.
● Viking's flagship hedge fund 13.8% net of fees in 2023, and its long-only fund
returned 29.3% in a strong year for stocks.

Nathan Kirsh
$7.2B
● The bulk of Nathan "Natie" Kirsh's fortune comes from U.S.-based Jetro Holdings,
which owns restaurant supply stores Jetro Cash and Carry and Restaurant Depot.
● Kirsh owns 70% of the company, which supplies wholesale goods to bodegas, small
stores and restaurants in the United States.
● Kirsh made his first fortune in his native Swaziland, where he launched a corn milling
business in 1958.
● He expanded into wholesale food distribution in apartheid South Africa and then into
supermarkets and commercial property development.

Stephen Bisciotti
$7.2B
● Steve Bisciotti worked in staffing for a year after college before starting Allegis Group
in 1983 with his cousin, fellow billionaire Jim Davis.
● What started in a basement has evolved into the largest staffing firm in the U.S., with
more than $15 billion in yearly revenue.
● Bisciotti also owns the NFL's Baltimore Ravens, worth $4.6 billion. The team won a
Super Bowl title in 2013.
● Bisciotti, who was raised by a single mother in Baltimore, studied liberal arts at
nearby Salisbury State University.
● Growing up, Bisciotti played football, basketball, and baseball; today he also enjoys
golfing and boating.

Robert Rich, Jr.

$7.2B
● Frozen food mogul Robert Rich Jr. leads Rich Products, founded in 1945 by his
father, Robert Rich Sr. (d. 2006).
● Rich Products made its mark with the first nondairy whipped cream and now makes
cakes, icings, pizza dough, meatballs and more.
● Rich Jr. became the firm's president in 1978 and took over as chairman in 2006. In
August 2022, he became senior chairman.
● He owns an estimated 75% of the private company, which is based in Buffalo, New
York.

Johann Graf
$7.1B
● Johann Graf owns Novomatic Group, which operates casinos worldwide and also
sells slot machines, video poker games and electronic table games.
● Raised by his grandparents in a small flat without running water, he apprenticed as a
butcher and was expected to take over his family's butcher shop.
● Instead, Graf began importing American pinball machines to Austria via Belgium,
then became an agent for a British slot machine company.
● In 1980, he stuck out on his own with Novomatic, which he quickly expanded into
Switzerland and then the East Bloc after the fall of the Iron Curtain.

Pedro Moreira Salles

$7.1B
● Pedro Moreira Salles is a member of one of Brazil's oldest banking families.
● His late father, Walther Moreira Salles, was the founder of Unibanco and a former
ambassador to the United States.
● In 2008, Unibanco merged with Itaú, one of Brazil's largest commercial banks,
creating Itaú-Unibanco, the largest private sector bank in Latin America.
● Moreira Salles and his three brothers, all billionaires, also own stakes in CBMM, the
world's leading supplier of the mineral niobium.
● Moreira Salles is co-president of Cambuhy, a private equity firm he founded in 2011
with three other financiers.

Edythe Broad & family

$7B
● Edythe Broad is an American art collector and philanthropist.
● She was married to billionaire businessman Eli Broad from 1954 until his death in
April 2021.
● Known for their philanthropy, Edythe and Eli established two foundations that support
medical research, public education and the visual and performing arts.
● The foundations, which recently celebrated 50 years of grant making, have pledged
or given away over $4 billion in grants.

Dennis Washington
$7B
● Dennis Washington parlayed an early love of machinery into a diversified business
group called Washington Companies.
● Washington owns copper mining, marine transportation and heavy equipment
businesses.
● After working for his uncle's construction business, he struck out on his own with a
$30,000 loan to start Washington Construction.
● Montana's richest person, Washington also has an investment in Seaspan Corp.,
cofounded by son Kyle, which now has more than 130 container ships.

Sergio Stevanato & family

$7B
● Sergio Stevanato is chairman emeritus of the Stevanato Group, a medical packaging
firm based in Piombino Dese, Italy.
● Founded by his father Giovanni in 1949, the company is now run by his sons Franco
and Marco, who serve as chairman and vice chairman, respectively.
● Stevanato Group went public on the New York Stock Exchange in 2021.
● Stevanato Group is the second largest maker of glass vials in the world and a major
supplier of vials for several Covid-19 vaccine manufacturers.
● The company started out making glass bottles for wine and perfume and is now one
of the world's largest producers of insulin pen cartridges.

Stefano Pessina
$6.9B
● Stefano Pessina heads the world's largest drugstore chain, Walgreens Boots
Alliance.
● Pessina's journey began in 1977, when he took over his family's pharmaceutical
wholesaler, ultimately renamed Alliance Santé, in Naples, Italy.
● He eventually expanded beyond Italy, merging his wholesaler with UniChem Group in
1997 and Boots Group in 2006.
● A year later, Pessina took Alliance Boots private in a reported $22 billion deal with
private equity firm KKR.
● Between 2012 and 2014, Walgreens bought 100% of his pharmacy chain, creating
Walgreens Boots Alliance.

Terrence Pegula
$6.8B
● Terry Pegula made a fortune in oil and gas and has since turned it into a sports
empire that includes the Buffalo Bills and Buffalo Sabres.
● His oil and gas outfit, East Resources, sold the bulk of its assets to Royal Dutch Shell
for $4.7 billion in 2010.
● He bought the Sabres the next year for $189 million and, in 2014, outbid groups led
by Donald Trump and Bon Jovi to pick up the Bills for $1.4 billion.
● A former math major, Pegula switched to petroleum engineering on a scholarship and
joined Getty Oil after graduation.
● He founded East Resources in 1983 with a $7,500 loan from friends and family to
drill sand wells.

Wang Laisheng
$6.8B
● Wang Laisheng is vice chairman of Shenzhen-headquartered electronics
manufacturer Luxshare Precision Industry.
● Luxshare, whose products include connectors and wireless headphones, is a
supplier to Apple.
● Wang started his own business in the mid-1980s and later teamed up with sister
Wang Laichun to buy Luxshare's precursor in 1999.
● Wang Laichun, Luxshare's chairman, is also a billionaire.
Vinod Khosla
$6.7B
● Vinod Khosla is the founder of Khosla Ventures, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm.
● His firm, Khosla Ventures, invests in experimental technologies such as biomedicine
and robotics.
● The firm scored exits in 2020 and early 2021 with IPOs of Affirm and DoorDash and
SPAC listings of QuantumScape and Opendoor.
● Khosla cofounded computer hardware firm Sun Microsystems in 1982 with Andy
Bechtolsheim, Bill Joy and Scott McNealy.
● Khosla spent 18 years at venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (now
called Kleiner Perkins) before launching his own fund.

Lynsi Snyder
$6.7B
● Lynsi Snyder is the heir to beloved West Coast chain In-N-Out Burger, which her
grandparents founded in 1948.
● She became a billionaire in 2017 on her 35th birthday, when she received the final
portion of her inheritance, an additional stake in the chain.
● Snyder's uncle and father, both previous In-N-Out presidents, died young; age 17 in
1999, Snyder was the last family heir.
● She steadily received stakes in the business for a decade as part of a complex trust
created by her grandparents.
● Snyder took on the top job of president in 2010 and has since expanded the number
of In-N-Out restaurants by more than 150 locations.

George Soros
$6.7B
● George Soros is a celebrated hedge fund tycoon who managed client money in New
York from 1969 to 2011.
● In 1992, Soros shorted the British pound and reportedly made a profit of $1 billion.
He became known as the man who broke the Bank of England.
● Soros shifted $18 billion from his family office to his Open Society Foundations as of
2018.
● Soros was born in Hungary; at 17 he left the country and put himself through the
London School of Economics working as a railway porter and waiter.
● Soros has long been one of the Democratic Party's most generous donors and
poured $125 million into a super PAC ahead of the 2022 midterm elections.

Wang Laichun
$6.6B
● Wang Laichun chairs electronics manufacturer Luxshare Precision Industry, a
producer of electronics connectors that counts Apple as a customer.
● Wang worked for Taiwanese billionaire Terry Gou's Hon Hai Precision Industry (also
known as Foxconn) for 10 years.
● Wang left in 1997 and teamed up with her brother Wang Laisheng to set up Luxshare
in 2004; he is now the vice chairman.
● Wang holds an EMBA from Tsinghua University in Beijing.
● She is also known as Grace Wang.

André Esteves
$6.6B
● André Esteves began his career as an intern at Brazilian investment bank Pactual
and eventually acquired control of the bank.
● Esteves sold Pactual to Swiss banking giant UBS in 2006 for $3.1 billion, forming the
Brazilian subsidiary UBS Pactual.
● In 2009, he engineered the sale of UBS Pactual to investment firm BTG and became
chairman of the board and CEO of the new firm.
● He was accused of obstruction of justice for Brazil's largest corruption scandal,
Operation Car Wash, and jailed for almost three weeks in 2015.
● In December 2018, Esteves was acquitted of corruption charges and returned to
BTG as one of the controlling partners.

Kerry Stokes
$6.6B
● Kerry Stokes took a winding path en route to earning a fortune with his Seven Group
Holdings, which has media, construction and mining assets.
● Early in his life, his mother gave him up for adoption and he later dropped out of
school at age 14.
● He started his career selling Caterpillar tractors and trucks in Australia and eventually
China, before moving into media with Seven Group.
● In August 2021, he retired as chairman of Seven Group Holdings.
● His son Ryan Stokes is the CEO and managing director of Seven Group Holdings.

Jason Chang
$6.6B
● Jason Chang chairs Taiwan's Advanced Semiconductor Engineering.
● ASE is a world-leading provider of independent semiconductor assembling and test
manufacturing services.
● Along with his brother Richard, Jason is one of the main investors in commercial real
estate developer Sino Horizon.

Alain Merieux & family

$6.6B
● Alain Merieux is chairman of Institut Merieux, a medicine and public health
conglomerate specializing in diagnostics, immunotherapy and nutrition.
● Alain's grandfather, Marcel Merieux, founded the institute in 1897.
● Alain founded BioMerieux, one of the firm's publicly traded arms, which specializes in
diagnostic tests for infectious diseases such as tuberculosis.
● The firm's other publicly-traded subsidiary, Transgene, develops vaccines to combat
infectious diseases and cancers.
● Alain's third son Alexandre, who shares the fortune, was named CEO of BioMerieux
in 2014.

Mark Stevens
$6.5B
● Silicon Valley venture capitalist Mark Stevens was a partner at Sequoia Capital when
the firm invested in hits like Google, PayPal and LinkedIn.
● Now, he is investing in startups through his firm S-Cubed Capital.
● Stevens joined Sequoia in 1989, after stints at Intel and Hughes Aircraft, and spent
some two decades at the venture capital firm.
● He serves on the board of fabless semiconductor firm Nvidia and owns a minority
stake in the Golden State Warriors NBA basketball team.

Marc Rowan
$6.5B
● Marc Rowan is the CEO and a cofounder of Apollo Global Management, one of the
biggest U.S. private equity firms, with $600 billion in assets.
● Rowan met Apollo cofounders Leon Black and Joshua Harris while working at
investment bank Drexel Burnham Lambert's M&A division.
● The trio founded Apollo in 1990, after Drexel filed for bankruptcy following a cash
shortage caused by turmoil in the junk bond market.
● In March 2021, Rowan replaced Black as Apollo's CEO, after the latter stepped down
due to his longtime relationship with sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein.
● Rowan and his cofounders took Apollo Global public in 2011.

Michael Milken
$6.5B
● Mike Milken joined what became investment bank Drexel Burnham Lambert in 1969
and expanded the market for high-yield junk bonds.
● He was banned from the securities industry after pleading guilty to securities fraud in
1990. In February 2020, President Trump pardoned him.
● Milken chairs the Milken Institute think tank, which produces the annual Milken
Global Conference in Los Angeles, the Davos of the West Coast.
● His investments include private equity, hedge funds, venture capital and more than
one asset management firm.
● He's donated $500 million of his fortune on the Center For Advancing The American
Dream in Washington DC, which including outside funding is expected to cost $1
billion.
Joe Mansueto
$6.5B
● Joe Mansueto started independent investment research firm Morningstar in 1984
with $80,000 in savings.
● Mansueto stepped down as CEO in 2017 after more than 30 years at the helm.
● He owns about 37% of the publicly traded firm, which manages or advises on more
than $260 billion in assets.
● In 2018, the Chicagoan paid $255 million for the iconic Wrigley Building and $106
million to buy the Belden-Stratford apartment building.
● Mansueto bought a 49% stake in the Chicago Fire soccer team in 2018; he bought
the rest a year later.

Frank Lowy
$6.5B
● An era ended in June 2018 when Frank Lowy sold his Westfield Corp. to a
Franco-Dutch group in a $16 billion deal that was Australia's largest takeover.
● A Holocaust survivor, Lowy opened his first shopping center in Sydney in 1959,
launching what became one of the world's largest mall businesses.
● Today, the Lowys' main business is running their family investment house, Lowy
Family Group, with offices in New York, Los Angeles and Sydney.
● Lowy is a principal of the group, along with his three sons, David, Peter and Steven.

Dan Friedkin
$6.4B
● Dan Friedkin owns Gulf States Toyota, which sold $9.1 billion worth of Toyotas in
2022.
● The company, based in Houston, has exclusive rights to distribute Toyota vehicles in
Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Oklahoma.
● His father Thomas, who started the business in 1969, died in March 2017.
● Friedkin is the owner of luxury hospitality management firm Auberge Resorts, which
has properties in Aspen and Cabo San Lucas.
● His film production studio produced "Flowers Of The Killer Moon," a 2023 Martin
Scorsese drama.
● Friedkin directed his first film, "Lyrebird," which premiered at the Telluride Film
Festival in August 2019.

Wolfgang Marguerre & family

$6.4B
● Wolfgang Marguerre founded Octapharma in Switzerland in 1983 and turned it into
one of the world's largest manufacturers of blood plasma products.
● Positioned in a lucrative market, Octapharma has production plants in six countries,
over 7,500 employees and annual revenue of around $3 billion.
● In the U.S., which is the most profitable blood plasma market, the company operates
more than 70 donation centers.
● Octapharma is a leading corporate sponsor of Save One Life, an international
nonprofit that supports children and adults with blood disorders.

Gary Rollins
$6.4B
● Gary Rollins presides over Orkin, the biggest pest control company by revenues in
North America.
● He ran the company with his brother, Randall Rollins, until Randall's death in 2020.
● The bug-killing business is booming: in 2022, Rollins Inc. reported revenue of $2.7
billion, up 7.8% from the previous year.
● The company was founded by Rollins' father and uncle, who bought several local
radio stations and named it Rollins Broadcasting. It went public in 1961.

Stef Wertheimer & family

$6.3B
● Israeli industrial titan Stef Wertheimer sold two companies in 2013 and 2014; he is
now focused on creating peace between Israel and Palestine.
● He builds industrial parks, or "capitalist kibbutzes," in disadvantaged and
predominantly Arab regions of Israel in order to promote job creation.
● He sold his metal-cutting company ISCAR to Berkshire Hathaway in 2 stages: 80%
for $4 billion in 2006, and the remainder for $2.05 billion in 2013.
● He also founded jet-engine blade maker Blades Technology and sold his 51% stake
in 2014 to jet engine maker Pratt & Whitney for an undisclosed amount.
● His family has spent over $100 million to build six Arab workplaces around Israel.

Pierre Omidyar
$6.3B
● Pierre Omidyar founded online auction firm eBay in 1995 and now serves on the
company's board.
● In 2002, eBay bought online payments firm PayPal and spun it off in 2014. From
2005 to 2020, Omidyar gifted at least 9.6 million eBay shares per year.
● Through his Omidyar Network, launched in 2004, he's put over $1.5 billion into
impact investments and nonprofits that tackle global problems.
● A resident of Hawaii, Omidyar owns stakes in resort properties in California and
Mexico and is developing real estate in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
● He's also the founder of First Look Media, the parent company of online news site
The Intercept and entertainment company Topic Studios.
● In October 2018, his network spun off its decade-old citizen engagement arm, which
has doled out $326 million since its launch, and named it Luminate.

Neil Bluhm
$6.3B
● Real estate tycoon Neil Bluhm is the owner of marquee Chicago properties like 900
North Michigan and the Ritz Carlton.
● Bluhm also owns several casinos in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Chicago and
Schenectady, New York.
● After attending law school and working as an attorney in Chicago, he cofounded JMB
Realty in 1970.
● Bluhm's online gaming outfit Rush Street Interactive went public in 2020 through a
reverse merger with a blank check company.
● Bluhm is a managing principal for Walton Street Capital and is a trustee of the
Whitney Museum of American Art.
● He owns a minority stake in the Chicago Bulls and Chicago White Sox.

Joe Lewis
$6.3B
● Joe Lewis pled guilty to insider trading charges in January 2024 for sharing
information with his pilots and an ex-girlfriend.
● Lewis was sentenced to three years of probation and personally fined $5 million in
April.
● Lewis owns the Tavistock Group, with more than 200 assets across 13 countries. He
will likely have to resign board seats for public companies that trade in the U.S. and
give up some ownership.
● Through Tavistock, Lewis owns Premier League soccer team Tottenham and has a
stake in U.K. pub operator Mitchells & Butlers.
● Born above a pub in London's East End, Lewis helped his family build a catering
business. He sold it and became a currency trader.

Alexandre Behring
$6.3B
● Alexandre Behring is a cofounder and the managing partner of 3G Capital, a
multibillion-dollar Brazil-born, U.S.-led investment firm.
● Behring is the former chairman of Kraft Heinz and is co-chairman of Restaurant
Brands International, parent of Burger King and Canadian coffee chain Tim Hortons.
● He joined the Forbes Billionaires list in 2020 and is a well known figure in the private
equity world.
● His partners at 3G Capital include fellow billionaires Jorge Paulo Lemann, Marcel
Telles and Carlos Alberto Sicupira.
● 3G Capital owns stakes in Kraft Heinz and Restaurant Brands International.
● His Behring Foundation, which is based in Brazil, focuses on youth development,
education and technology.

Don Vultaggio & family

$6.3B
● Arizona Beverages cofounder Don Vultaggio has built his fortune one 99-cent tallboy
can of iced tea at a time.
● He got his start in the 1970s selling beer and soda from the back of an old van in
Brooklyn's toughest neighborhoods, where others refused to go.
● In 1992, he went into iced tea, launching Arizona from a Brooklyn warehouse and
quickly toppling the competition with taller cans and flashier labels.
● Arizona sells some $4 billion worth of tea, juice, water and alcoholic drinks annually,
including its popular green tea and Arnold Palmer lines.
● In 2015, he was ordered to buy out his former friend and partner, John Ferolito, for
about $1 billion to settle a lengthy, bitter shareholder dispute.

María Asunción Aramburuzabala & family

$6.3B
● María Asunción Aramburuzabala inherited her father's stake in beer giant Grupo
Modelo when she was just 32 years old.
● Her grandfather cofounded the company in 1925 in Mexico City. In 2013, Modelo was
sold to Anheuser Busch for $20 billion.
● She has served as CEO of investment firm Tresalia Capital since 1996, investing in
companies like Tory Burch and Casper.
● She holds shares in beauty product manufacturer Coty Inc. and serves on its board.

Patrick Soon-Shiong
$6.2B
● Medical doctor Patrick Soon-Shiong invented the cancer drug Abraxane. It became a
blockbuster thanks to its efficacy against pancreatic cancer.
● He sold his drug companies Abraxis in 2010 and American Pharmaceutical Partners
in 2008 for a combined $9.1 billion.
● He took his cancer drug maker NantKwest public in 2015 and his biotech startup
NantHealth public in 2016.
● He owns NantWorks, a network of health startups, and has stakes in media firm
Tribune Publishing and the Los Angeles Lakers.
● He bought the Los Angeles Times and San Diego Tribune for $500 million in June
2018.
● In May 2020, Soon-Shiong's ImmunityBio was selected for the federal government's
"Operation Warp Speed" to help quickly develop a Covid-19 vaccine.

Stanley Druckenmiller
$6.2B
● Stanley Druckenmiller made it big as a hedge fund manager for 30 years. He now
manages his money through a family office.
● Until 2000, he worked for George Soros. The duo famously bet against the British
pound in 1992 and made massive profits.
● He shut down his $12 billion hedge fund Duquesne Capital Management in August
2010, returning funds to clients.
Frits Goldschmeding
$6.2B
● The bulk of Frits Goldschmeding's fortune comes from his 33% stake in staffing
company Randstad Holding, with branches in 39 countries.
● The company paid more than $400 million in 2016 to acquire U.S.-based job hunting
site Monster.com.
● Goldschmeding founded the business in 1960, calling it Uitzendbureau Amstelveen;
he changed the name to Randstad four years later.
● He took the company public in 1990, then retired in 1998; he no longer has a
management role at the company.

Todd Boehly
$6.1B
● Todd Boehly cofounded holding company Eldridge in 2015, after building
Guggenheim Partners' credit business and serving as president.
● Boehly acquired some of Eldridge's first assets from Guggenheim, including insurer
Security Benefit, which provides deal financing to this day.
● Eldridge has grown into a diverse conglomerate with investments ranging from Bruce
Springsteen's song rights to daily fantasy and sports-betting firm DraftKings.
● Boehly personally holds minority stakes in the Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles
Dodgers (Eldridge has a separate minority stake in the latter).
● A group led by Boehly reached a record deal to buy soccer team Chelsea FC from
Russian owner Roman Abramovich for $3.1 billion in May 2022.

Paul Singer
$6.1B
● Hedge fund magnate Paul Singer is known for his high-profile, and often combative,
dealmaking.
● He founded his hedge fund firm, Elliott Management, in 1977 with $1.3 million. The
firm now has some $59 billion in assets under management.
● He famously spent 15 years warring with the government of Argentina over bond
payments, which resulted in a $2.4 billion payout to his firm in 2016.
● Elliott took over beleaguered soccer club AC Milan in 2018 and sold it for $1.2 billion
to RedBird Capital Partners in 2022.
● Singer frequently donates to Jewish and pro-Israel causes, including BBYO and
Hillel. He's given roughly $300 million to his foundation since 2010.

Mark Walter
$6B
● Mark Walter is CEO of investment firm Guggenheim Partners, which has over $300
billion in assets under management.
● Walter helped found the firm in the late 1990s after he folded his Chicago-based
company, Liberty Hampshire, into the Guggenheim family office.
● A yearlong SEC probe into Guggenheim over controversial real estate deals linked to
Walter reportedly ended in May 2019 with no penalty.
● Walter's personal investments include stakes in plant-based food maker Beyond
Meat and online car vendor Carvana.
● Walter has been an owner of the LA Dodgers since 2012, when his investment group
(which includes Magic Johnson) purchased the team for $2.2 billion.

Les Wexner & family

$6B
● Les Wexner founded L Brands, a global retail empire that included Victoria's Secret
and Bath & Body Works, and served as CEO for more than 5 decades.
● Wexner announced in 2020 that he would step down and sell a majority stake in
Victoria's Secret for $525 million to a private equity firm.
● Wexner got his start in 1963, when he used a $5,000 loan from his aunt to open The
Limited, which sold only fast-moving items like shirts and pants.
● His ex-confidant and financial manager Jeffrey Epstein was accused of sex
trafficking; in mid 2019, Wexner said the late Epstein took funds from him.
● He bought Victoria's Secret for $1 million in 1982, when it was just a small, failing
chain of lingerie shops in San Francisco.

William Goldring & family

$6B
● William Goldring's Sazerac Company owns some 500 alcohol brands and a dozen
distilleries in the U.S., Canada, France, Ireland and India.
● The $3 billion (est. sales) business produces storied spirits such as Pappy Van
Winkle and George T. Stagg, but has ballooned in size thanks to lower-shelf offerings
like Fireball Cinnamon Whisky.
● Goldring took over the alcohol business built up by his father, Stephen Goldring (d.
1996), in the 1960s.
● He grew the family's wholesaling operations, selling their stake in 2010 for an
estimated $400 million, and bought up spirits brands such as Southern Comfort,
Goldschlager and Myers's Rum.

Carl Icahn
$5.9B
● Carl Icahn is one of Wall Street's most successful investors and has been shaking up
corporate America for decades.
● Icahn's primary investing vehicle is publicly traded Icahn Enterprises. He also runs an
investment fund made up of his personal cash and money belonging to Icahn
Enterprises.
● He spent the first months of the Trump Administration advising Donald Trump on
regulatory overhaul, but left the position amid controversy.
● Icahn grew up in Far Rockaway, Queens. He graduated from Princeton with a degree
in philosophy in 1957.
● He has donated about $200 million to what is now the Icahn School of Medicine at
Mount Sinai.

Martin Lorentzon
$5.9B
● Martin Lorentzon cofounded Spotify in 2006 with his friend Daniel Ek; they launched
the streaming music service two years later.
● The service has more than 602 million users, 236 million of whom are paying
subscribers.
● Via a dual-class share system, Lorentzon, a Swedish entrepreneur, owns 12% of the
shares, but has 43% of voting control.
● Lorentzon is a Silicon Valley-veteran who held senior roles at search engine Alta
Vista in the 1990s; he took European ad network Tradedoubler public.
● Spotify listed its shares on the New York Stock Exchange in early April 2018 in an
unusual direct listing, without the help of investment banks.

Patrick Drahi
$5.9B
● Telecoms magnate Patrick Drahi is the founder and owner of multinational Altice NV,
which he took private in January 2021 at a $7.3 billion valuation.
● Drahi built Altice with more than 20 acquisitions of lagging cable and mobile
operators and has expanded further with highly leveraged deals.
● In 2021, he spent approximately $4.2 billion to purchase an 18% stake in British
telecom giant BT Group.
● He stormed the U.S. in 2015 by buying a 70% stake in cable operator Suddenlink for
$9 billion and snapping up Cablevision for $17.7 billion.
● Those U.S. entities were spun off into Altice USA, which went public in June 2017.

Jim Davis & family

$5.9B
● Jim Davis bought a small Boston shoemaker in 1972 and turned it into $4.4 billion
(sales) New Balance.
● Davis is the chairman of New Balance, and his wife Anna, who joined the company in
1977, is the vice chairman.
● He and his family own an estimated 95% of the company, which is private.
● New Balance is known for its running shoes but also makes footwear, clothing and
equipment for baseball, lacrosse, and soccer as well as lifestyle fashion.
● He got his start working for his father's restaurants as a "lumper" carrying trays.
● At college he studied biology and chemistry, thinking he'd work in medicine, until one
of his professors suggested his talent might be in sales.
Jeff Rothschild
$5.9B
● Jeff Rothschild made his fortune at Facebook, which he joined in 2005 as vice
president of infrastructure engineering.
● After five years as the VP, Rothschild took on an advisory role, and left Facebook in
2015.
● Before Facebook, Rothschild cofounded Veritas Software, which was sold to
Symantec in 2004 for $13.5 billion in stock.
● In 2018, Rothschild joined the board of Pure Storage, a Mountain View,
California-based data storage company.

John A. Sobrato & family

$5.8B
● Real estate mogul John A. Sobrato began selling homes in Palo Alto while he was
still a student at Santa Clara University.
● He later worked with his mother to develop industrial properties and founded his own
real estate company in 1979.
● The Sobrato Organization owns over 4.7 million square feet of office space in Silicon
Valley, with tenants like Netflix, plus about 6,450 apartments.
● Sobrato is chairman emeritus of his Cupertino-based firm, while his son, John M.
Sobrato, serves as chairman of the board.
● In 2017, he pledged $100 million to Santa Clara University, his alma mater, for a new
STEM education center.

Chase Coleman III

$5.7B
● Chase Coleman III started out as a hedge fund investor, but his Tiger Global
Management has evolved into a broader investment firm.
● Tiger Global Management oversees $51 billion in assets. Its venture capital arm is
now its biggest unit.
● Prior to starting Tiger Global in 2001, Coleman worked for hedge fund legend Julian
Robertson.
● Scott Shleifer joined Tiger Global in 2002 and cofounded its venture business a year
later, which he still leads.
● Tiger Global's hedge fund returned an impressive 21% annually for its first two
decades, but fell more than 50% in 2022.

Tim Sweeney
$5.7B
● Tim Sweeney is cofounder and CEO of Cary, North Carolina game developer Epic
Games.
● The private company is the maker of Fortnite, one of the world's most popular
games, with over 650 million players.
● Epic raised $2 billion in April 2022 from the Lego family office and Sony in a funding
round that valued the company at $31.5 billion.
● Fortnite was removed from the App Store in 2020 when Epic added a direct payment
system to keep Apple from collecting a portion of in-app purchases.
● In September 2021, a federal judge ordered Epic to pay Apple $6 million, but also
ruled that Apple had to permit links to other payment options.
● Epic Games is also the creator of the Unreal Engine, one of the most used game
development tool kits for other studios.

Clive Calder
$5.7B
● Clive Calder became a billionaire in 2002, when he sold his music company Zomba
Group to German mass media corporation Bertelsmann for $2.7 billion.
● The crown jewel of his empire was Jive Records, the record label behind many of the
first commercially successful hip hop artists.
● The South Africa native founded Zomba in London in 1975, then opened an office in
New York City in 1978.
● Known for shunning the spotlight, Calder now lives in the Cayman Islands with his
wife.
● He frequently travels to parts of Africa for charity, and his ELMA Philanthropies works
on improving childhood education and health on the continent.

Maria Fernanda Amorim & family

$5.7B
● Maria Fernanda Amorim is the widow of Américo Amorim, who died in July 2017.
She and her three daughters inherited his fortune.
● Américo Amorim spent six decades in his family's cork business, Corticeira Amorim,
and invested in an energy company and banks in several countries.
● His grandfather started Corticeira Amorim in 1870; the company has dominated the
cork industry ever since.
● Amorim's biggest asset is an estimated 19.5% stake in Portuguese oil and gas
company Galp Energia, which is chaired by her eldest daughter Paula.

Sofia Schörling Högberg

$5.6B
● Sofia Schörling Högberg is the daughter of Melker Schörling, the billionaire Swedish
investor who died in 2023.
● Schörling had built up a portfolio of stakes in publicly-traded companies he controlled
through the family holding vehicle, Melker Schörling AB.
● Her sister, Marta Schörling Andreen, is also a billionaire.
● The two sisters are the majority owners of Melker Schörling AB.
● Today, the family holding company controls large stakes in stock traded companies
Hexagon, AAK, Assa Abloy, Hexpol and Securitas.
Märta Schörling Andreen
$5.6B
● Märta Schörling Andreen is the daughter of Melker Schörling, the billionaire Swedish
investor who died in 2023.
● Schörling had built up a portfolio of stakes in publicly-traded companies he controlled
through the family holding vehicle, Melker Schörling AB.
● Her sister, Sofia Schörling Högberg, is also a billionaire.
● The two sisters are the majority owners of Melker Schörling AB.
● Today, the family holding company controls large stakes in stock traded companies
Hexagon, AAK, Assa Abloy, Hexpol and Securitas.

Fred Smith
$5.6B
● FedEx founder Fred Smith came up with the idea for the company for a term paper at
Yale in 1965.
● After graduation, Smith served in Vietnam with the Marines. He returned home and
launched FedEx in 1971.
● FedEx lost $29 million in its first 26 months, so Smith flew to Vegas and won $27,000
at the blackjack tables, enough to keep the business afloat.
● The company now generates $90 billion in annual revenue.
● Smith announced in March 2022 that he would be stepping down from his role as
CEO at FedEx after 50 years; he now serves as executive chairman of the company.

Ty Warner
$5.6B
● Ty Warner is the creator of Beanie Babies, the plush toy fad of the 1990s.
● Warner used the profits from selling Beanie Babies to assemble a high-end hotel
portfolio, including the Four Seasons in New York.
● His Ty Inc. still sells a related Beanie Baby toy called a Beanie Boo around the world.
● His Las Ventanas al Paraiso resort in Mexico rents its Ty Warner Mansion for
$35,000 a night.
● Warner has donated $100 million in cash and toys to the Children's Hunger Fund
since 2005.

Tomasz Biernacki
$5.5B
● Tomasz Biernacki is the founder and chairman of Poland's largest grocery chain,
Dino Polska.
● Biernacki opened his first shop in 1999; today the company has nearly 1,000 stores
that also produce their own meat products.
● Biernacki took Dino Polska public in 2017.
Juan Roig
$5.5B
● The richest grocer in Spain, Juan Roig is president and majority owner of
supermarket giant Mercadona.
● Roig, his three siblings and wife Hortensia Herrero, bought the chain in 1981 from his
father when it had just 8 stores.
● By 2006, Mercadona had opened its 1,000th store; it now has about 1,700 locations,
with about 50 in Portugal.
● Mercadona's 104,000 employees receive a 25% share of the company's pretax
profits.

George Lucas
$5.5B
● 'Star Wars' creator George Lucas has largely retired from filmmaking since he sold
his Lucasfilm to Disney in 2012 for $4.1 billion in stock and cash.
● Lucas is now focused on philanthropy: his charitable family foundation has more than
$1 billion in assets.
● Lucas attended junior college in his hometown of Modesto, California where his
parents ran a stationary store, before attending USC.
● He founded Lucasfilm, his production company, in 1971 and built his fortune through
his movies and their merchandise.
● The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art will open in Los Angeles in 2025 and is entirely
funded by Lucas and his wife, Mellody Hobson.

Robert Hale, Jr.

$5.4B
● Robert Hale is the founder and CEO of wholesale telecommunications provider
Granite Telecommunications.
● Hale founded Granite in 2002, less than six months after his previous company,
Network Plus, filed for bankruptcy.
● The company provides voice, data and other communications services to businesses
and governmental agencies in the U.S. and Canada.
● Granite generated over $1.8 billion in sales in 2022; the company says more than
two thirds of the largest 100 U.S. companies are clients.
● Hale has personally donated over $270 million towards cancer research, educational
institutions and other charitable causes.

Mark Cuban
$5.4B
● Mark Cuban founded video portal Broadcast.com with fellow Indiana University alum
Todd Wagner in 1995 and sold it to Yahoo for $5.7 billion in 1999.
● Today, he owns a minority stake in the NBA's Dallas Mavericks and is cofounder of
Cost Plus Drugs, which he launched in January 2022 with the aim of lowering
prescription drug prices.
● Cuban sold 58% of the Dallas Mavericks in December 2023 for an estimated $2
billion (pre-tax).
● He sold stamps door-to-door as a kid and gave disco lessons to help pay his way
through Indiana University.
● Cuban was inspired to strike out on his own when he was fired from a software shop
for closing a $15,000 sale instead of cleaning up the store.

Thomas Secunda
$5.4B
● Thomas Secunda is a cofounder of financial services and media company
Bloomberg LP.
● He built the company's financial products, most notably its lucrative terminal
business.
● Terminals account for an estimated two-thirds of Bloomberg LP's more than $13
billion in estimated revenue.
● He holds a 4% stake in Bloomberg LP and still leads its terminal division.
● Secunda helped spearhead recovery efforts in the U.S. Virgin Islands in the wake of
devastating hurricanes in 2017.

João Moreira Salles

$5.3B
● Brazilian documentary filmmaker Joao Moreira Salles is a member of one of Brazil's
oldest banking families.
● His late father, Walther Moreira Salles, was the founder of Unibanco and a former
ambassador to the United States.
● In 2008, Unibanco merged with Itaú, then Brazil's second-largest commercial bank,
creating Itaú-Unibanco, the largest bank in Latin America.
● Moreira Salles and his three brothers, all billionaires, also own stakes in CBMM, the
world's leading supplier of the mineral niobium.

Walther Moreira Salles Júnior

$5.3B
● Brazilian filmmaker Walther Moreira Salles Júnior (also known as Walter Salles) is a
member of one of Brazil's oldest banking families.
● His late father, Walther Moreira Salles, was the founder of Unibanco and a former
ambassador to the United States.
● In 2008, Unibanco merged with Itaú, then Brazil's second-largest commercial bank,
creating Itaú-Unibanco, the largest bank in Latin America.
● Moreira Salles and his three brothers, all billionaires, also own stakes in CBMM, the
world's leading supplier of the mineral niobium.
● Moreira Salles directed more than 20 films, including 'The Motorcycle Diaries' and
1998 Academy Award nominee 'Central Station.'
Rick Caruso
$5.3B
● Rick Caruso is a Los Angeles real estate developer who has built some of the
country's most successful shopping centers.
● Caruso ran for mayor of Los Angeles in 2022 and advanced to the run-off, where he
lost to former Democratic Rep. Karen Bass.
● Three of Caruso's retail centers--The Grove, The Americana and Palisades
Village--rank among the 15 largest in the country in sales per square foot.
● The grandson of Italian immigrants, Caruso opened a retail center in 1992 and has
more recently expanded into residential, office and hospitality.
● In 2020, Caruso served on both White House and state-level task forces on how to
safely reopen the economy after Covid-19.

Charles Dolan & family

$5.2B
● Charles Dolan and his 6 children own controlling stakes in AMC Networks and
Madison Square Garden's entertainment and sports companies.
● Dolan sold Cablevision, the cable giant he launched in 1973 with 1,500 customers, to
billionaire Patrick Drahi's Altice for $17.7 billion in 2016.
● After dropping out of John Carroll University, the Cleveland native got his start
creating sports newsreels for TV stations from his home.
● He moved to New York in 1952, making industrial films before wiring lower
Manhattan with cable and founding HBO's predecessor, which he sold in 1973.
● He is the chairman emeritus of the Lustgarten Foundation, the largest private funder
of pancreatic cancer research in the world.

Michael Ashley
$5.2B
● Michael Ashley founded the U.K.'s largest sporting goods retailer, Sports Direct.
● Ashley started Sports Direct in 1982 at age 18; it now has some 800 stores.
● He took the company public in 2007, pocketing $1.8 billion from the IPO. That same
year, he bought famed soccer club Newcastle United.
● In 2021, Ashley sold Newcastle United to a consortium backed by Saudi Arabia's
sovereign wealth fund for around $400 million.
● He renamed Sports Direct's parent company Frasers Group in 2019, after acquiring
department store chain House of Fraser.
● Ashley handed the CEO reins of Frasers Group to his son-in-law, Michael Murray,
and stepped down from the Frasers board of directors in 2022.

Min Kao & family

$5.2B
● Min Kao cofounded GPS maker Garmin with the late Gary Burrell in 1989, after the
duo led development of the first GPS navigator at Allied Signal.
● Kao is executive chairman of the navigation firm, which has annual revenue of about
$5 billion and makes everything from GPS for cars to weather radar for airplanes.
● Garmin has brought GPS navigation and wearable technology to the automotive,
outdoor, fitness, aviation, and marine markets.
● Kao stepped down as CEO in 2012 but remains executive chairman and a member
of the board.
● Kao came to the U.S. from Taiwan in the 1970s and got a master's and a Ph.D. in
engineering at the University of Tennessee.

Russ Weiner
$5.2B
● Russ Weiner founded energy drink company Rockstar in 2001.
● Weiner sold Rockstar to PepsiCo in 2020, in a deal worth more than $4 billion.
● The son of right-wing talk-radio star Michael Savage, Weiner ran for California State
Assembly in 1998.
● Though he lost the race, Weiner caught the eye of his father's friend, Skyy Vodka
founder Maurice Kanbar, who quickly hired him.
● When Kanbar rejected Weiner's idea for an energy drink, Weiner quit and launched
Rockstar using a $50,000 mortgage on his Sausalito, Calif. condo.

Bill Haslam
$5.1B
● Former Tennessee governor Bill Haslam was the president of his family's chain of
truck stops, Pilot Flying J, for four years until 1999.
● His father bought a gas station in Virginia in 1958 and founded Pilot Flying J, which
now operates in more than 800 locations in North America.
● Berkshire Hathaway acquired 100% of Pilot in 2024, paying a total of $13.6 billion for
it across three purchases - 39% in 2017, 41% in January 2023, and the final 20% in
January 2024.
● Haslam was elected the mayor of Knoxville in 2003 and became governor of
Tennessee in 2010. He left office in 2019.
● He purchased a piece of the Nashville Predators in 2022, with plans to gradually
acquire a majority stake.

Dagmar Dolby & family

$5.1B
● Dagmar Dolby owns about 36% of publicly-traded audio technology firm Dolby
Laboratories, which her husband Ray Dolby (d. 2013) founded in 1965.
● The company pioneered surround sound technologies used in thousands of films and
products, and most recently, in video games and mobile devices.
● Her two sons share voting power over some assets. David is a board member at
Dolby Labs; his brother, Tom, is a novelist and filmmaker.
● Since 2015, she has committed over $160 million to the University of Cambridge,
where Ray Dolby earned a Ph.D. in physics.
● In September 2018, Dolby donated $20 million to UC San Francisco to establish the
Dolby Family Center for Mood Disorders.
● She has also supported the Academy Foundation to fund the construction of the
Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles.

Daryl Katz
$5B
● Daryl Katz amassed a fortune in the pharmacy business, buying the Canadian rights
to U.S. franchise Medicine Shoppe in 1991.
● A few years later, he snatched up struggling Canadian drugstore chain Rexall, then
expanded to the U.S. market.
● Katz, the son of a drug store owner, has since sold off all of his pharmacy operations,
pivoting his Katz Group to real estate and entertainment.
● He has been co-developing a $2 billion, 25-acre complex in Edmonton's downtown
that will include offices, condos and retail, among others.
● Katz also owns his native city's NHL team, the Edmonton Oilers.

Alexandra Schoerghuber & family

$5B
● Alexandra Schoerghuber oversees private family investment company Schoerghuber
Unternehmensgruppe, as chairwoman of the group's supervisory board.
● It has stakes in a brewery co-owned with Heineken and in Arabella Hospitality, a
hotel joint venture with Marriott.
● The group also owns one of Germany's largest real estate companies, Bayerische
Bau und Immobilien GmbH, which builds, owns and manages properties.
● Its Productos del Mar Ventisqueros S.A., based in Puerto Montt, Chile, specializes in
the cultivation and processing of salmon.
● Alexandra is the widow of Stefan Schoerghuber. He inherited a fortune built by his
father, Joseph, and died unexpectedly in 2008, at age 47.

Michel Leclercq & family

$5B
● Michel Leclercq set up a small sporting goods store called Decathlon in 1976.
● It's now one of the world's largest athletic retailers with more than $16.5 billion in
sales from more than 1,700 stores in 60 countries.
● Leclercq is cousin of Gerard Mulliez, the patriarch of the famed French retail dynasty
behind Auchan department stores.
● Leclerq and his immediate family own approximately 40% of the company; the
extended Mulliez family own about 40% as well.

Herbert Wertheim
$4.9B
● Herbert "Herbie" Wertheim is an optometrist and inventor who built a fortune over five
decades of investing in stocks.
● Wertheim, who is dyslexic and struggled in school, joined the U.S. Navy at age 17
after facing truancy charges.
● He founded and still runs Brain Power Inc., a manufacturer of optical tints for
eyeglasses; it holds more than 100 patents and copyrights.
● Since 1970, he has invested his profits from Brain Power into the stock market and is
the largest individual shareholder in aerospace firm Heico.
● Wertheim has donated more than $100 million to Florida's public universities and is a
signee of the Giving Pledge.

Margot Birmingham Perot

$4.9B
● Margot Birmingham Perot is the widow of the late technology entrepreneur and
presidential candidate H. Ross Perot, Sr.
● She gave her husband a $1,000 check to start Electronic Data Systems. He sold
EDS to GM in 1984, netting $1.5 billion.
● She and her family helped endow Dallas's Margot Perot Center, which has delivered
more than 120,000 babies since 1983.
● The former teacher also philanthropically supports the Perot Museum of Nature and
Science and the Global Fund for Children.
● Birmingham Perot met her husband on a blind date. He died in 2019 at age 89 after a
battle with leukemia.

Johnelle Hunt
$4.9B
● In 1961, Johnelle Hunt and her late husband J.B. (d. 2006) sold their home and took
out loans to start a rice hull packaging operation.
● Eight years later, the couple bought five trucks and seven trailers to launch trucking
firm J.B. Hunt Transport Services.
● The Lowell, Arkansas business went public in 1983 and is now one of the biggest
transportation companies in the nation, with $12.8 billion in sales.
● Hunt, who stepped down as corporate secretary in 2008, remains the firm's largest
individual shareholder with a 17% stake.
● She donated $5 million to the J.B. and Johnelle Hunt Family Ozark Highlands Center,
which opened in Springdale, Arkansas in December 2020.

Odd Reitan & family

$4.9B
● Odd Reitan is the sole owner of Reitangruppen, which is one of the largest chains of
grocery stores in Norway.
● The son of single-store grocers, he opened his own shop in 1972 named AS
Sjokkpris, or "shocking price."
● Now, his privately held Reitangruppen owns grocery and convenience stores
throughout Scandinavia and the Baltic and employs 38,000 people.
● Reitan's son, Ole Robert, is the administrative director of grocery chain REMA 1000;
son Magnus oversees Reitan Convenience.

Mong-Koo Chung
$4.9B
● Mong-Koo Chung was chairman of Hyundai Motor, South Korea's largest automaker,
for more than 20 years before stepping down in March 2020.
● He was succeeded by his only son Euisun, who is also a billionaire.
● He is the second son of the late Chung Ju-yung who came from a peasant family and
later founded the Hyundai Group, once Korea's biggest conglomerate.
● His second-biggest holding is in the publicly-listed auto parts company Hyundai
Mobis.

Arturo Moreno
$4.9B
● Arturo Moreno is the owner of the Los Angeles Angels baseball team, which he
bought in 2003 for $184 million. It is now worth about $2.7 billion.
● Moreno's initial fortune came from billboard advertising company Outdoor Systems,
which he sold to Infinity Broadcasting in 1999 for $8.3 billion.
● He has stakes in other billboard advertising companies, as well as commercial real
estate holdings throughout Phoenix.
● Moreno's $325 million plan to develop a new Angels baseball stadium was scuttled in
May 2022, by Anaheim's City Council.
● A few months later, Moreno announced he intended to sell the Angels to the highest
bidder but has since changed his mind.

Steven Spielberg
$4.8B
● The films of Steven Spielberg, a three-time Academy Award-winning director, have
grossed more than $10 billion worldwide.
● Spielberg became a household name directing movies like 'Jaws' and 'Jurassic Park.'
● In 1994, he cofounded DreamWorks Studios with Jeffrey Katzenberg and David
Geffen.
● Today, a slice of the cash from every ticket at Universal theme parks goes directly
into his pocket thanks to blockbuster hits like 'Indiana Jones.'
● His recent turns in the director's chair include 'West Side Story' and 'The Fablemans,'
a semi-biographical tale about his entry into moviemaking.

Rocco Basilico
$4.7B
● Rocco Basilico is the stepson of Leonardo Del Vecchio, the late chairman (d. 2022)
of EssilorLuxottica, the world's largest eyeglasses firm.
● He inherited a 12.5% stake in Del Vecchio's Luxembourg-based holding company
Delfin after his death, along with his mother and six siblings.
● Besides EssilorLuxottica, Delfin also owns shares in insurer Generali, banks
Mediobanca and UniCredit and real estate developer Covivio.
● Basilico is one of only two Del Vecchio heirs to work at the company; he is
EssilorLuxottica's chief wearables officer and head of luxury brands.

Claudio Del Vecchio

$4.7B
● Claudio Del Vecchio is one of six children of Leonardo Del Vecchio, the late chairman
(d. 2022) of EssilorLuxottica, the world's largest eyeglasses firm.
● He inherited a 12.5% stake in his father's Luxembourg-based holding company Delfin
after his death, along with his stepmother and six siblings.
● Besides EssilorLuxottica, Delfin also owns shares in insurer Generali, banks
Mediobanca and UniCredit and real estate developer Covivio.
● Claudio served as Luxottica's co-CEO in the 1990s and took the company public on
the New York Stock Exchange in 1990.
● He acquired Brooks Brothers, America's oldest clothing retailer, in 2001; the firm filed
for bankruptcy in September 2020.

Clemente Del Vecchio

$4.7B
● Clemente Del Vecchio is one of six children of Leonardo Del Vecchio, the late
chairman (d. 2022) of EssilorLuxottica, the world's largest eyeglasses firm.
● He inherited a 12.5% stake in his father's Luxembourg-based holding company Delfin
after his death, along with his stepmother and six siblings.
● Besides EssilorLuxottica, Delfin also owns shares in insurer Generali, banks
Mediobanca and UniCredit and real estate developer Covivio.
● He is one of two children Del Vecchio had with Sabina Grossi, Luxottica's former
head of investor relations, along with his brother Luca.
● After inheriting his stake in his father's fortune in 2022, Clemente became the world's
youngest billionaire at age 18.

Leonardo Maria Del Vecchio

$4.7B
● Leonardo Maria Del Vecchio is one of six children of Leonardo Del Vecchio, the late
chairman (d. 2022) of EssilorLuxottica, the world's largest eyeglasses firm.
● He inherited a 12.5% stake in his father's Luxembourg-based holding company Delfin
after his death, along with his mother and six half-siblings.
● Besides EssilorLuxottica, Delfin also owns shares in insurer Generali, banks
Mediobanca and UniCredit and real estate developer Covivio.
● Leonardo Maria is one of only two of his father's heirs to work at the company; he
serves as EssilorLuxottica's chief strategy officer.
● He is also the CEO of eyeglasses retailer Salmoiraghi & Viganò, which
EssilorLuxottica acquired for an undisclosed amount in 2016.
Luca Del Vecchio
$4.7B
● Luca Del Vecchio is one of six children of Leonardo Del Vecchio, the late chairman
(d. 2022) of EssilorLuxottica, the world's largest eyeglasses firm.
● He inherited a 12.5% stake in his father's Luxembourg-based holding company Delfin
after his death, along with her stepmother and six siblings.
● Besides EssilorLuxottica, Delfin also owns shares in insurer Generali, banks
Mediobanca and UniCredit and real estate developer Covivio.
● He is one of two children Del Vecchio had with Sabina Grossi, Luxottica's former
head of investor relations, along with his brother Clemente.

Marisa Del Vecchio

$4.7B
● Marisa Del Vecchio is one of six children of Leonardo Del Vecchio, the late chairman
(d. 2022) of EssilorLuxottica, the world's largest eyeglasses firm.
● She inherited a 12.5% stake in her father's Luxembourg-based holding company
Delfin after his death, along with her stepmother and six siblings.
● Besides EssilorLuxottica, Delfin also owns shares in insurer Generali, banks
Mediobanca and UniCredit and real estate developer Covivio.
● She is one of three children Del Vecchio had with his first wife, Luciana Nervo, along
with her siblings Claudio and Paola.
● Marisa leads the Museum of Optics in Agordo, the northern Italian town where her
father founded Luxottica in 1961.

Paola Del Vecchio

$4.7B
● Paola Del Vecchio is one of six children of Leonardo Del Vecchio, the late chairman
(d. 2022) of EssilorLuxottica, the world's largest eyeglasses firm.
● She inherited a 12.5% stake in her father's Luxembourg-based holding company
Delfin after his death, along with her stepmother and six siblings.
● Besides EssilorLuxottica, Delfin also owns shares in insurer Generali, banks
Mediobanca and UniCredit and real estate developer Covivio.
● She is one of three children Del Vecchio had with his first wife, Luciana Nervo, along
with her siblings Claudio and Marisa.

Nicoletta Zampillo
$4.7B
● Nicoletta Zampillo is the widow of Leonardo Del Vecchio, the late chairman (d. 2022)
of EssilorLuxottica, the world's largest eyeglasses firm.
● She inherited a 12.5% stake in Del Vecchio's Luxembourg-based holding company
Delfin after his death, along with her two kids and five stepchildren.
● Besides EssilorLuxottica, Delfin also owns shares in insurer Generali, banks
Mediobanca and UniCredit and real estate developer Covivio.
● Zampillo and Del Vecchio first married in 1997 and both already had children from an
earlier marriage; they later divorced and then remarried in 2010.
● Zampillo's two children, Rocco Basilico, who she had with her ex-husband Paolo
Basilico, and Leonardo Maria Del Vecchio, both work at EssilorLuxottica.

Georg Nemetschek & family

$4.7B
● Georg Nemetschek is the founder and deputy chairman of software company
Nemetschek Group, which has over 3,000 employees and users in 142 countries.
● He started using design software in his own engineering office in the late 1960s, long
before computers became available for personal use.
● The company, which serves the architecture, engineering and construction industries,
went public in 1999.
● Nemetschek Group expanded into 3D animation and motion design, securing access
to the media industry. Its software has around six million users.
● In 2020, Georg launched the Nemetschek Innovation Foundation to support scientific
research and artificial intelligence in the construction industry.

Ian Livingstone
$4.7B
● Ian Livingstone, with his billionaire brother Richard, own properties throughout
London including high-end shops, swanky hotels and tony apartments.
● Among their signature projects is Panama Pacifico, a master planned city they're
developing in Panama with Colombian billionaire Jaime Gilinski Bacal.
● When finished, Panama Pacifico will include 20,000 residential properties, industrial
parks and retail and commercial space.
● Their real estate firm London & Regional operates hotels in L.A., Las Vegas and
Miami.
● The firm is also tapped to revitalize Albert Island, a 25-acre site between London's
Royal Docks and the Thames River, into a mixed-use development.

Richard Livingstone
$4.7B
● Richard Livingstone, with his billionaire brother Ian, own properties throughout
London including high-end shops, swanky hotels and tony apartments.
● Among their signature projects is Panama Pacifico, a master planned city they're
developing in Panama with Colombian billionaire Jaime Gilinski Bacal.
● When finished, Panama Pacifico will include 20,000 residential properties, industrial
parks and retail and commercial space.
● Their real estate firm London & Regional operates hotels in L.A., Las Vegas and
Miami.
● The firm is also tapped to revitalize Albert Island, a 25-acre site between London's
Royal Docks and the Thames River, into a mixed-use development.
Dirk Rossmann & family
$4.7B
● The eponymous company Dirk Rossmann founded at age 25 is now Germany's
second-largest drugstore chain, with annual revenues of around $13 billion.
● In 1972, he opened Germany's first self-service drugstore in Hannover just as price
deregulation of pharmacy products was beginning.
● Rossmann has made numerous private equity investments and owns a stake in the
German Bundesliga soccer club Hannover 96.
● He is a bestselling author. He published an autobiography in 2018, a novel, The
Ninth Arm of the Octopus, in 2020, and its sequel, The Wrath of the Octopus, in
2021.
● His German Foundation for World Population focuses on sex education and family
planning, primarily in East Africa.

Friedrich Knapp
$4.7B
● Friedrich Knapp presides over one of Europe's largest fashion companies, New
Yorker GmbH, which has more than 1,000 stores in 40 countries.
● The low-profile billionaire, with Tilmar Hansen and Michael Simson, started the
retailer in 1971, with one store in the German town of Flensburg.
● Today, the chain employs more than 18,000 people and has revenues of around $2
billion.
● New Yorker is known for targeting a younger audience with fashion ranging from
outerwear and knitwear to jeans and athletic apparel.
● In 2019, Knapp challenged Amazon, claiming that a large proportion of textiles sold
by the online giant did not comply with the German textile labeling act.

Ronald Lauder
$4.6B
● Ronald Lauder is the youngest son of makeup maven Estée Lauder, who founded
her eponymous beauty company in 1946.
● He became the chairman of Clinique Laboratories in 1994 and still occupies that
position today.
● Lauder spent a total of 40 years as a board member. He stepped off in 2009, but was
reelected to the board in 2016.
● The president of the World Jewish Congress and a Trump donor, Lauder has
informally advised the White House on Israel.
● Lauder served as deputy assistant secretary of defense for NATO affairs from 1983
to 1986 and was ambassador to Austria for one year.

Jeffrey Lurie & family

$4.6B
● Jeffrey Lurie, a former professor of social policy, is the outspoken owner of the
Philadelphia Eagles NFL team.
● In 1994, Lurie took out a loan to buy the Philadelphia Eagles for $185 million. The
team is now worth more than $5.6 billion.
● Lurie took an executive role at General Cinema Corporation, the film company
founded by his grandfather, in 1983.
● Two years later, he founded Chestnut Hill Productions, where he produced a string of
mostly forgettable movies.
● Lurie has since won two Academy Awards for producing documentaries: "Inside Job,"
about the 2008 economic crisis, and "Inocente," about an undocumented homeless
American teen.

Jeremy Jacobs, Sr. & family

$4.5B
● Jeremy Jacobs is chairman of concessions juggernaut Delaware North, a private
company that serves 500 million people per year across four continents.
● The business was founded in 1915 by his father, who began by selling popcorn and
peanuts.
● The New York-based company is currently considered a global leader in hospitality
management & food service management.
● Jacobs is also the owner of the NHL's Boston Bruins ice hockey team and he was
inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2017.
● In early 2019, Jacobs began handing control of the Boston Bruins team and
Delaware North to his six children.

Jeff Skoll
$4.5B
● Jeff Skoll built his fortune as eBay's first full-time hire and president in 1995; he left
eBay in 2001, three years after its IPO.
● His Skoll Foundation quadrupled its grants to $200 million in 2020 in response to the
pandemic.
● The Skoll Foundation and Skoll Global Threats Fund have distributed about $1.2
billion worldwide, aiming to reduce poverty, among other goals.
● Participant Media, Jeff Skoll's film and television studio, has won 21 Academy
Awards and 86 nominations, including Best Picture for "Spotlight" and Best
International Film for "Roma."
● Skoll founded millennial-focused cable TV channel Pivot TV in 2013 but shut it down
in late 2016.

Brunello Cucinelli & family

$4.5B
● The "king of cashmere," designer Brunello Cucinelli dropped out of engineering
school and used a $550 loan to launch a fashion line in 1978.
● Inspired by brightly-colored wool sweaters, he set out to create a similar garment in
cashmere.
● Today, his eponymous luxury brand is best known for those cashmere sweaters, but
also sells dresses, suits, shoes, handbags and accessories.
● Cucinelli took the $1.2 billion (2023 revenues) company public in 2012, listing its
shares on the Italian stock exchange.
● Since 1985, he has operated Brunello Cucinelli SpA from his headquarters in
Solomeo, a medieval Italian hamlet that he has renovated for his employees.

Jeff T. Green
$4.5B
● Jeff Green is CEO and chairman of The Trade Desk, an advertising tech firm he
founded in 2009.
● His digital ads company, which went public in 2016, specializes in social, mobile and
video advertising.
● The Trade Desk, a Nasdaq-listed company, had $1.95 billion in revenue in 2023, up
23% year-over-year.
● Prior to The Trade Desk, Green was founder and chief operating officer of AdECN,
an online advertising exchange acquired by Microsoft in 2007 for an undisclosed
sum.
● The Trade Desk officially launched in China in March 2019.

Isaac Perlmutter
$4.4B
● Isaac "Ike" Perlmutter beat out fellow billionaire Carl Icahn for control of bankrupt
comic book firm Marvel in 1998.
● He revived the company's stock by producing action-hero movies like 'Spiderman,'
'Daredevil,' 'Hulk' and 'Iron Man.'
● In 2009, he sold a majority of Marvel to Disney for $4 billion in cash and stock; he
served as chairman until Disney laid him off in March 2023.
● Perlmutter immigrated to the U.S. from Israel with just $250 in 1967 and sold toys on
the streets of Brooklyn, where he was introduced to Marvel.
● He and his wife have donated over $50 million to cancer research at NYU Langone
Medical Center.

Reed Hastings
$4.4B
● Reed Hastings, cofounder and chairman of Netflix, revolutionized how the world is
entertained. He owns about 2% of Netflix, which went public in 2002.
● Hastings cofounded Netflix in 1997, after he sold his first company, Pure Software, to
Rational Software. He stepped down as co-CEO in January 2023.
● The video-streaming service offers TV shows and films, as well as original content, to
260 million members globally.
● Netflix originally operated as a DVD subscription service, but began streaming
content in 2007.
● In 2020, Hastings and his wife Patty donated $120 million to fund scholarships at two
historically Black colleges and the United Negro College Fund.

Jim Davis
$4.4B
● Jim Davis cofounded Allegis Group, the largest staffing firm in the U.S.
● Davis launched Allegis (then called Aerotek) in 1983 with his cousin Steve Bisciotti,
who is also a billionaire.
● Allegis now has offices on four continents and boasts an annual revenues of more
than $15 billion.
● Through Redwood Capital, the cousins also invest in everything from retirement
communities to propane distribution.

Martha Ingram & family

$4.4B
● Martha Ingram and her family own book distribution and marine firm Ingram
Industries.
● Ingram took over the business after her husband Bronson Ingram died in 1995.
● She spun off the computer distribution business into publicly-traded Ingram Micro in
1996; it was acquired by Chinese company HNA in December 2016.
● Martha stepped down as chairman in 2008. Her sons Orrin and John took over as
CEO and chairman, respectively.
● Ingram Marine operates 5,000 barges and approximately 150 towboats on America's
inland waterways.

Juan Carlos Escotet

$4.4B
● Juan Carlos Escotet is the founder of Caracas-based banking group Banesco.
● Banesco is operational in Venezuela, Panama, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico,
Colombia and the United States.
● In 2012, Escotet bought Banco Echevarría, a 300-year-old Spanish bank, for around
$90 million; the next year, Echevarría bought domestic rival Abanca for $1.3 billion.
● Escotet began working as a messenger for Banco Union when he was 17 while
studying economics. In 1986, he founded a brokerage firm.
● He added banking services in 1991 and, in 2001, he merged his bank with Banco
Union.

Stefan von Holtzbrinck

$4.4B
● Stefan von Holtzbrinck, his brother Dieter and sister Monika Schoeller inherited
Holtzbrinck Publishing Group from their father, Georg.
● Originally founded as a book club in 1948, Holtzbrinck's businesses include
Macmillan Publishers, S. Fischer Verlag and Holtzbrinck Digital.
● In 2006, Dieter sold his shares to his siblings, leaving each of them with 50% of the
company. Monika died in 2019.
● Holtzbrinck Ventures (now HV Capital) was founded in 2000 as an investment arm of
the publishing business and became independent in 2010.
● HV has invested in many internet and e-commerce startups including Zalando,
Groupon, HelloFresh and Rocket Internet.

Carlos Hank Rhon & family

$4.4B
● Carlos Hank Rhon and his family derive their fortune primarily from Mexican financial
group Banorte and Gruma, a tortilla manufacturing company.
● He is the son of the late politician Carlos Hank González, who served as Mexico City
mayor, Secretary of Agriculture and governor of the State of Mexico, his home state.
● In October 2017, Mexico's Grupo Banorte said it would pay $1.4 billion in stock and
cash to acquire Hank Rhon's Grupo Financiero Interacciones.
● Hank Rhon's wife, Graciela, is the daughter of Roberto González (d. 2012), the
founder of Gruma and ex-president of Banorte.
● Hank Rhon also owns Grupo Hermes, an industrial conglomerate with interests in
construction, infrastructure, energy and auto dealerships.

Nick Caporella
$4.3B
● Nick Caporella is the chairman and CEO of National Beverage, which he founded in
1985; it's best known for its LaCroix brand of sparkling water.
● The Pennsylvania native started out as a contractor and worked as the CEO of
telecom firm Burnup & Sims before founding his soft drinks business.
● He kickstarted National Beverage by buying soda brand Shasta, then later added
LaCroix to the portfolio in 1996.
● Trading under the ticker FIZZ, the Fort Lauderdale, Florida company has delivered a
share price gain of 725% in the past decade, according to its 2023 shareholder letter.
● The company has faced increased competition from rivals like PepsiCo and other
brands selling flavored fizzy water.

Shaul Shani
$4.3B
● Israeli investor Shaul Shani sold Brazilian firm Global Village Telecom to Vivendi for
$4.5 billion in 2009; his take was $1.4 billion.
● He has since increased his fortune via mezzanine lending and investments in
emerging economies.
● Starting in the 1980s, he cofounded three companies; two of them, Oshap
Technologies and Tecnomatix, were acquired for $210 million and $228 million.
● In 2014, Shani took control of Israeli communications equipment maker ECI Telecom;
he agreed to sell to publicly traded Ribbon Communications in 2019.
● In 2021, Shani became chairman of Rashi, one of Israel's largest charities.
Hong Ra-hee
$4.3B
● Hong Ra-hee is the widow of Samsung Group chairman Lee Kun-hee, who had long
been South Korea's richest person before his death in October 2020.
● She was the director of the Samsung Museum of Art, known as Leeum, and the
Ho-Am Art Museum before her resignation in 2017.
● Hong is an arts graduate of Seoul National University, and both museums contain
collections from her father-in-law, Samsung founder Lee Byung-Chull.
● Her father was chairman of one of Korea's largest daily newspapers, JoongAng Ilbo,
which is now run by her nephew.
● One of her brothers, Hong Seok-joh, chairs Korea's biggest convenience-store chain
and is also a billionaire.

Gabe Newell
$4.3B
● Gabe Newell has led Valve Corp., which develops video games, since he cofounded
it in 1998 with former Microsoft colleague Mike Harrington.
● The company found initial success with games like Half-Life and Portal.
● Valve Corp. plays a big role in PC game sales through its Steam digital store; some
liken it to the iTunes of video games.
● Steam sells game licenses to 125 million users of its own and other developers' titles
and collects a percentage of the sales.
● Forbes estimates that Newell owns at least one quarter of the company, which
operates out of Bellevue, Washington.

William Ackman
$4.3B
● Bill Ackman founded and runs Pershing Square Capital Management, a hedge fund
with $16 billion in assets under management.
● Ackman created Pershing Square in 2004 and rose to fame for his short of bond
insurer MBIA and his rescue of mall operator General Growth.
● Pershing Square's stock portfolio is concentrated in just seven companies, including
Chipotle, Hilton and Google parent Alphabet.
● Ackman is outspoken with more than 1 million followers on X, where he often
supports polarizing figures like Vivek Ramaswamy and Robert F. Kennedy.
● He publicly pressured Harvard to oust president Claudine Gay amid accusations of
plagiarism and antisemitism until she resigned in January 2024.

Tench Coxe
$4.3B
● Tench Coxe has served on the board of chip designer Nvidia since 1993,
accumulating enough stock (as compensation) to become a billionaire.
● Coxe is the third largest individual shareholder at Nvidia, behind founder Jensen
Huang and fellow board member Mark Stevens.
● Coxe spent more than three decades at venture capital firm Sutter Hill Ventures,
serving as a managing director from 1989 to 2020.
● As of late 2021, he also owned about 1% of software firm Snowflake, in which Sutter
Hill was the earliest investor.
● He also serves on the board of money management firm Artisan Partners Asset
Management.

Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière

$4.3B
● Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière is chief executive and chairman of Fimalac, an
investment group primarily focused on digital media and real estate.
● Ladreit de Lacharrière purchased all of Fimalac's shares and took the company
private in July 2017.
● He founded Fimalac in 1991 and bought a stake in Fitch Ratings in 1998.
● Fimalac sold 30% of Fitch Ratings to media firm Hearst for $1.97 billion at the
beginning of 2015, bringing Hearst's stake to 80%.
● It sold Hearst its remaining 20% stake in Fitch for $2.8 billion in 2018; the firm now
operates live entertainment shows and venues.

Daniel Ek
$4.2B
● Stockholm-born Daniel Ek is the cofounder and CEO of streaming music service
Spotify.
● The company has more than 602 million users, 236 million of whom are paying
subscribers.
● Via a dual-class share system, Ek owns nearly 9% of the shares, but has 37% of
voting control.
● Ek and his business partner Martin Lorentzon founded the company in 2006 in
Sweden and launched the product in 2008.
● In September 2021, Ek pledged to invest 1 billion euros in European technology,
cofounding VC firm Prima Materia.

Maggie Gu
$4.2B
● Maggie Gu is a co-founder and general manager at international online fashion
retailer Shein.
● Founded in 2012, Shein today has more than 10,000 employees serving customers
in more than 150 countries.
● In the U.S. alone, Shein has more than 1,500 corporate and warehouse employees
in cities including Seattle, Los Angeles, San Diego, Philadelphia and Washington,
D.C.
● Co-founders Sky Xu, Molly Miao and Ren Xiaoqing are also billionaires.
Ren Xiaoqing
$4.2B
● Ren Xiaoqing is a co-founder of global online fashion giant Shein.
● Founded in 2012, Shein today has more than 10,000 employees serving customers
in more than 150 countries.
● In the U.S. alone, Shein has more than 1,500 corporate and warehouse employees
in cities including Seattle, Los Angeles, San Diego, Philadelphia and Washington,
D.C.
● CEO Sky Xu and other co-founders Molly Miao and Maggie Gu are also billionaires.

Molly Miao
$4.2B
● Molly Miao is the chief marketing officer of online fashion site Shein.
● Founded in 2012, Shein today has more than 10,000 employees serving customers
in more than 150 countries.
● Miao is a graduate of Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications.

Steven Udvar-Hazy
$4.2B
● Steven Udvar-Hazy, who immigrated to New York from Hungary as a child, is
credited with creating the airplane leasing industry.
● He started his own airline in his 20s, but realized there was easier money to be made
in buying planes and leasing them to airlines.
● Udvar-Hazy's first airplane leasing firm, International Lease Finance Corp., was sold
to AIG in 1990 for $1.3 billion.
● He started his second airplane leasing company, Air Lease Corp., in 2010 and took it
public a year later. He remains chairman.
● The Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum named its sister location in
Virginia for him after a $60 million donation in 2000.
● After immigrating to the U.S., Udvar-Hazy packed boxes in a Manhattan warehouse
for 30 cents an hour when he was 14 years old.

Barry Diller
$4.2B
● Barry Diller founded internet and media conglomerate IAC in 1995. He remains
senior executive and chairman.
● IAC owns print and digital publisher Dotdash Meredith and website Care.com, and
has a majority stake in home services platform Angi Inc.
● Diller is also chairman of online travel giant Expedia, which acquired its holding
company, Liberty Expedia, in a $2.6 billion deal in 2019.
● Prior to founding IAC, he worked at ABC, Paramount and Fox and oversaw launches
of hit TV shows including "Cheers" and "The Simpsons."
● He built Pier 55 -- named "Little Island" -- a park and performance venue in the
Hudson River that opened in spring of 2021.
● He is married to designer Diane Von Furstenberg and owns an estimated third of her
eponymous fashion company.

Hamilton James & family

$4.1B
● Hamilton "Tony" James was recruited to Blackstone Group in 2002 to help run its
rapidly expanding private equity and asset management business.
● As the COO and president, James oversaw Blackstone's rise to the biggest buyout
firm on the planet, with $991 billion in assets under management.
● He handed day-to-day management duties to Blackstone head of real estate
Jonathan Gray in February 2018 and retired as executive vice chair in January 2022.
● He started his career at investment bank Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, then worked
at Credit Suisse after it acquired DLJ, before joining Blackstone.
● James is a board member of several environmental nonprofits and, in 2016,
co-authored Rescuing Retirement, a book on solutions to the retirement crisis.

Maggie Hardy
$4.1B
● Maggie Hardy is the owner and CEO of 84 Lumber, one of the largest
privately-owned building materials suppliers in the U.S.
● Hardy's father, Joe Hardy, founded the company in 1956 in the rural town of Eighty
Four, Pennsylvania.
● She took control of the business in 1992, when she was just 26 years old. It topped
$1 billion in sales the following year.
● Today, 84 Lumber operates 320 facilities in 33 states and generates some $8 billion
in revenue.
● She also owns the Nemacolin resort in rural Pennsylvania, which was partially
modeled after the Ritz in Paris, plus vintage airplanes and a piece of the Berlin Wall.

Brad Jacobs
$4.1B
● Most of Brad Jacobs' fortune comes from XPO Logistics, a commercial trucking
company that delivers goods to warehouses and distribution centers.
● Jacobs created XPO Logistics, now XPO, in 2011 and serves as its chairman.
● In 2021, XPO spun off its warehousing business into GXO Logistics, which contracts
with retailers to manage inventory and fill orders. In 2022, it spun off its truck
brokerage business into RXO.
● In the 1990s he consolidated rural trash hauling, building United Waste and flipping it
to Waste Management in 1997 for $1.9 billion.
● He then built United Rentals into the biggest heavy equipment rental company in the
world. Its shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange.
Tom Morris
$4B
● Tom Morris founded TJ Morris, which owns discount retailer Home Bargains, in 1976.
● One of seven children of a Liverpool shopkeeper, he is the third generation of his
family to run a retailer.
● Morris, who closely guards his privacy, reportedly used a bank overdraft to start his
business at the age of 21.
● Home Bargains stocks everything from health and beauty products to candy and
toys, often bought at a discount from brands trying to offload product.
● There are more than 550 Home Bargains stores throughout the United Kingdom, with
plans to expand to as many as 1,000.

Roger Penske
$4B
● Former race car driver Roger Penske is the founder, chairman and CEO of
publicly-traded car and truck dealer Penske Automotive Group.
● The business is best known for its auto dealerships, which sell new and used cars,
and its iconic yellow rental trucks.
● Penske started his career with one car dealership in 1965, opened with a $75,000
loan from his father.
● In June 2019, President Trump announced that Penske will be awarded a
Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the U.S.

Remo Ruffini
$4B
● Remo Ruffini turned around a nearly bankrupt luxury sportswear firm Moncler, taking
the company public in 2013 in one of Italy's largest IPOs in years.
● Ruffini started out as the company's creative director in 1999 and a few years later
bought the brand. Now chairman and CEO, he owns a 24% stake.
● Ruffini introduced new colors and designs at Moncler and partnered with the Carlyle
Group to expand internationally.
● He got his start in the U.S. working for his father's clothing company, Gianfranco
Ruffini.
● In 1984, he returned to Italy and founded his own brand, New England Company,
which was sold in 2000.

Lee Boo-jin
$4B
● Lee Boo-jin is the president and chief executive of Hotel Shilla, one of Seoul's top
lodging and conference centers.
● Hotel Shilla is also South Korea's biggest duty-free operator after Lotte.
● Lee Boo-jin has also served as an advisor for the trading department of Samsung
C&T, her family's de-facto holding company.
● Daughter of late Samsung Group patriarch Lee Kun-hee, she split her father's empire
with her mother Hong Ra-hee, brother Jay Y. and sister Seo-hyun.

Nicolas D’Ieteren
$4B
● Nicolas D'Ieteren chairs the Belgium-based D'Ieteren Group.
● The Group's portfolio includes five businesses ranging from automobile distribution to
real estate and glass repair.
● The Group owns D'Ieteren Auto, which exclusively distributes Volkswagen, Audi,
Lamborghini, Bugatti and Porsche in Belgium.
● The business has been in the family for seven generations; it was founded in 1805 by
Jean-Joseph D'Ieteren.

Isak Andic & family

$4B
● Isak Andic is the founder and chairman of $3 billion (2022 sales) clothing retailer
Mango.
● The company has over 2,100 stores in 110 countries. Its international business
makes up about three quarters of its revenue.
● Andic opened his first clothing store in Barcelona in 1984, took the company
international in 1992 and opened its 1,000th store in 2007.
● His son and presumptive heir Jonathan Andic (b. 1981) sits on the company's Board
of Directors.

Marian Ilitch
$4B
● Marian Ilitch and her husband, Mike, who died in 2017, cofounded Little Caesars
Pizza in 1959.
● Mrs. I, as she's known, owns the pizza chain, which hauls in more than $4.5 billion in
annual systemwide sales.
● She also owns the Detroit Red Wings NHL team and MotorCity Casino Hotel; the
Detroit Tigers MLB team is owned by her family trust.
● Ilitch is helping build a $1.4 billion sports and entertainment district in Detroit that
includes a new headquarters with pizza-shaped windows.
● In the early days, Ilitch had to prevent her husband, who quietly paid Rosa Parks'
rent for years, from giving away free pizzas.

Klaus-Peter Schulenberg
$4B
● Klaus-Peter Schulenberg is founder and CEO of CTS Eventim, leader in the
European ticket and live entertainment market.
● His acquisition of regional concert promoters, ticketing agencies, venue operators
and event producers has created friction with cartel authorities.
● Before the coronavirus pandemic, the company, of which Schulenberg owns 39%,
sold more than 250 million tickets annually.
● In 2018, Germany's transportation ministry awarded CTS Eventim and Austria's
Kapsch TrafficCom a 12-year contract to collect passenger vehicle tolls.
● After European regulators scrapped the plan, CTS and Kapsch claimed over $600
million in damages from the German transportation ministry.

Peter Spuhler
$3.9B
● Peter Spuhler, former CEO of Stadler Rail, built a fortune buying up railcar makers
across eastern Europe.
● In 2019, Spuhler took Stadler Rail public through an IPO that valued the company at
$3.8 billion.
● His wife's grandfather had started Stadler five decades earlier and, in 1989, he
bought the company from her grandmother for $6 million.
● Over the years, Stadler has built railcars to climb to Germany's highest peak and
designed ones to withstand the brutal Helsinki winters.

Thomas Siebel
$3.9B
● Tom Siebel built software firm Siebel Systems and sold it to Oracle in 2006 for $5.8
billion in cash and stock.
● A former salesman at Oracle, he left in 1990 to launch Siebel Systems.
● In 2009, he created C3.ai, an enterprise AI firm he took public in 2020 at a near $10
billion valuation.
● C3.ai started as a clean energy firm. It was briefly named C3IoT in 2016 to chase the
internet of things market.
● He donated $25 million to his alma mater, U. of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, to build a
design center bearing his name. It opened in August 2021.

Robert Duggan
$3.9B
● Robert Duggan is a serial entrepreneur; he led the 2015 sale of biotech firm
Pharmacyclics to AbbVie for $21 billion in cash and stock.
● The success of Pharmacyclics' cancer drug Imbruvica made him a billionaire in 2013.
● Duggan, whose son died from brain cancer, became passionate about
Pharmacyclic's cancer fighting drugs and first invested in 2004.
● His enthusiasm for investing began four decades earlier in a corporate finance class
he took at the University of California at Santa Barbara.
● In 2020, Duggan was appointed CEO and executive chairman of Summit
Therapeutics, a small British biotechnology company.
● Duggan also sits on the board of Pulse Biosciences, of which he is the largest
individual shareholder.
Danielle Bellon & family
$3.9B
● Danielle Bellon is the widow of Pierre Bellon, who founded food service and catering
company Sodexo in 1966.
● Pierre Bellon, who expanded Sodexo to 56 countries, died in January 2022 at age
92.
● Danielle and Pierre's daughter Sophie is the CEO of the Paris-listed business.
● Their son, François-Xavier Bellon, chairs family holding company Bellon S.A.
● Their daughter, Nathalie Bellon-Szabo, heads events hospitality arm Sodexo Live!

Alan Howard
$3.9B
● Alan Howard cofounded Brevan Howard Asset Management, a European hedge fund
specializing in macro trading, in 2002.
● The firm was once one of the world's top macro hedge funds, with assets under
management peaking at $40 billion in 2013.
● A streak of uninspiring returns led to billions in investor withdrawals, but assets have
rebounded to $36 billion after solid returns in recent years.
● In October 2019, Howard stepped down as CEO to focus solely on investing and to
give portfolio managers more autonomy.

Steve Lavin & family

$3.9B
● Steve Lavin chairs OSI Group, one of the world's biggest food processing
companies.
● A lawyer by training, Lavin took control of the business after the death of his father,
Sheldon Lavin, in 2023.
● OSI began stamping McDonald's burgers in 1955, on a handshake deal with Ray
Kroc, and is still a major supplier to the Golden Arches.
● The $7.9 billion (est. sales) company has also churned out DiGiorno frozen pizzas for
Nestlé; steak, carnitas, barbacoa, sofritas, beans and salsas for Chipotle and Oscar
Mayer wieners for Kraft.
● OSI's vast global network now spans 65 plants across 18 countries.

Gail Miller
$3.9B
● Utah-based Gail Miller owns the Larry H. Miller Group, which has interests in real
estate, healthcare, finance and entertainment businesses.
● She and husband Larry (d. 2009) turned a single Toyota dealership into the
eighth-largest auto dealer group in America before she sold it to Asbury Automotive
in 2021 for $3.2 billion.
● The Millers purchased the Utah Jazz NBA team in 1986 for $22 million; in 2020, the
family agreed to sell it to billionaire Ryan Smith for $1.66 billion. They still own a
small stake.
● In 2018, she published the book "Courage To Be You: Inspiring Lessons From An
Unexpected Journey."

Charles Zegar
$3.9B
● Charles Zegar is one of four billionaire cofounders of financial services and media
giant Bloomberg LP.
● Zegar, who got a computer science degree at NYU, built the first software for
Bloomberg LP's terminals.
● The son of a subway conductor, he was widowed as a young man and remarried in
2001.
● He and his current wife, Merryl Snow Zegar, donate to Jewish causes and inner-city
education via their Zegar Family Foundation.

Joseph Grendys
$3.9B
● Joseph Grendys runs Koch Foods, a poultry processor that slaughters, ships and
sells chicken under its own brands and through private label products.
● The $5 billion (estimated revenues) business makes buffalo wings and chicken strips
for Walmart and nuggets for Burger King.
● Grendys joined Koch in the mid-1980s after graduating from Loyola University, lured
by a 50% equity offer from original owner Fred Koch.
● At the time, it was just a one-room shop with 13 employees and its main business
was taking bones out of chicken and cutting up the meat.
● Grendys bought out his former boss in 1992 and vertically integrated the company by
gobbling up smaller feed mills and slaughterhouses.

Beatriz Davila de Santo Domingo

$3.8B
● Beatriz Davila de Santo Domingo is the widow of Colombian beer baron Julio Mario
Santo Domingo, who died in 2011.
● She controls more than a third of the Santo Domingo family's Luxembourg-based
holding company, through which she owns shares in Anheuser-Busch InBev.
● Her two sons Alejandro and Andres Santo Domingo own the next-largest stakes;
Alejandro took over the family business after Julio Mario's death.
● The family also owns a stake in Château Pétrus, a French wine estate near
Bordeaux that produces some of the world's most expensive wines.
● The family's public holdings include stakes in Keurig Dr. Pepper, Kraft Heinz and
Peet's Coffee owner JDE Peet's.

James Clark
$3.8B
● Jim Clark cofounded the Netscape browser and has since multiplied his wealth
through timely tech investments.
● The former Stanford professor got in early on Apple, Facebook, Twitter and Palantir.
● Clark is married to Kristy Hinze, a former Victoria's Secret and Sports Illustrated
model.
● An ocean lover, his yachts include the 300-foot sailing yacht Athena and the 138-foot
sloop Hanuman.

Hubert Burda
$3.8B
● Known for his glamorous lifestyle, Hubert Burda inherited and ran his family's media
company for over 20 years before handing over management of the company to
Paul-Bernhard Kallen in 2010. Hubert Burda is now a member of the board of
directors.
● He has transferred Burda Media shares to his two children, Elisabeth and Jacob
(each now hold 37.4% of the company).
● However, because "rights of usufruct" entitle Hubert to receive economic benefits
from those shares, Forbes attributes the ownership to him.
● Burda Media's portfolio consists of 500 media products in 14 countries, including
Focus and Bunte and the German editions of Harper's Bazaar, ELLE and InStyle.
● While continuing to invest in its magazine business, the group has built up its digital
business, which now accounts for well over half of sales.

Renzo Rosso & family

$3.7B
● Renzo Rosso owns denim powerhouse Diesel plus designer brands Maison
Margiela, Viktor & Rolf and Marni through his Only the Brave holding company.
● Rosso got his start at age 15, when he borrowed his mother's sewing machine and
made his first piece of clothing: a pair of bell-bottoms.
● He later joined denim guru Adriano Goldschmied at an Italian manufacturing
company called Moltex, which he renamed Diesel in 1978.
● Seven years later, he bought out Goldschmied's stake and positioned Diesel as an
upscale choice for denim.
● His family's investment vehicle, Red Circle, owns stakes in everything from mobile
app companies to eyewear manufacturers.

John Middleton
$3.7B
● John Middleton made his fortune selling his family's storied tobacco business to
Philip Morris' parent, Altria, in 2007 for $2.9 billion in cash.
● The original business, John Middleton Inc., was founded as a small retail tobacco
shop in Philadelphia in 1856 by his great-great-grandfather.
● The company began manufacturing cigarettes in the 1950s and launched the Black &
Mild cigar brand in 1980.
● Middleton bought out his relatives' stakes in the company in 2003 for about $200
million amid tobacco lawsuits that threatened to harm the business.
● Middleton has a nearly 50% stake in the Philadelphia Phillies baseball team.

Christiane Schoeller
$3.7B
● Christiane Schoeller is the only child of Holtzbrinck Publishing Group heir Monika
Schoeller, who passed away in 2019. She holds a 50% stake.
● Monika and her brothers, Stefan and Dieter von Holtzbrinck, inherited the business,
which includes Macmillan Publishers, from their father, Georg.
● In 2006, Dieter sold his shares to his siblings, leaving them each with 50% of the
company, originally founded as a book club in 1948.
● Holtzbrinck's venture investments have included many internet and e-commerce
startups, such as Zalando, Groupon, HelloFresh and Rocket Internet.
● Christiane and her partner, a former publisher and designer from Stuttgart, keep a
low profile.

H. Ross Perot, Jr.

$3.7B
● Ross Perot Jr. founded real estate development company Hillwood, whose diversified
portfolio spans 10,809 acres owned or optioned.
● His father, late billionaire presidential candidate Ross Perot Sr., let his son borrow
against his fortune to start his real estate empire.
● Perot Jr.'s Hillwood has developed and acquired over 265 million square feet of
industrial space and 90 residential communities.
● Hillwood also built AllianceTexas, an inland port on 27,000 acres of pasture outside
Fort Worth, which is home to 61,000 employees and 525 companies.
● Hillwood developed Frisco Station, a $1.8 billion, 242-acre mixed-use development in
Frisco, Texas, which opened in 2021.

Alceu Elias Feldmann & family

$3.7B
● Alceu Elias Feldmann is the founder of Fertipar, a Brazilian fertilizer giant with
revenue of $3.9 billion in 2021.
● He and his three children have retained private control of Fertipar's shares.
● Feldmann, armed with a degree in agricultural engineering from the Federal
University of Paraná, founded the company in 1980.
● Feldmann still serves as chairman and president of Fertipar, which operates a dozen
companies across Brazil.
● Feldmann's older son, who shares his name, is a professional race car driver with 13
seasons in Stock Car Brasil.

Euisun Chung
$3.7B
● Euisun Chung was appointed chairman of Hyundai Motor in March 2020, succeeding
his father, Mong-Koo Chung, who retired from the board.
● As president of Kia from 2005 to 2009, Chung grew the subsidiary auto brand faster
than Hyundai Motor.
● A bulk of his fortune is derived from auto parts maker Hyundai Glovis.
● He is the only son of Mong-Koo Chung, who is also a billionaire.

Josh Kushner
$3.6B
● Josh Kushner founded and runs VC firm Thrive Capital, which has backed some of
the past decade's most notable startups, including Instagram, Spotify and Slack.
● Thrive was valued at $5.3 billion in a $175 million funding round in January 2023;
Kushner's stake is estimated to be worth around $3.5 billion.
● Thrive's investors include Disney CEO Bob Iger and a handful of billionaires: Henry
Kravis, Mukesh Ambani, Jorge Paulo Lemann and Xavier Niel.
● Thrive closed its eighth fund, for $3 billion, in early 2022, bringing assets under
management to roughly $16 billion.
● The liberal Kushner cofounded a health insurance company built around Obamacare
before his brother Jared's father-in-law Donald Trump became president.
● Kushner's father, Charles Kushner, built a real estate empire before serving time in
prison for illegal campaign contributions, tax evasion and witness tampering. He was
pardoned by Trump in 2020.

Steven Klinsky
$3.6B
● Steve Klinsky founded the $40 billion (assets) investment firm New Mountain Capital
in 1999.
● Klinsky rose to become one of the top partners at Forstmann Little, an early private
equity titan, before striking out on his own.
● One of the buyout industry's top performers, New Mountain Capital specializes in
private equity, private credit and real estate.
● Its private equity business, known for buying and growing small and midsized
companies through acquisitions, has never had an investment default.
● Klinsky's wife, Maureen Sherry, is a former Bear Stearns banker who, in 2016,
published "Opening Belle," a fictionalized account of a woman navigating crisis-era
Wall Street.

Jayshree Ullal
$3.6B
● Jayshree Ullal has been president and CEO of Arista Networks, a computer
networking firm, since 2008.
● The publicly-traded company recorded revenue of nearly $4.4 billion in 2022.
● She is on the board of directors of Snowflake, a cloud computing company that went
public in September 2020.
● Ullal owns about 3.4% of Arista's stock, some of which is earmarked for her two
children, niece and nephew.
● Her previous stints were at semiconductor giant Advanced Micro Devices, Fairchild
Semiconductor and software firm Cisco Systems.

Bob Parsons
$3.6B
● The colorful founder of GoDaddy, Bob Parsons sold off his remaining stake in the
web hosting firm and stepped down from the board in 2018.
● Parsons grew up "poor as a church mouse" in inner-city Baltimore and struggled in
school, flunking the fifth grade.
● He sold software firm Parsons Technology to Intuit for $64 million in 1994; three
years later, he launched Jomax Technologies, later renamed GoDaddy.
● In 2014, Parsons founded PXG, which makes high-performance golf equipment and
apparel.
● He also owns commercial real estate, motorcycle dealerships, a production company
and the Scottsdale National Golf Club in Arizona.
● Parsons and his wife have given away nearly $300 million to charities since 2012.

Maurizio Billi
$3.6B
● Maurizio Billi is president of Eurofarma, a Brazil-based pharmaceutical firm that sells
generic versions of drugs such as Viagra.
● Eurofarma was founded by his father in 1972 and became one of the largest
pharmaceutical companies in Brazil, with more than $1.5 billion in revenues.
● Eurofarma expanded to Central and South America by acquiring medical suppliers,
labs and other pharmaceutical companies.
● The company has operations in 22 countries and employs more than 11,000 people.

Jon Yarbrough
$3.6B
● Jon Yarbrough started Video Gaming Technologies, which produced casino games,
in 1991.
● The business grew due to the proliferation of tribal casinos; Yarbrough says he's
worked with around 35 tribes in 100-plus locations over the years.
● Yarbrough sold his company to Australian firm Aristocrat Leisure in 2014 for about
$1.3 billion.
● These days he manages his investments, which include real estate and tech stocks,
through his family office Yarbrough Capital.

Lee Seo-hyun
$3.6B
● Lee Seo-hyun oversees the Samsung Welfare Foundation, a charity founded by her
late father Lee Kun-hee, former chair of Samsung Electronics.
● She also heads the advisory board at The Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art in Seoul.
● In December 2018, she stepped down as president of the group's fashion division,
Samsung C&T, a post she held for three years.
● She joined Samsung Group's Cheil Industries as a manager in 2002, after graduating
from the Parsons School of Design in New York.

John Gandel
$3.6B
● John Gandel owns half of the southern hemisphere's largest shopping mall,
Chadstone, with more than 500 stores in eastern Melbourne.
● He also has a big stake in listed property trust Vicinity Centres, which owns the other
half of Chadstone, plus other malls and outlets.
● He first got rich by expanding his Polish immigrant parents' clothing chain for women,
Sussan, now owned by his niece, Naomi Milgrom.
● He made most of his wealth from the shopping malls he bought from Myer
department stores for $37 million in the 1980s.
● Gandel owns Point Leo Estate in the state of Victoria, which has a 50-acre vineyard
and a sculpture park with 60 works.

José João Abdalla Filho

$3.5B
● José João Abdalla Filho is the son of J. J. Abdalla, a Brazilian entrepreneur and
politician who built a real estate and textile company.
● In the 1950s, the group his father led became one the largest manufacturers of
cement in the country, employing over 40,000 people.
● Abdalla Filho used the money he inherited to open Banco Clássico, which owns
stakes in a number of Brazilian companies.
● His Banco Clássico owns 5% of Eletrobras, Brazil's largest electric utility, and almost
7% of Cemig, an energy giant that owns over 200 companies.

Jack Cowin
$3.5B
● Canadian-born fast-food mogul Jack Cowin built his fortune on burgers, fried chicken
and pizza.
● He founded and chairs Sydney-based Competitive Foods Australia, which operates
Burger King's Australian franchise as Hungry Jack's.
● The franchise boasts more than 440 stores and a food-processing division.
● Cowin is also the top shareholder of Domino's Pizza Enterprises, the listed Australian
franchisee of the U.S. parent company.
● Cowin owns a plant-based meat substitute business called v2food.

Hans-Peter Wild
$3.5B
● Hans-Peter Wild sold the last of a WILD Flavors stake to agricultural processing giant
Archer-Daniels Midland in 2014 for about $3 billion in cash.
● His father founded WILD Flavors in 1931 and the company grew into a leading
supplier of flavors and extracts, sweeteners, and fermentation technology.
● He worked for a marketer of mineral oil and chemicals before joining the family
business in 1974 and helping to expand its portfolio.
● Wild still owns Capri Sun, the famed fruit juice brand that originated in the 1960s.
● Today Capri Sun is consumed in more than 100 countries and generates an
estimated annual revenue of $500 million.

Norman Braman
$3.5B
● Norman Braman owns one of Florida's largest car dealerships, Braman Motorcars,
which has more than $2 billion in annual revenue.
● Braman made his first fortune selling pharmaceuticals and cosmetics.
● Born in Philadelphia to immigrant parents, he was a water boy for the Eagles, a team
he bought in 1985 and sold in 1994 for a $120 million profit.
● An avid art collector, he helped bring the prestigious Swiss art fair Art Basel to Miami
in 2002.
● He and his wife funded the construction of Miami's Institute for Contemporary Art, a
free museum which opened in 2017.

Amos Hostetter, Jr.

$3.5B
● Amos Hostetter Jr. made a fortune in the 1990s as cable TV pioneer and now is most
active in philanthropy.
● He set out with an MBA and $1,500 in the 1960s to invest in a cable TV company
that eventually became Continental Cablevision.
● He sold it to US West for $11 billion in 1996.
● His family's Barr Foundation donates tens of millions of dollars each year to support
the arts and education and fight climate change.
● Hostetter also runs Pilot House Ventures, an early-stage investment firm.

Susan Carol Holland

$3.5B
● Susan Carol Holland is the chair of the board of Milan-based Amplifon, the world's
largest retailer of hearing aids.
● Amplifon was founded in 1955 by her father, British-born Algernon Charles Holland,
to provide hearing care for people injured in World War II.
● Her father served in the British Special Operations Executive during the war,
receiving the honor of Member of the Order of the British Empire.
● Amplifon developed digital hearing aids in the 1990s and entered the North American
market with the acquisition of Miracle-Ear in 1990.
● Algernon died in 2001, the same year Amplifon went public on the Italian Stock
Exchange; Susan took over as chair in 2011.
Fernand Huts
$3.4B
● Fernand Huts controls Katoen Natie, an Antwerp-based logistics business with more
than 350 companies worldwide that employs 20,000 people.
● Huts, who collects archeological textiles, is also involved in politics and was elected
to the Belgian parliament in 1995.
● Over time, Huts bought out 19 partners to assume control of the company.
● In 2005, Huts grouped all its activities under Luxembourg-based KN Holding.

Arnon Milchan
$3.4B
● Arnon Milchan owns film and TV production company New Regency Enterprises.
● New Regency has produced hits like Pretty Woman, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, The
Revenant, Birdman and Bohemian Rhapsody.
● Milchan transformed his family's bankrupt fertilizer company, which he took over in
1962 at the age of 21, into a $125 million business.
● He was a business student, professional soccer player and consultant for weapons
systems between Israeli Defense Forces and U.S. defense contractors.
● Milchan has been ensnared in the corruption probe into Israeli prime minister
Benjamin Netanyanhu, but will reportedly not be charged with wrongdoing.

Walter Frey
$3.4B
● Walter Frey inherited his father's auto dealership group. In 1926, Emil Frey opened
an automotive repair shop that became the Emil Frey Group.
● The company is now the largest auto dealer in Europe with operations in service,
dealerships and financing.
● Like his father, Walter was an accomplished race car driver. Walter controls the
company but his interests also extend to politics and sports.
● He served in the Swiss parliament from 1987 to 2001; he is also president of Zurich
ice hockey club ZSC Lions.
● He once held a 50% stake in now-defunct free weekly Zurich newspaper Zuri-Woche,
and sat on the board of Swiss pharmaceuticals giant Roche.

Michael Latifi
$3.4B
● Michael Latifi is the founder and owner of Sofina Foods, a $4.8 billion (estimated
revenue) meat processing giant based in Canada.
● He also owns a 10% stake in McLaren's Formula 1 team, which he bought in 2018
for about $270 million.
● Latifi was born in Iran but his family left Iran for Canada when he was a teenager; his
first job was flipping burgers at a McDonald's.
● Today, the Markham Canada-based Sofina Foods owns prominent brands like
Lilydale, Mastro and Janes, and has more than 13,000 employees worldwide.

Rodney Sacks & family

$3.4B
● Rodney Sacks is chairman and CEO of energy drink maker Monster Beverage
Corporation.
● Sacks and Monster's co-CEO Hilton Schlosberg, are native South Africans. They
bought the drink company Hansen Natural in 1990.
● Hansen's Natural launched the Monster brand energy drink in 2002 and the company
changed its name to Monster Beverage in 2012.
● In June 2015, Coca-Cola bought a 16.7% stake in Monster Beverage for $2.15 billion
in cash and opened its global distribution arm to Monster.
● Coca-Cola and Monster went into arbitration in 2018 after Coca-Cola decided to
develop two energy drinks. Coca-Cola ultimately won.

Hilton Schlosberg & family

$3.4B
● Hilton Schlosberg and fellow billionaire Rodney Sacks run Monster Beverage, known
for its energy drinks.
● The duo started off in 1990 by buying soda maker Hansen's Natural. Twelve years
later, they introduced Monster Energy.
● In June 2015, Coca-Cola bought a 16.7% stake in Monster Beverage for $2.15 billion
in cash and opened its global distribution arm to Monster.
● Coca-Cola and Monster went into arbitration in 2018 after Coca-Cola decided to
develop two energy drinks. Coca-Cola ultimately won.
● Schlosberg is Monster's vice chairman and co-CEO; Sacks is the chairman and
co-CEO.

Laurence Graff & family

$3.4B
● Graff Diamonds International chairman Laurence Graff operates at the top of the
diamond jewelry market, with more than 60 retail stores worldwide.
● Graff clients have included Donald Trump, Oprah Winfrey, Larry Ellison, Elizabeth
Taylor and the Sultan of Brunei.
● He built his business from nothing, after dropping out of school at 14 and scrubbing
toilets as a jeweler's apprentice in London's Hatton Garden.
● He owns a polished diamond trading firm in Switzerland, real estate in London's
Mayfair district and a stake in a S. African diamond wholesaler.
● He also owns Delaire Graff Estate, a vineyard and winery with a boutique hotel and
restaurant in Stellenbosch, the Napa Valley of South Africa.
Jonathan Nelson
$3.4B
● Jonathan Nelson is the executive chairman of Providence Equity Partners, the
private equity firm he founded in 1989. He was CEO until January 2021.
● Providence has invested in more than 170 companies, many in the media,
communications, education and information industries.
● The firm sold scuba-diving certification company PADI in 2017 for over $700 million,
three times its initial investment.
● In 2021, Providence sextupled its 2007 investment of $300 million in video game
developer ZeniMax Media, which Microsoft acquired for $7.5 billion.
● Nelson serves as a trustee of Rockefeller University and on the board of the Institute
for Advanced Study.

Stewart Rahr
$3.4B
● Stewart Rahr expanded Kinray, a pharmaceutical distributor his father founded in
1944, and sold it to Cardinal Health in 2010 for $1.3 billion.
● Rahr is known for his extravagant lifestyle, which he funds through conservative
investments in private equity, hedge funds and natural resources.
● After getting a bachelor's degree in history at NYU, he briefly attended NYU Law
before dropping out to run the family business.
● He has a sizable art collection that includes works by Picasso, Damien Hirst, Jeff
Koons and Alexander Calder.
● He has donated over $25 million to Make-A-Wish, a nation-wide nonprofit that grants
the wishes of critically ill children.

David Murdock
$3.4B
● David Murdock is the former chairman of Dole Food Products.
● He stepped down from Dole's board in 2021 ahead of the company's IPO after over
35 years in charge.
● After a stint in the army during World War II, he made a small profit buying and
selling a diner; later, he developed property in Arizona.
● Through Castle & Cooke Holdings, he owns a collection of residential and
commercial properties in Arizona, California and Hawaii.
● He has a collection of Arabian horses.

Alexandre Van Damme

$3.4B
● Alexandre van Damme is the richest heir of the Piedboeuf family, which created the
Jupiler beer brand.
● Under family control, Jupiler merged with its main competitor Artois, to form InBev.
● After a series of mergers including Anheuser-Busch, Modelo and SABMiller, the
company became ABInBev, the world's largest brewery.
● The various branches of the family still control about 23% of ABInBev through
Luxembourg-based EPS.

Catheline Perier D’Ieteren

$3.3B
● Catheline Perier D'Ieteren and her late brother, Roland, are the great great
grandchildren of Jean-Joseph D'Ieteren, who founded the D'Ieteren company in
1805.
● The group's portfolio includes five businesses ranging from automobile distribution to
real estate and glass repair.
● The Group owns D'Ieteren Auto, which exclusively distributes Volkswagen, Audi,
Lamborghini, Bugatti and Porsche in Belgium.
● The business has been in the family for seven generations. Catheline's son, Olivier
Perier, is currently deputy chairman.

Stewart Horejsi & family

$3.3B
● Stewart Horejsi began buying stock in Berkshire Hathaway for as little as $265 per
share after reading John Train's "The Money Masters" in 1980.
● He attended annual meetings when they were fewer than a dozen people in folding
chairs; now Berkshire's class A stock is the world's most valuable.
● After graduating from the University of Kansas in 1962, Horejsi returned home to
Salina, Kansas to take over his family's welding supply company.
● He expanded the business, investing profits in Berkshire Hathaway stock, and has
spent much of his life managing his family's money.
● Horejsi (pronounced hor-ish) still owns some Berkshire shares, but has also put
hundreds of millions of dollars into his own closed-end mutual fund.

Kevin David Lehmann

$3.3B
● Kevin David Lehmann owns 50% of Germany's leading drugstore chain, dm (drogerie
markt), which brings in over $14 billion in annual revenue.
● The company got its start in 1973 when Goetz Werner opened his first shop in
Karlsruhe, Germany. Today, dm has some 3,700 locations.
● In 1974, Kevin David Lehmann's father, Guenther, then running his family's
Pfannkuch grocery chain, invested in dm.
● Guenther quietly transferred ownership of his 50% dm stake to Kevin David in 2017.
● Neither Kevin David nor his father have been operationally involved in dm. Little is
known about them.

N. Murray Edwards
$3.3B
● N. Murray Edwards derives much of his fortune from stakes in Canadian oil and
mining companies.
● His largest investments include oil sands miner Canadian Natural Resources,
aerospace firm Magellan and a minority stake in the NHL's Calgary Flames.
● A lawyer by training, Edwards made the jump to business at age 28 after promising a
dying friend that he would always pursue his passions.
● He started a merchant bank with partners in the late 1980's, but they spent half their
initial capital on digging a natural gas well that came up dry.
● Edwards then switched gears and diversified from exploration to investing in existing
oil and gas assets.

Joesley Batista
$3.3B
● Joesley Batista is one of two billionaire brothers who control publicly traded JBS S.A.,
one of the world's largest meat processing companies.
● Their father, José Batista Sobrinho, started the business with a small butcher shop in
Anápolis, in central Brazil. It grew by acquiring slaughterhouses in the region.
● Joesley and his brother Wesley took control of JBS in the 2000s, leading to its 2007
acquisition of U.S. pork and beef processor Swift & Co. for $225 million.
● He led the international expansion of JBS and its main agricultural business, which
became one of the biggest in Brazil.
● In 2017, Joesley was arrested as part of a large Brazilian bribery probe and
reportedly held for six months.
● In May 2017, the brothers agreed to pay a $3.2 billion fine to Brazilian authorities
because of their role in a large corruption scandal.

Wesley Batista
$3.3B
● Wesley Batista is one of two billionaire brothers who control publicly traded JBS S.A.,
one of the world's largest meat processing companies.
● Their father, José Batista Sobrinho, founded a small butcher shop in central Brazil in
1953. It grew by acquiring slaughterhouses in the region.
● Wesley and his brother Joesley took control in the 2000s, leading JBS's 2007
acquisition of U.S. pork and beef processor Swift & Co. for $225 million.
● His son, Wesley Batista Filho, became a director in the company's U.S. division in
May 2023.
● In 2017, Wesley was arrested as part of a large Brazilian bribery probe and
reportedly held for six months.
● In May 2017, the brothers agreed to pay a $3.2 billion fine to Brazilian authorities to
atone for their role in a large corruption scandal.

Lutz Mario Helmig & family

$3.3B
● Lutz Mario Helmig, a doctor by training, is well known in Germany for having founded
the company that became Helios Hospital Group.
● In 2005, Helmig sold Helios to competitor Fresenius for $2 billion.
● His family investment firm, Aton AG, is active in four segments: engineering, mining,
medical and aviation.
● Helmig owns 60% of Aton, which is based in Munich. The remaining 40% is held by
his wife and two daughters.
● Aton owns 66% of EDAG Engineering Group, spun off from Aton in a 2015 IPO.

Gérald Frère
$3.3B
● Gérald Frère is the son of the late Albert Frère, the billionaire industrialist who died in
2018 at age 92.
● Albert Frère, who was the richest person in Belgium, turned his family's scrap-metal
business into a media, utilities and oil empire.
● Albert Frère's business interests included Groupe Bruxelles Lambert (GBL bank),
insurer Royale Belge, Petrofina and Tractebel before he began slowly selling some of
his assets later in his career.
● Gérald Frère invests his assets with his new Frère-Bourgeois Holding, which is
managed by his son, Cédric.

John Arnold
$3.3B
● John Arnold shocked the hedge fund world in 2012 when, at just 38 years old, he
announced he would no longer manage other people's money.
● A hugely successful energy trader, Arnold once worked at Enron, earning the
disgraced company a reported $750 million the year it went bankrupt.
● From its ashes, Arnold built his own hedge fund, Centaurus Advisors.
● In recent years, Arnold has invested in solar farms and deepwater oil developments
in the Gulf of Mexico.
● He and his wife Laura's Arnold Ventures focuses on reforming criminal justice, higher
education, health, infrastructure and public finance.

Jane Lauder
$3.3B
● Jane Lauder, granddaughter of cosmetics legend Estée Lauder, is an executive vice
president and chief data officer at Estée Lauder.
● Lauder joined Estée Lauder in 1996, a year after graduating from Stanford University.
She previously managed the company's Clinique and Origins brands.
● Estée Lauder, which her grandmother cofounded in 1946, now has over 20 brands
and revenues of $17.7 billion.
● Jane Lauder has served on Estée Lauder's board of directors since 2009.
● In 2018, she joined the board of Eventbrite, the ticketing and event technology
company.
Sunny Varkey
$3.3B
● Son of Indian expat teachers, who migrated to Dubai in 1959, Sunny Varkey controls
GEMS Education, the world's largest operator of K-12 schools.
● The private education firm secured CVC Capital Partners as its key investor in 2019.
● Sons Dino and Jay run GEMS as CEO and group executive director, respectively.
● Sunil Munjal, who belongs to the Indian two-wheeler Munjal clan, has a minority
stake in GEMS.

Frank VanderSloot
$3.3B
● Frank VanderSloot founded and runs Melaleuca, which makes more than 450
products ranging from health supplements to eco-friendly household cleaners.
● Melaleuca sells them direct from the factory to more than one million consumers
every month through its online store.
● Born into a poor farming family, he ran the farm while his father worked a railroad job,
then lived in a laundromat to pay his way through school.
● He is a major landowner -- with an estimated 117,500 acres across Idaho, Utah and
Montana -- and he runs a leading purebred angus cattle operation.
● He is also an active political donor, giving millions to Republicans. He was a national
finance co-chair for Mitt Romney's two presidential bids.

Robert Johnson
$3.3B
● Robert "Woody" Johnson's great-grandfather, Robert Wood Johnson, founded health
products giant Johnson & Johnson in 1886, providing the world with dental floss and
first-aid kits.
● His grandfather, nicknamed The General, left the bulk of the family wealth to the
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The rest went to Johnson, his siblings and other
family members.
● Woody spent four years as Donald Trump's ambassador to the UK, returning in 2021
to help manage the family assets, which include stock in their namesake company
and the New York Jets.
● He purchased the Jets in 2000 for $635 million, then the third-highest price ever paid
for a professional sports team. Now it is worth an estimated $6.1 billion.
● A 2017 government ethics disclosure indicated that Johnson has assets of at least
$1.7 billion outside of the Jets.

Daniel Loeb
$3.3B
● Daniel Loeb is the founder of Third Point, a New York-based hedge fund launched in
1995 that manages $12 billion.
● Loeb is known for launching activist campaigns against corporate boards, shaking up
companies in various industries and countries.
● Despite briefly enlisting a co-chief investment officer in 2019, Loeb, who also serves
as Third Point's CEO, reassumed the role of sole CIO in 2020.
● The Margaret and Daniel Loeb Foundation supports Alzheimer's research, education
reform and LGBT rights.
● A 1983 graduate of Columbia University, Loeb endows a namesake scholarship for
undergraduate study there.

Jean Coutu & family

$3.3B
● The billionaire in the white lab coat, Jean Coutu founded the Canadian drugstore
chain that bears his name.
● In 2017, Coutu agreed to sell the publicly-traded company to European supermarket
giant Metro for $4.5 billion in cash and stock.
● Son of a pediatrician, he opened his first pharmacy in 1969, offering low prices, good
customer service and extended hours.
● Coutu, who was chief executive until 2002 and then again from 2005 to 2007, grew
The Jean Coutu Group by acquiring many of his competitors.
● The company was once a leading shareholder of U.S. drug store operator Rite Aid
but sold the last of its stake in 2013.

August Troendle
$3.3B
● August Troendle is the CEO of Medpace, a clinical research company he founded in
Cincinnati, Ohio in 1992; he owns about 24% of the stock.
● Medpace conducts clinical trials for pharmaceutical companies seeking to bring
drugs, vaccines or medical devices to market.
● Before starting Medpace, Troendle spent five years as a director at Swiss pharma
company Sandoz, now known as Novartis.
● He also briefly worked as a medical review officer at the FDA's division of metabolic
and endocrine drug products from 1986 to 1987.
● A doctor with an M.D. from the University of Maryland, Troendle has also served on
the boards of several public and private healthcare companies.

Isabella Seràgnoli
$3.3B
● Isabella Seràgnoli is the sole shareholder of Coesia, one of the world's largest
packaging firms, with operations ranging from cigarettes to cosmetics.
● Coesia started out as a motorcycle production firm named G.D. in 1923 and was
taken over by her father, Enzo, in the late 1930s.
● The firm moved into packaging in the 1950s, initially for confectionery and soap,
when Enzo's brother Ariosto invented an automatic wrapping machine.
● G.D. took off in the 1960s with the invention of the cigarette packing machine
4350/Pack, making it the dominant supplier in the tobacco industry.
● Isabella took over in 2002 and renamed the firm Coesia in 2005; she has diversified
her fortune by investing in private equity and public stocks.

Serge Godin
$3.3B
● Serge Godin is chairman of Canadian tech firm CGI Group, which he founded in
1976 at age 26.
● One of nine children, Godin started working for his father (who had just a fifth-grade
education) at the family's sawmill at age 12.
● He studied computer science and got an MBA from Quebec's Université Laval, then
worked in consulting before using $5,000 in savings to start CGI.
● Godin serves as chairman of the $10 billion (revenue) company; he was president
and CEO until 2006.
● He has overseen more than 105 acquisitions, including the 1998 purchase of Bell
Sygma, which nearly doubled the size of the company at the time.

Michael Jordan
$3.2B
● Regarded by many as the NBA's greatest player of all-time, Michael Jordan won six
titles with the Chicago Bulls.
● His salary during his career totaled $90 million, but he has earned $2.4 billion
(pre-tax) from such corporate partners as Nike, Hanes and Gatorade.
● MJ joined sports-betting firm DraftKings as a special advisor to the board and an
investor in September 2020.
● He also became a NASCAR team co-owner in late 2020.
● Jordan sold his majority stake in the Charlotte Hornets in 2023, a deal that valued the
NBA franchise at $3 billion.

Todd Christopher
$3.2B
● A high school dropout, Todd Christopher founded hair care products company Vogue
International in 1987.
● Christopher sold a stake to the Carlyle Group in 2014. Two years later, they sold the
company to Johnson & Johnson for $3.3 billion.
● Before the sale, Vogue International borrowed several hundred million dollars and
made a $400 million distribution to Christopher.
● Vogue International owns hair care brands like OGX and Maui Moisture.
● Christopher has trademarked phrases including Vitamin & Herbal Indulgence, Hair
Prescriptions, Beach Bum Gear, Ego Trip and Shampurity.

Hortensia Herrero
$3.2B
● Hortensia Herrero owns nearly 28% of Mercadona, the Spanish supermarket chain
she helped build with her husband Juan Roig (also a billionaire).
● Herrero, who serves as vice president, was part of the group that bought the
company from Roig's father back in 1981, when it had 8 small stores.
● Herrero and Roig's four daughters are board members of Mercadona; Roig's brother
Fernando is also a shareholder and billionaire.
● Mercadona, which is privately owned, has about 1,700 stores, mostly in Spain, and
employs 104,000 people.
● The company shares 25% of its pretax profit with employees.

Otto Happel
$3.2B
● Otto Happel, who studied engineering, inherited his father's dust-removal business
and turned it into thermal engineering firm GEA.
● In 1999, he sold his 50.1% GEA stake to Germany's MG Technologies for around
$775 million in cash and kept a 10% interest in the combined group.
● In 2005, the company renamed itself GEA Group. Happel cashed out in 2006, selling
his remaining stake to institutional investors for $700 million.
● In 2015, he attended the World Economic Forum in his role as chairman of the Swiss
private wealth management firm Luserve AG.

Stephen Deckoff
$3.2B
● Stephen Deckoff founded Black Diamond Capital Management, which manages $10
billion in assets.
● Prior to launching Black Diamond in 1995, Deckoff worked his way up at different
firms, becoming senior vice president of Kidder, Peabody & Co.
● A resident of the U.S. Virgin Islands, Deckoff donates to various community
organizations in the territory.
● He also owns multi-million dollar properties in Colorado and New York City, and a
Beverly Hills mansion previously owned by the Latsis shipping family.

George Bishop
$3.2B
● George Bishop founded oil and gas producer GeoSouthern Energy in 1981.
● In one of the biggest scores of the oil boom, GeoSouthern sold its south Texas fields
to Devon Energy in 2013 for $6 billion.
● In 2015, Bishop redeployed some capital into a shale natural gas play in Louisiana in
a JV with Blackstone Credit called GEP Haynesville.
● He sold his stake in GEP Haynesville in 2021, when Southwestern Energy acquired
the company for $1.85 billion.
● Bishop reportedly owns Chub Cay, a 29-room resort in the Bahamas with a yacht
marina that can accommodate up to 160 yachts.
J. Tomilson Hill
$3.2B
● Mergers and acquisitions maven J. Tomilson "Tom" Hill started off his career at
investment bank First Boston, where he cofounded the M&A department.
● Hill later became a partner at Lehman Brothers in the 1980s, where he befriended
Blackstone cofounders Peter Peterson and Stephen Schwarzman.
● In 1993, after being ousted as co-CEO at Lehman, he joined Peterson and
Schwarzman at Blackstone, their growing private equity firm.
● Hill, who took over Blackstone's hedge fund group in 2000 and became vice
chairman in 2007, stepped down from his position in January 2019.
● He now heads Hill Art Foundation and is CEO of hedge fund Two Sigma's real estate
business and chairman of its private investment business.

Bill Austin
$3.2B
● Bill Austin owns Starkey Hearing Technologies, the largest hearing aid manufacturer
in the U.S.
● He bought a hearing aid parts shop, which was then called Starkey Labs, for $13,000
in 1970.
● Austin fired several top executives of Starkey Hearing in 2015, a tumultuous time for
the company.
● That move unleashed a series of events that resulted in the former company
president being found guilty of federal fraud charges in 2018.
● Austin spends much of his time traveling to developing countries for his Starkey
Hearing Foundation, distributing hearing aids.

William Wrigley, Jr.

$3.2B
● William "Beau" Wrigley Jr. is an heir to the Wrigley's chewing gum fortune.
● In 1999, he took over the business his great-grandfather started in 1891.
● Wrigley Jr., who was CEO, expanded the company in 2005 by purchasing Altoids
and Life Savers from Kraft Foods for $1.46 billion.
● In 2008, he sold the Chicago-based firm to candy giant Mars Inc. for $23 billion in
cash.
● Wrigley became CEO of cannabis product-maker Parallel in 2018.
● A 2021 SPAC deal to take Parallel public fell through and Wrigley stepped down as
CEO. The company is now embroiled in lawsuits waged by investors.

Nicolas Berggruen
$3.2B
● The son of a wealthy art collector, Nicolas Berggruen was born in Paris and moved to
the U.S. to attend New York University.
● He first worked in real estate for Bass Brothers Enterprises before founding
Berggruen Holdings in 1985 to manage his investments.
● In 1988, he cofounded Alpha Investment Management, a fund of hedge funds
operation that was sold to Safra Bank in 2004 for an undisclosed amount.
● His Berggruen Holdings owns office buildings and apartments in Berlin, Germany;
Portland, Oregon and Albany, New York.
● He is the founder and chairman of The Berggruen Institute, a think tank focused on
developing ideas for the future of democracy and capitalism.

Alicia Koplowitz
$3.2B
● In the early 1960s, Alicia Koplowitz inherited a stake in Spanish construction
company Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas after her father died.
● She sold her stake to sister Esther for $800 million in 1997 and put the money into
diverse investments.
● Over the years she's invested in steelmaker Acerinox, electric utility Iberdrola, and
Banco Sabadell.
● Koplowitz owns hotels in Italy and Miami, real estate in Washington, D.C. and
Chicago, as well as a stake in Hospes, a Spanish luxury hotel chain.
● Her charitable foundation sends Spanish fellows to study child psychiatry in England
and the U.S. at Columbia University, Stanford and others.

Brian Acton
$3.1B
● Computer engineer Brian Acton cofounded messaging app WhatsApp with Jan Koum
in 2007; the two had met while working at Yahoo.
● The pair sold WhatsApp to Facebook for $22 billion in cash and stock in 2014. Acton
left WhatsApp at the end of 2017.
● Acton received about $3 billion for his stake in WhatsApp. The mobile messaging
app has over 2 billion users in 180 countries.
● In 2018, he committed $50 million to Signal Foundation - the nonprofit behind the
signal mobile app focused on preserving private communication.
● Acton and wife Tegan have also founded three other philanthropic entities. In total,
the couple holds over $1 billion in charitable vehicles.

Meg Whitman
$3.1B
● Meg Whitman is best known for taking eBay from $5.7 million to $8 billion in sales as
CEO from 1998 to 2008.
● Whitman currently serves as the United States ambassador to Kenya; she was
confirmed by the Senate as ambassador in July 2022.
● She was CEO of Hewlett-Packard from 2011 to 2015, where she oversaw its split into
HP Inc. and Hewlett Packard Enterprise.
● She stepped down as HPE's chief executive in February 2018. She sat on the boards
of Procter & Gamble and General Motors before becoming an ambassador.
● Whitman was CEO of the defunct short form video platform Quibi, which shuttered in
October 2020, just seven months after it launched.

Byron Trott
$3.1B
● Byron D. Trott is chairman and co-CEO of merchant bank BDT & MSD Partners.
● In January 2023, Trott merged his company BDT & Co. with MSD Partners, an
investment firm that manages the wealth of Michael Dell, his family and other
like-mind investors.
● He started BDT in 2009 after nearly 30 years at Goldman Sachs, where he had
started out as stock broker and eventually rose to become vice chairman of
investment banking.
● Trott's closely held BDT has provided advice and capital to family and founder-led
companies including ones owned by such billionaires as Dennis Washington and
Shahid Khan.
● Trott serves on the board of trustees at his alma mater, the University of Chicago.

David Blitzer
$3.1B
● David Blitzer runs the tactical opportunities group at alternative investment giant
Blackstone.
● In 2011, he joined forces with Apollo Global's Joshua Harris to buy the Philadelphia
76ers. They later added the New Jersey Devils and English soccer club Crystal
Palace to their holdings.
● Blitzer also owns a stake in MLB's Cleveland Guardians, and he co-owns MLS's Real
Salt Lake alongside Qualtrics cofounder Ryan Smith.
● Blitzer joined Harris' ownership group that purchased the Washington Commanders
for $6.05 billion in 2023.

Ségolène Gallienne
$3.1B
● Ségolène Gallienne is the daughter of the late Albert Frère, the billionaire industrialist
who died in 2018 at age 92.
● Albert Frère, who was the richest person in Belgium, turned his family's scrap-metal
business into a media, utilities and oil empire.
● Albert Frère's business interests included Groupe Bruxelles Lambert (GBL bank),
insurer Royale Belge, Petrofina and Tractebel before he began slowly selling off
assets later in his career.
● Gallienne is not involved in the management of her holding company but her
husband Ian Gallienne is the CEO of key participation GBL.
Katharina Otto-Bernstein
$3.1B
● Writer and filmmaker Katharina Otto-Bernstein is the daughter of late Werner Otto,
who turned his mail-order business in Hamburg into a global empire.
● She inherited a minority stake in Otto Group and its more than 40 companies in retail
(Crate and Barrel), real estate and financial services.
● She's also a shareholder of ECE, the family's commercial real estate company
focused on shopping centers. Her brother Alexander is CEO.
● She, her mother Maren and brother Alexander share a 15% stake in Paramount
Group, which owns and manages office properties in the U.S.

Frank Fertitta III

$3.1B
● Frank Fertitta III and his brother, Lorenzo, made the bulk of their fortune through
mixed martial arts promoter UFC.
● The brothers bought UFC for $2 million in 2001; it sold to an investment group led by
WME/IMG for $4 billion in 2016.
● They sold their remaining stakes in UFC in August 2017 at a $5 billion valuation.
● The Fertittas took their casino business, Red Rock Resorts, public in 2016. It was
founded by their father.
● They each pledged $7.5 million in 2016 to NYU's Stern School of Business for a
scholarship for veterans.

Howard Schultz
$3.1B
● Howard Schultz took charge of Starbucks in the 1980s and turned a regional coffee
company into one of the world's top brands.
● Schultz expanded Starbucks from 11 stores to more than 35,000 worldwide and
made it a social hub for many Americans.
● He served three stints as CEO, most recently stepping down in early 2023.
● Schultz explored a 2020 presidential bid, but said in September 2019 that he would
not run because it would risk the re-election of Donald Trump.
● His Schultz Family Foundation invests in training and hiring veterans and youths,
helping veterans ensure a smooth transition back into civilian life.
● Through his VC firm Maveron Capital, Schultz invests in other consumer businesses
such as Groupon, Madison Reed, Allbirds and Lucy.

Catherine Lozick
$3.1B
● Catherine Lozick inherited an estimated 65% stake in Swagelok, a valve-making
business her father, Fred Lennon, cofounded in 1947.
● Lennon (d. 1998) started Swagelok with a $500 loan; he first appeared on the Forbes
400 list of richest Americans in 1990.
● Lennon left his son, John Lennon, a much smaller inheritance ($25 million) than his
daughter.
● John's son William sued Lozick and her trustees in 2002, exposing the details of the
family's finances.
● Lozick settled the suit, agreeing to pay each of Lennon's grandchildren an additional
$1.25 million.

Tomás Olivo Lopez

$3.1B
● Tomás Olivo Lopez owns nearly all of General de Galerías Comerciales, a chain of
shopping centers in Spain.
● His company has developed six shopping malls in the Andalucia and Catalonia
regions of the country.
● He began buying land outside of Marbella in the 1990s and built his first shopping
mall, Parque Comercial La Canada, on that land.

Thomas Tull
$3B
● Former film financier and founder of production company Legendary Entertainment,
Thomas Tull's biggest hits came from backing blockbusters.
● In January 2015, Tull inked a deal with Chinese billionaire Wang Jianlin's Wanda
Group to buy Legendary for up to $3.5 billion in cash, stock and debt.
● Tull stepped down as CEO of Legendary in January 2016 to concentrate on his Tull
Investment Group which has invested in the likes of Magic Leap.
● His new investment holding company, Tulco, holds stakes in publicly traded medical
apparel startup Figs and insurance brokerage Acrisure.
● A sports fan, Tull owns a valuable minority stake in the Pittsburgh Steelers and a
collection of baseball memorabilia.

Lorenzo Fertitta
$3B
● Lorenzo Fertitta and his brother, Frank, made the bulk of their fortune through mixed
martial arts promoter UFC.
● They bought UFC for $2 million in 2001; an investment group led by WME/IMG
bought it for $4 billion in 2016.
● They sold their remaining stakes in UFC in August 2017 at a $5 billion valuation.
● The Fertittas took public their casino business, Red Rock Resorts, in 2016. It was
founded by their father.
● They each pledged $7.5 million in 2016 to NYU's Stern School of Business for a
scholarship for veterans.
Haim Saban
$3B
● Haim Saban turned his success with children's TV show "Mighty Morphin Power
Rangers" into Fox Family Channel, a joint venture with News Corp.
● Saban, who repurchased Power Rangers back in 2010, sold it for a second time in
2018, this time to Hasbro in a $522 million deal.
● Saban and a group of private equity investors purchased Spanish language TV
Network Univision Communications for $13.7 billion in 2007.
● In February 2020, Univision agreed to sell a majority stake for an undisclosed price to
two firms: Searchlight Capital Partners and ForgeLight LLC.
● The Sabans, who have given $350 million to various organizations and initiatives,
pledged $50 million to the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in 2017.

Erwin Franz Mueller

$3B
● Erwin Franz Mueller owns an eponymous drugstore chain with some 940 stores
across seven European countries and annual revenue of around $4.4 billion.
● The business dates to 1953, when Mueller opened a hairdressing shop in his home
in Ulm, Germany.
● In recent years, working conditions at his drugstores have been the subject of
scrutiny in media reports.
● In August 2022, shortly before his 90th birthday, Mueller retook the helm after CEO
Günther Helm suddenly departed.
● In 2017, he founded the Erwin-Mueller-Privatstiftung as a company foundation in
Linz, Austria to deal with his eventual succession.

Gustavo Denegri & family

$3B
● Gustavo Denegri is the chairman of biotech company DiaSorin SpA; the bulk of his
fortune is a 45% stake in the publicly-traded company.
● In 2000, his private equity firm acquired the distressed DiaSorin from American
Standard Companies and built it into a global player in diagnostics.
● His first breakthrough came when his Gruppo Pro-Ind, a components firm, merged
with Piaggio, owner of motor scooters Vespa and Aprilia.
● He is one of few Italian businessmen to have built billion-dollar companies in more
than one sector.
● His firm Investimenti is run by his son Michele and has a diverse portfolio, including
medical technology, real estate and TV production.

Theo Roussis & family

$3B
● Theo Roussis controls Ravago, a plastics recycling and compounds producer and
distributor.
● Roussis is the son-in-law of Raf Van Gorp, who founded Ravago in 1961 as a
recycler of plastic waste.
● Under Roussis, Ravago grew into an empire with revenue 13 billion euros and 9.000
employees.
● Together with his wife, Gunhilde Van Gorp, Roussis controls Ravago through
Luxembourg-based holding company Plastiche.

Reinold Geiger
$3B
● Reinold Geiger heads up French cosmetics retailer L'Occitane, which brings beauty
products inspired by the Provence region to consumers worldwide.
● Since Geiger first invested in the company in 1994, he has overseen L'Occitane's
global expansion to over 3,000 outlets in 90 countries.
● L'Occitane was the first French company to go public on the Hong Kong stock
exchange when its shares debuted in 2010.
● Geiger stepped down from his role as CEO in September 2021, after leading the
beauty company for more than 25 years. He remains chairman and executive
director.
● He owns a ski chalet in the Alps, a beach house on the Île de Ré in the Atlantic and a
home in Trancoso, Brazil.

Friede Springer
$3B
● Friede Springer inherited a stake in media giant Axel Springer Verlag from her
husband, Axel, following his death in 1985.
● Hired as the nanny of his two sons, Springer eventually married Axel, who trained her
to take over the business.
● Among the largest publishing houses in Europe, Axel Springer is active in over 40
countries. Its newspapers include Bild and Die Welt.
● The company acquired TV news station N24 (since rebranded as Welt) in 2013 and
the New York-based digital news outlet Business Insider (now renamed Insider) in
2015.
● Axel Springer went public in 1985. In 2020, it went private again in a KKR-funded
buyout.

Jean-Pierre Cayard
$3B
● Jean-Pierre Cayard's father founded spirits group La Martiniquaise in 1934 and
quickly established links with major retailers to expand the company.
● Jean-Pierre, now CEO, joined in 1970 and has turned it into one of France's largest
spirits groups, with a portfolio of international brands.
● Its "millionaire" brands include Porto Cruz, a leading Port; Label 5, a best-selling
scotch whiskey brand; and Poliakov, France's top-selling vodka.
● The private company, which he owns, has more than 38 subsidiaries and production
sites globally and operates in more than 100 countries.
● His wife, Edith, is the general manager of La Martiniquaise.

Guo Guangchang
$2.9B
● Guo Guangchang chairs Fosun International. He transformed the conglomerate into
an insurance-focused investment group.
● In December 2016, Fosun agreed to sell U.S. insurer Ironshore to Liberty Mutual for
about $3 billion to help raise cash.
● Fosun purchased a 74% stake in Indian pharmaceuticals company Gland Pharma in
2017.
● Fosun's investments range from steelmaking to mining, tourism and pharmaceuticals.
● Fosun cofounder Liang Xinjun is also a billionaire.

Christian Latouche & family

$2.8B
● Christian Latouche is the founder, owner and CEO of Fiducial SA, a global
accounting firm with revenue of over $1.8 billion.
● A trained auditor and CPA, in 1970 Latouche bought a small accounting business in
southern France.
● Through acquisitions, he eventually grew it into Fiducial, an accounting and business
services giant.
● The company has 1,245 offices globally and employs 19,000 people.
● Fiducial also offers IT and security services.

Hans Georg Naeder

$2.8B
● Hans Georg Naeder heads orthopedic device maker Ottobock SE; it takes its name
from his grandfather Otto Bock, who founded the business in 1919.
● The company has worked with the Paralympics since 1988, producing hockey
sledges and custom prosthetics for skiers, snowboarders and sprinters.
● Since taking the reins from his father at age 28, Hans Georg has expanded the staff
more than five-fold to over 8,000 worldwide.
● Ottobock operates sales and service branches in 50 countries and generates annual
revenue of around $1.2 billion.
● Swedish private equity firm EQT took a 20% stake in Ottobock in June 2017, valuing
the company at around $3.5 billion.

Alejandro Santo Domingo

$2.8B
● Alejandro Santo Domingo, an heir to a beer fortune, sits on the board of beer giant
Anheuser-Busch InBev, in which he has a roughly 1% stake.
● Santo Domingo was a key negotiator in the deals that led to the 2016 merger
between Anheuser-Busch InBev and SABMiller.
● A Harvard grad, Santo Domingo is a senior managing director of New York-based
Quadrant Capital Advisors, an investment advisory firm.
● He also sits on the board of trustees of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
● His father, Julio Mario Santo Domingo, had a 15% stake in SABMiller when he died
in 2011, which he passed down to his sons and grandchildren.

Florentino Pérez
$2.8B
● Florentino Pérez splits his time running Spain's largest construction company Grupo
ACS and popular Spanish soccer team Real Madrid.
● Pérez, president of Real Madrid, boosted advertising and merchandise revenues in
his first tenure as president (2000-2006).
● He was re-elected president of Real Madrid in 2009. The team, owned by its fans, is
worth more than $6 billion according to Forbes.
● Florentino has been CEO of Grupo ACS since 1997; he owns a 14% stake in the
publicly-traded construction company.

Eugene Murtagh
$2.8B
● Eugene Murtagh founded building materials manufacturer Kingspan Group in 1965.
● He owns about 15% of the Dublin- and London-listed company, which primarily sells
insulation products for commercial and industrial projects.
● Kingspan has grown through acquisitions and has 212 manufacturing facilities in
some 80 countries, with revenue of over $8 billion in 2022.
● Murtagh stepped down as chairman and non-executive director of Kingspan in 2021,
succeeded by Jost Massenberg.
● The Kingscourt, Ireland resident had five children with his wife Andrea, who died in
2014.

Denis O’Brien
$2.8B
● Denis O'Brien runs Digicel, a mobile phone network provider that operates in the
Caribbean, Asia Pacific and Central America.
● O'Brien made a fortune selling his Irish mobile outfit, Esat Telecom Group, to British
Telecom Group in 2000 for $2.8 billion.
● He has investments in healthcare and the PGA Catalunya and Quinta do Lago
resorts on the Iberian peninsula.
● In 2019, O'Brien sold his stake in Independent News and Media to Mediahuis, losing
hundreds of millions of euros on his investment.
● O'Brien made another media industry exit in 2021 by selling Communicorp, a radio
company, to Bauer Media.
Sean Parker
$2.8B
● Sean Parker's fortune stems from his brief tenure, at age 24, as Facebook's
president.
● Parker is now a venture capital investor and philanthropist.
● Parker's interest in music led him to invest in Spotify in 2010. He left the board of
directors in June 2017.
● He launched his Parker Foundation in 2015 with $600 million earmarked for science,
global health and civic engagement.
● In April 2016, his foundation announced a $250 million grant to establish the Parker
Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy.
● Parker, who has asthma and allergies to certain foods, also founded the Sean N.
Parker Center for Allergy & Asthma Research at Stanford in 2014.

Lírio Parisotto
$2.8B
● In 1988, Lírio Parisotto founded Videolar, a video and audiotape company, invested
the profits in the stock market and built a fortune.
● His portfolio runs the gamut from banking, electricity and mining to steel companies.
He avoids IPOs and favors stocks that pay high dividends.
● In addition, he owns bonds, real estate and a majority of Videolar, which merged with
Innova to manufacture and market petrochemical products.
● Innova operates three high-tech industrial facilities: two in Brazil's Amazon region of
Manaus and one in southern Brazil.

Oprah Winfrey
$2.8B
● Oprah Winfrey has transitioned her hit talk show, which ran for 25 years, into a media
and business empire.
● Reinvested, the profits from her show, plus profits from films like The Color Purple,
Beloved and Selma (which her Harpo Productions coproduced) add up to an
estimated more than $2 billion.
● In 2011, Winfrey launched cable channel OWN. She sold most of her stake in the
network to owner Warner Bros. Discovery in 2020 in exchange for shares in the
company.
● Winfrey bought a 10% stake in Weight Watchers in 2015, though she owns less now.
● Her sprawling real estate portfolio includes homes in California and over a dozen
properties in Hawaii.

Maren Otto
$2.7B
● Maren Otto is the third wife of the late Werner Otto, who began a retail empire by
founding a mail-order business in Hamburg in 1949.
● She inherited a stake in the family's Otto Group and its more than 40 companies in
retail (Crate and Barrel), real estate and financial services.
● She's also a shareholder of ECE, the family's commercial real estate company
focused on shopping centers. Her stepson Alexander is CEO.
● With Alexander and her daughter Katharina, she shares a 14% stake in Paramount
Group, which owns and manages office properties in the U.S.
● Katharina, Alexander and her other stepson Michael are also billionaires.

Kenneth Feld & family

$2.7B
● Kenneth Feld owns live entertainment company Feld Entertainment, the parent
company of Disney on Ice, Monster Jam and other shows.
● Feld Entertainment grew out of Ringling Bros. circus, which was shut down in 2017
due to falling ticket sales.
● His father, Irvin, bought Ringling Bros. circus in 1967 for $8 million.
● Kenneth Feld took over in 1984 following his father's death.
● Since then, he has worked to diversify beyond the Big Top. A Disney on Ice version
of the hit movie Frozen has been particularly popular.

Brad Kelley
$2.7B
● Brad Kelley, a Kentucky native and a farmer's son, built a fortune from discount
cigarettes.
● He built Commonwealth Brands, maker of USA Gold and Malibu cigarettes, and sold
it for $1 billion in 2001.
● Kelley has since used that cash to become one of the largest landowners in the U.S.,
with 1 million acres from Hawaii to Florida.
● Kelley owns historic stud farm Calumet in Kentucky, which had three starters in the
2017 Kentucky Derby.

Maria-Elisabeth Schaeffler-Thumann
$2.7B
● Maria-Elisabeth Schaeffler-Thumann and her son Georg own Schaeffler Group, one
of the world's largest ball bearing and machine component producers.
● She took over in 1996, following the death of her husband (also Georg) who had
founded the company with his brother Wilhelm in 1946.
● In 2008, the company took over tire and auto parts giant Continental AG in a
$15-billion, debt-financed deal.
● In the wake of the financial crisis, it seemed the high-wire act might fail. But as the
auto market rebounded, Continental's share price soared.
● Maria-Elisabeth and Georg's combined 46% stake in Continental accounts for most
of their wealth.
Sybill Storz
$2.7B
● Sybill Storz's father founded Karl Storz SE & Co. KG in 1945 to manufacture ENT
(ear, nose & throat) instruments, headlamps and binocular loupes.
● Karl Storz pioneered the idea of introducing into the body (via a flexible fiber-optic
cable) bright light generated by an external source.
● This "cold light illumination" innovation paved the way for modern endoscopy and laid
the foundation for the company's future success.
● Today, with a portfolio of 15,000+ products, Storz is a leader in endoscopy
instruments for human and veterinary medicine as well as industrial use.
● Sybill holds 44% of the privately owned company, which is based in Tuttlingen,
Germany.

Gudrun Heine
$2.7B
● Gudrun Heine's father founded Karl Storz SE & Co. KG in 1945 to manufacture ENT
(ear, nose & throat) instruments, headlamps and binocular loupes.
● Karl Storz pioneered the idea of introducing into the body (via a flexible fiber-optic
cable) bright light generated by an external source.
● This "cold light illumination" innovation paved the way for modern endoscopy and laid
the foundation for the company's future success.
● Today, with a portfolio of 15,000+ products, Storz is a leader in endoscopy
instruments for human and veterinary medicine as well as industrial use.
● Heine holds 44% of the privately owned company, which is based in Tuttlingen,
Germany.

Michael Hintze
$2.7B
● In 1999, Michael Hintze started London-based hedge-fund firm CQS, which is led by
his flagship Directional Opportunities fund.
● Born in China to Russian parents, Hintze was raised in Australia and served a 3-year
stint in the army before making his way to London in the 1980s.
● In September 2023, Canadian investment firm Manulife agreed to buy most of CQS,
with the transaction expected to close in early 2024 subject to regulatory approvals.
● He is a noted supporter of the arts and sciences and was granted knighthood in 2013
in recognition of his charitable contributions in the U.K.
● He maintains a connection to his home country through his MH Premium Farms,
which owns a portfolio of agricultural properties in Australia and was started by him in
2007.

Benjamin Otto
$2.6B
● Benjamin Otto inherited a 15.1% stake in Otto Group, which his grandfather Werner
started as a mail-order business in 1949.
● His father, Michael Otto, ran the business for 26 years until 2007. He is now
chairman of its supervisory board.
● With revenues exceeding $15 billion, Otto Group has more than 40 companies in
retail (including Crate and Barrel), real estate and financial services.
● Benjamin joined the family company as an executive director in 2012.

John Elkann
$2.6B
● John Elkann is the CEO of Exor, the holding company of Italy's Agnelli family, which
owns stakes in Ferrari and Italian automaker Fiat.
● Elkann took the leadership role in the family and at Fiat in 2004, one year after the
death of his grandfather and family patriarch Gianni Agnelli.
● He oversaw deals including Fiat's 2009 acquisition of a stake in Chrysler and its
merger with Peugeot in January 2021 to form Stellantis.
● Exor's portfolio includes Italian football team Juventus and media organizations
including the Economist and several leading Italian newspapers.
● The family dynasty began in 1899 when Giovanni Agnelli, John's
great-great-grandfather, founded Fiat in the northern Italian city of Turin.

Bertil Hult
$2.6B
● Bertil Hult dropped out of college to start a business in his dormitory's basement in
1965, organizing trips to help students learn English in the UK.
● Today his company, EF Education First, run by his three oldest sons, offers
educational travel and language training in 111 countries.
● EF sends teens on its language, educational travel, academic, exchange programs
and summer courses in such a scale that it makes EF one of the largest buyers of
flights across the Atlantic.
● As the official supplier of language training for the 2016 Olympic games in Rio de
Janeiro, EF says it helped teach English to 1 million Brazilians.
● Himself severely dyslexic, he donates money to a school that focuses on innovative
approaches to educating children with learning disabilities.
● He is also the benefactor of the Hult Prize which awards $1 million in seed funding to
the winners of a student competition.

Vincent McMahon
$2.6B
● Vince McMahon resigned as executive chairman of TKO Holdings, owner of World
Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), in January 2024.
● McMahon is under a federal investigation, stemming from sexual misconduct
allegations. In a statement, he called the accusations "made-up instances that never
occurred."
● A third generation wrestling promoter, McMahon grew up in a trailer park in North
Carolina and joined his father's small wrestling company in 1972.
● McMahon purchased the business 10 years later, then transformed the World
Wrestling Federation from a regional operation into a global phenomenon.
● WWF (now called WWE) went public in 1999; today its programs are broadcast in
roughly 150 countries and more than 30 languages.

Koos Bekker
$2.6B
● Koos Bekker is revered for transforming South African newspaper publisher Naspers
into an e-commerce investor and cable TV powerhouse.
● He led Naspers to pay a reported $34 million for a third of Chinese Internet firm
Tencent Holdings in 2001--perhaps the greatest venture investment ever.
● In 2019, Naspers put some assets into two publicly-traded companies, entertainment
firm MultiChoice Group and Prosus, which contains the Tencent stake
● Naspers has sold down its stake in Tencent over the years and today owns 25%.
● Bekker, who retired as the CEO of Naspers in March 2014, returned as chairman in
April 2015.

Henry Laufer
$2.6B
● Henry Laufer joined legendary quantitative hedge fund Renaissance Technologies,
founded by Jim Simons, in 1992.
● He was its chief scientist and vice president of research until retiring in 2009.
● Laufer still has a stake in Renaissance, which now manages about $55 billion.
● Prior to Renaissance, Laufer was a math professor at Stony Brook University for two
decades.
● Laufer and Simons worked together at Stony Brook where Simons was chairman of
the Department of Mathematics.

Sol Daurella
$2.6B
● Sol Daurella is the chairwoman of the world's largest Coke bottling company,
Coca-Cola Europacific Partners.
● The Daurella family's ties to Coca-Cola began in 1951, when they were awarded a
bottling license.
● In 2016, their Coca-Cola Iberian Partners SA merged with Germany's Coca-Cola
Erfrischungsgetränke AG and Coke subsidiary Coca-Cola Enterprises.
● Daurella owns about 7% of Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, the combined company,
which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
● Coca-Cola European Partners merged with Amatil in 2021 and changed its name to
Coca-Cola Europacific Partners.
Scott Shleifer
$2.5B
● Scott Shleifer cofounded Tiger Global Management's private equity investing arm in
2003, two years after Chase Coleman founded the hedge fund firm.
● Tiger Global's venture funds now make up the bulk of the firm's $51 billion in net
assets under management.
● Shleifer made lucrative bets on several Chinese tech companies for Tiger, including
JD.com, ride-hailing app Didi Chuxing and e-commerce giant Meituan.
● Shleifer worked for three years as an analyst at Blackstone after graduating from the
University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School.
● In February 2021, he bought a 21,000-square-foot Palm Beach mansion for $122.7
million.

Juan Abelló
$2.5B
● Juan Abelló sold his family's pharmaceutical company in the early 1980s and then
put the money into a variety of investments.
● He owns a stake in for-profit education company Laureate Education.
● He often appears in tabloids alongside well-known politicians and members of
Spanish artistic and cultural circles.
● His art collection includes works by Pablo Picasso, Francisco Goya, El Greco, Edgar
Degas, Salvador Dali and Vincent van Gogh.
● His wealth is now derived from a slew of private and public companies and funds,
including those managed by Torreal.

Alice Schwartz
$2.5B
● With $720 in savings, Alice Schwartz and her husband David launched Bio-Rad
Laboratories in a Berkeley Quonset hut in 1952.
● Early products included ion exchange resins, substances used to facilitate
pharmaceutical manufacturing and lab research.
● Bio-Rad now sells 10,000 life science research and clinical diagnostics products and
had 2023 revenues of $2.7 billion.
● Bio-Rad held its IPO in 1966. It was listed on the American Stock Exchange in 1980,
then the New York Stock Exchange in 2008.
● Schwartz, who was widowed in 2012, stepped down from the board in 2022; her son
Norman is chairman and CEO.

Jay-Z
$2.5B
● Since becoming hip-hop's first billionaire in 2019, Jay-Z has more than doubled his
fortune thanks to his lucrative liquor businesses.
● In 2021, giant LVMH purchased a 50% stake in his champagne empire Armand de
Brignac, otherwise known as Ace of Spades.
● Jay-Z sold a majority of his stake in his cognac brand D'Usse to Bacardi in February
2023.
● His other assets range from a fine art collection including works by Jean-Michel
Basquiat, his music catalog and shares in companies like Block and Uber.
● In 2021, he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame; he won an Emmy in
2022 for Outstanding Variety Special for his production of the Super Bowl Halftime
Show.

Ted Turner
$2.5B
● Ted Turner is best known for founding CNN, the first 24-hour news station, in 1980.
● After his father died in 1963, Turner took control of his father's billboard company,
Turner Advertising, and rebranded it "Turner Broadcasting."
● He sold Turner to Time Warner for $7.3 billion in stock in 1996 and saw his fortune
tumble when Time Warner bought AOL in 2001, causing shares to drop.
● Turner is America's third-largest individual landowner, with roughly 2 million acres.
● Turner, a Giving Pledge signee, chairs the Turner Foundation, which is dedicated to
protecting and restoring America's natural environments.

David Wertheim
$2.4B
● David Wertheim is the son of the late Moshe Wertheim (d. 2016), founder of the
Central Bottling Company, Israel's Coca-Cola bottler. He owns 63% of the company.
● Before he died, Moshe Wertheim gave the bottling business, as well as his shares in
Mizrahi Tefahot Bank and Alony Hetz, to David and his sister Drorit,
● In 2018, he purchased his billionaire sister's Alony Hetz shares and sold them
because of Israeli anti-monopoly rules. He is a controlling shareholder of Mizrahi
Tefahot, the country's third-largest bank.
● He founded and controls Keshet Media Group, which controls TV channel Keshet 12,
CH12 News and websites Mako.co.il and N12.co.il.
● He is the founder and CEO of M. Wertheim (Holdings) Ltd., whose investments
include publicly traded Alony Hetz Properties & Investments.

Sylvia Stroeher
$2.4B
● In 2003, Sylvia Stroeher netted over $1 billion when her family sold 80% of hair-care
group Wella AG to Procter & Gamble.
● In 1927, her great-grandfather Franz bought the rights to a process that used hot
curlers and chemicals to put long-lasting waves into women's hair.
● Sylvia and her husband, a former nurse, have a renowned collection of contemporary
German art that includes works by Baselitz, Immendorff and Kiefer.
● Part of the collection is housed in the Museum Kueppersmuehle in Duisburg,
Germany.
● An extension to the museum by star architect Pierre de Meuron opened in 2020.
Liang Xinjun
$2.4B
● Liang Xinjun is a former vice chairman and CEO of conglomerate Fosun
International.
● Fosun's investments range from steelmaking to mining, tourism and pharmaceuticals.
● Liang resigned from Fosun in 2017, citing health reasons and cashed out his stakes.
● He now lives in Singapore, from where he runs his family office, XIN Family.
● Fellow Fosun cofounder Guo Guangchang is also a billionaire.

François Feuillet & family

$2.4B
● François Feuillet led French motorhome maker Trigano for 39 years before stepping
down as its chairman in 2020.
● Started in 1935, Trigano first made camping equipment and then branched out to
become a leader in European leisure vehicles.
● Feuillet took the company public in 1998 and he and his family own 58% of the
business.
● He previously worked in finance and had an auditing job at KPMG.
● Feuillet and his wife Marie-Hélène still serve on the board of Trigano.

Henry Davis
$2.4B
● Henry Davis is a third-generation beef supplier who owns $1.7 billion (annual
revenues) Greater Omaha Packing.
● His beef is now eaten in 69 countries, including some of the world's top restaurants
from Napa Valley's French Laundry to New York's Marea.
● His Greater Omaha is the fifth-largest beef producer in the U.S., after giants Tyson,
Cargill, JBS and National Beef.
● Davis' grandfather started in 1920, butchering a single steer every day and selling the
beef himself. Davis inherited it in 1987 and grew it 10-fold.

S. Daniel Abraham
$2.4B
● S. Daniel Abraham founded Slim-Fast in 1976. Sales exploded in the late 1980s
when former LA Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda became its spokesman.
● Abraham sold the weight loss and meal substitute company to Unilever for $2.3
billion in cash in 2000.
● Since then, he's largely taken a risk-averse approach to investing, keeping most of
his fortune in cash and liquid assets.
● In 2014, Unilever sold the majority of Slim-Fast to Texas private equity firm Kainos
Capital for an undisclosed sum.
● Abraham donated $3 million to Hillary Clinton's failed 2016 presidential run.
Ugo Gussalli Beretta & family
$2.4B
● Ugo Gussalli Beretta and his two sons, Pietro and Franco, lead Beretta Holding, the
world's oldest firearms manufacturer founded in Italy in 1526.
● They are the 14th and 15th generations to lead the company, whose first deal was
the sale of 185 arquebus barrels to the Republic of Venice in 1526.
● Ugo stepped down from executive positions in 2015 and sits on the board of
Luxembourg-based Beretta Holding, which is headed by Pietro, who created the
holding company.
● Franco leads subsidiary Fabbrica d'Armi Pietro Beretta, which still owns factories in
the town of Gardone Val Trompia, where the company was founded.

Bernard Ecclestone & family

$2.4B
● Bernie Ecclestone took Formula One from a niche racing competition to a global
phenomenon over a four-decade career.
● The man dubbed "F1 Supremo" by the British tabloids finally gave up the helm in
2017, when Liberty Media bought F1 for $4.4 billion.
● Son of a trawler captain, he built one of the U.K.'s largest used car dealerships after
World War II then bought the Brabham racing team in 1971.
● Ecclestone eventually took control of F1's governance and lorded over the business
despite selling most of his stake in the late 1990s.
● He's facing trial for fraud after allegedly hiding more than 400 million British pounds in
a trust in Singapore; Ecclestone has pleaded not guilty.

Daniel Rocher
$2.4B
● Daniel Rocher is the son of Yves Rocher, who founded the French cosmetics giant
Groupe Rocher in 1959.
● Groupe Rocher owns beauty and personal care brands such as Yves Rocher,
Arbonne and Dr. Pierre Ricaud, as well as the French clothing line Petit Bateau.
● In 1980, Daniel founded the cosmetics company Daniel Jouvance, which
incorporates marine-based ingredients into skincare products.
● Along with his nephew Bris, Daniel is one of the largest shareholders of Groupe
Rocher, which remains under family control; the company brought in approximately
2.4 billion euros in sales in 2022.

Bris Rocher
$2.4B
● Bris Rocher became the CEO of French cosmetics giant Groupe Rocher at the age
of 31, after the death of his grandfather and the company's founder Yves Rocher.
● Groupe Rocher owns beauty and personal care brands such as Yves Rocher,
Arbonne and Dr. Pierre Ricaud, as well as the French clothing line Petit Bateau.
● In July 2023, Bris stepped down as chief executive of Groupe Rocher, delegating the
position to non-family member Jean-David Schwartz. He remains chairman of the
company.
● Along with his uncle Daniel, Bris is one of the largest shareholders of Groupe Rocher,
which remains under family control; the company brought in approximately 2.4 billion
euros in sales in 2022.

Donald Trump
$2.3B
● A Manhattan grand jury indicted Trump in March 2023, making him the only former
president in American history to face criminal charges.
● New York Attorney General Letitia James sued Trump and his business in September
2022, saying the Trump Organization had engaged in years of financial fraud by lying
about the value of its assets to make itself look more creditworthy.
● Much of Trump's fortune remains tied up in New York City real estate, which has
struggled in recent years as interest rates shot up, shoppers went online and office
workers headed home.
● The former U.S. president also owns golf courses and a winery, and has a stake in
the parent company of Truth Social, his troubled social media app.
● In 2019, he changed his official residence from Trump Tower in New York City to
Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida.
● Trump got his start working for his father, Fred, who developed low-cost housing in
Brooklyn and Queens.

Karin Schick
$2.3B
● Karin Schick inherited a stake in Bechtle AG from her father, Gerhard, who
co-founded the IT company in Heilbronn, Germany in 1983.
● Bechtle covers the IT landscape, ranging from expert strategy advice to managed
services that can take over complete operation of a company's systems.
● The company has more than 15,000 employees and revenues exceeding $6.5 billion.
● Bechtle's strong growth in the IT space has been fueled in part through an
aggressive M&A strategy (more than 100 acquisitions since 1993).

Hamdi Ulukaya
$2.3B
● Hamdi Ulukaya, known as the yogurt king, is the founder of America's most popular
Greek yogurt brand, Chobani.
● Ulukaya grew up in a Kurdish dairy-farming family in Turkey and raised sheep. He
eventually left to study political science at Ankara University.
● He immigrated to the U.S. in 1994 to study English in upstate New York, an area that
reminded him of the small farming villages in Eastern Turkey.
● With a loan from the Small Business Administration, he bought an old yogurt plant
there in 2005 and developed a recipe inspired by his heritage.
● He started selling his yogurt in 2007; in 2023, Chobani pulled in more than $2 billion
in sales.

Leonard Abess
$2.3B
● Leonard Abess made headlines for gifting $60 million to more than 450 current and
former employees of his City National Bank of Florida after selling it for more than $1
billion during the financial crisis.
● His father, Leonard Abess Sr., cofounded the bank in 1946, but sold it in the 1980s.
Abess bought it out of bankruptcy a few years later and grew it to nearly $3 billion in
assets.
● Since selling the bank, Abess has bought up nearly 4,000 acres of land across Miami
and Vermont, some of which he's using to grow limes.
● His company, ThinkLab Ventures, provides capital and financing for commercial real
estate development projects.
● It also owns a stake in Jersey Jack Pinball, a leading maker of artisanal pinball
machines and previously owned a private jet center near Miami.

William Lauder
$2.3B
● William Lauder is executive chairman of cosmetics giant Estée Lauder, a position
he's held since 2009.
● A member of the family's third generation, he was Estée Lauder's CEO from 2004 to
2009.
● He's a grandson of Estée Lauder, who founded the cosmetics firm, and eldest son of
Leonard Lauder, who was CEO and chairman for 17 years.
● He lives in a Park Avenue co-op, and has homes in New York's Westchester County
and in Aspen, Colorado.

Anita Zucker
$2.3B
● Anita Zucker is CEO of Charleston, South Carolina-based InterTech Group, a private,
family-owned chemicals manufacturer.
● InterTech was founded in 1982 by Zucker's late husband, Jerry, who died of a brain
tumor in 2008 at age 58.
● The company, which has estimated revenues of roughly $3 billion, also owns an
aerospace engineering firm and extensive commercial real estate.
● Jerry Zucker, an immigrant from Israel, was a prolific inventor who was granted
numerous patents.
● Zucker donated more than $75 million to philanthropic causes from 2013 to 2018,
with an emphasis on education and health.
Yvonne Bauer
$2.3B
● Yvonne Bauer runs Bauer Media Group, which has been in her family for five
generations since its founding as a small printing company in 1875. Today, its
business lines include print publishing, audio and online media.
● Europe's largest magazine company, it focuses on women's content and counts over
600 titles worldwide, including InTouch and Grazia.
● Yvonne Bauer is the second-youngest child of Heinz Heinrich Bauer. She received
85% of the company, while her three sisters each received 5%.
● In 2020, Bauer expanded its reach in the German newspaper industry with the
acquisition of Mitteldeutsche Zeitung in Halle for an undisclosed sum.
● Prior to joining her family's company in 2005, Bauer apprenticed at publishing House
Hoffmann und Campe.

Timothy Boyle
$2.2B
● Timothy Boyle is chairman and CEO of Columbia Sportswear.
● The business started as Columbia Hat Company in Portland, founded in 1938 by
Boyle's grandparents, who had fled Nazi Germany for the U.S.
● Boyle started working at the family business as a college senior, helping his mother
run the company after his father's death in 1971.
● He is the largest shareholder and has served as CEO for over three decades,
steering the company to $3.5 billion in sales.

Luiz Frias
$2.2B
● Luiz Frias is chairman of PagSeguro Digital, a payments company that went public
on the New York Stock Exchange in 2018, raising over $2 billion.
● Frias' late father acquired one of Brazil's most popular daily newspapers in the
1960s, today known as Folha de S. Paulo.
● Grupo Folha became one of Brazil's largest media conglomerates; Frias joined in
1981, was appointed CEO in 1989 and chairman in 1991.
● In 1996, Frias founded UOL, a pioneering Brazilian Internet company and one of the
most visited websites in the country.
● PagSeguro Digital is a subsidiary of UOL.

Guilherme Benchimol
$2.2B
● Guilherme Benchimol is the founder of XP Inc., a Brazilian financial services firm that
went public in December 2019 in the U.S.
● XP Inc. has grown popular by focusing its products and services on clients with little
investing experience.
● Benchimol founded XP in 2001 after being fired from a brokerage firm in southern
Brazil, with initial capital of approximately $2,000.
● Through the XP Institute, Benchimol aims to offer free education to 50 million
Brazilians over the next 10 years.
● In 2021, he stepped down from his position as the CEO of XP Inc.; he remains its
chairman.

Tom Ford
$2.2B
● Tom Ford is a fashion designer who founded his eponymous brand Tom Ford
International in 2005.
● He sold his stake in the company, plus a separate fragrance and cosmetics business,
to Estée Lauder in a $2.8 billion deal in November 2022.
● The deal saw Ford step down as CEO, but he remained the creative visionary of the
company through 2023.
● Ford was the creative director of Gucci from 1994 to 2005, helping revitalize the
brand and grow its revenues twelvefold to $3 billion.
● Ford also has a film production company, Fade to Black, that has won several
Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for its films.

Sheryl Sandberg
$2.2B
● Sheryl Sandberg served as chief operating officer of Facebook, now Meta, from 2008
until the fall of 2022; she still sits on its board.
● In a June 2022 Facebook post, Sandberg announced she was stepping down to
focus on her philanthropic work.
● Sandberg is also a board member at Momentive, the maker of SurveyMonkey, which
her late husband David Goldberg ran as CEO.
● Sandberg is the author of the bestsellers Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to
Lead and Lean In for Graduates.
● The Harvard MBA was previously an economist at the World Bank and chief of staff
to then U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers.

Scott Nuttall
$2.2B
● Scott Nuttall is the co-CEO of storied private equity giant KKR.
● He and Joseph Bae were appointed as chief executives in October 2021, when KKR
co-founders Henry Kravis and George Roberts stepped down.
● Nuttall first joined KKR in his early 20s, in 1996, following a brief stint at Blackstone.
● He spearheaded KKR's capital markets, fundraising, insurance, credit and hedge
fund initiatives, and helped take the company public in 2010.
● KKR has about $430 billion in total assets under management.
Pierre van der Mersch
$2.2B
● Pierre van der Mersch, dubbed the Belgian Warren Buffett, controls investment
company Brederode.
● He began his career as a bank clerk in 1958 and, in the 1980s, began building his
fortune by taking control of a series of publicly-traded shell companies.
● His asset management style focuses on taking long positions in undervalued
companies.

Maria Franca Fissolo

$2.2B
● Maria Franca Fissolo is the widow of Michele Ferrero, who built Ferrero Group into
one of the world's leading sweets companies.
● The firm is best known for its iconic Nutella chocolate-hazelnut spread, Kinder
chocolates and Tic Tac mints.
● Michele Ferrero died in February 2015, leaving the majority of the business to his
and Maria's son Giovanni, who now chairs the company.
● Giovanni and his brother, Pietro, had previously served as co-chief executives, until
Pietro died in a biking accident in 2011.
● Giovanni stepped down as CEO in 2017. Maria, who lives in Monaco, is not actively
involved in the business.

Fabien Pinckaers
$2.1B
● Fabien Pinckaers created Odoo, his second company, when he was a 22-year old
student who needed a software to manage the flow of beer kegs in a student party
room on campus.
● Odoo operates in more than 10 countries including the U.S and Dubai, had revenue
of over 240 million euros in 2022 and has more than 7 million users.
● Pinckaers read his first book on Toyota's business management at 13 years old and
didn't use internet until he was at university.
● He developed his first business management software at 13 and sold it to the Belgian
Writers' Association and to green transports.
● Tech entrepreneur and fellow billionaire Xaviel Niel owns a minority stake in Odoo.

Fernando Masaveu Herrero

$2.1B
● Fernando Masaveu Herrero is the fifth-generation leader of Corporación Masaveu, a
Spanish conglomerate that has been family-run since its founding in 1840.
● He currently serves as chairman of Corporación Masaveu and is the president of the
family's philanthropic foundation.
● Based in Asturias, Corporación Masaveu's diverse holdings span from industrial
cement factories and renewable energy to real estate, finance, health, wineries, and
carparks.
● Masaveu Herrero additionally owns significant individual stakes in Spanish
companies such as Bankinter, Línea Directa and Logista, as well as investments in
Portugal and the U.S.

James Leprino
$2.1B
● James Leprino owns the world's largest mozzarella cheese maker, with $3.5 billion in
estimated annual sales.
● His Leprino Foods is the exclusive supplier of cheese to Domino's, Papa John's and
Pizza Hut.
● After graduating high school in 1956, he started working with his father full-time at his
market.
● In 1958, after larger chain grocery stores had forced the Leprino market to close, the
Leprino Foods cheese empire started with $615.
● Today, Leprino Foods has more than 50 patents. Those innovations are essentially
how Leprino created the "pizza cheese" that Americans eat today.

Fernando Roig
$2.1B
● Fernando Roig owns ceramics firm Pamesa as well as a 9% stake in Spanish
supermarket chain Mercadona.
● His billionaire brother Juan Roig is the majority shareholder of Mercadona, which was
founded by their parents in 1977.
● Juan and Fernando took over Mercadona with their sisters in 1981, when it was only
an eight-store chain.
● Since then, they have turned it into one of Europe's largest food retailers, with nearly
1,700 supermarkets and 104,000 employees.
● Fernando also owns professional soccer team Villarreal C.F. of Spain.

Richard Branson
$2.1B
● Richard Branson owes his fortune to a conglomerate of businesses bearing the
"Virgin" brand name, including Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Galactic.
● The son of a barrister and flight attendant, Branson got his start with a mail-order
record business some 50 years ago.
● He primarily lives on a luxe British Virgin Islands retreat, Necker Island, which he
bought for $180,000 in 1978.
● Branson's rocket company Virgin Orbit, which went public in 2021 at a $4 billion
valuation, went bankrupt in 2023 and sold its assets.
● His digital bank Virgin Money, his largest public holding, is set to sell to Nationwide
later this year for more than $3.5 billion.
Aerin Lauder
$2.1B
● Aerin Lauder, the eldest daughter of billionaire Ronald Lauder, serves as style and
image director at beauty company Estée Lauder.
● Lauder has worked for Estée Lauder, founded by her grandmother, since 1992. She
served as a board member from 2004 to 2016.
● In 2012, she founded luxury lifestyle brand AERIN, which sells everything from lamps
to handbags. The line is sold in 40 countries.
● Her sister, Jane Lauder, is an executive vice president at Estée Lauder and sits on
the board.
● In July 2019, she launched a hotel amenity line featuring bath and body products.

Ion Tiriac
$2.1B
● A former athlete, Ion Tiriac heads Tiriac Group, which has interests in real estate,
auto, financial services and more.
● After he retired as a tennis player in the 1970s, Tiriac coached and managed top
players like Guillermo Vilas, Marat Safin and Boris Becker.
● He began his investment career after the fall of communism in Romania and
eventually founded the Tiriac Group.
● He owns a car and motorcycle collection of more than 400 models, including cars
previously owned by Al Capone, Sammy Davis Jr. and Elton John.
● Tiriac has also represented Romania internationally in ice hockey, including an
appearance in the 1964 Winter Olympics, and three Davis Cup finals.

John Hancock
$2.1B
● John Hancock is the eldest child of Australia's richest woman, Gina Rinehart.
● Together with his three sisters, Bianca, Hope and Ginia, he is the beneficiary of a
trust that owns a large stake in mining giant Hancock Prospecting.
● He is involved in a bitter court battle to take control of the trust from his mother and
potentially increase their stake.
● He is a senior adviser at Lind Partners LLC. He also runs his own private investment
fund.
● Hancock disclosed that, as of September 2023, it had provided A$5.44 billion for
dividends that will be paid after the dispute between Bianca and her brother John
against their mother is resolved.

Bianca Rinehart
$2.1B
● Bianca Rinehart is the eldest daughter of Australian mining magnate Gina Rinehart
and is a trustee of the Hope Margaret Hancock Trust.
● She replaced her mother as trustee in 2015, after a lengthy court battle.
● The trust owns nearly a quarter of Gina Rinehart's Hancock Prospecting, on behalf of
her four children.
● She has a degree in hospitality and hotel management from Flinders University in
Adelaide.
● Hancock disclosed that, as of September 2023, it had provided A$5.44 billion for
dividends that will be paid after the dispute between Bianca and her brother John
against their mother is resolved.

Ginia Rinehart
$2.1B
● Ginia Rinehart is the youngest child of Australian mining mogul Gina Rinehart.
● Together with her three siblings, she is the beneficiary of a trust that owns a
substantial stake in mining giant Hancock Prospecting.
● She stayed out of a bitter court battle to wrest control of the trust from her mother.
● She has a degree in business, majoring in Spanish, from London.
● Hancock disclosed that, as of September 2023, it had provided A$5.44 billion for
dividends that will be paid after the dispute between Bianca and her brother John
against their mother is resolved.

Hope Welker
$2.1B
● Hope Welker is the third child of Australian mining billionaire Gina Rinehart.
● Together with her three siblings, she is the beneficiary of a trust that owns a large
stake in mining giant Hancock Prospecting.
● She joined, then withdrew, from a court battle waged by her siblings to remove their
mother as trustee.
● Hancock disclosed that as of September 2023 it had provided A$5.44 billion for
dividends that will be paid after the dispute between Bianca and her brother John
against their mother is resolved.

Zygmunt Solorz
$2.1B
● Zygmunt Solorz (formerly Solorz-Zak) founded Polsat, one of the first national
commercial broadcasters in the Eastern Europe.
● It is now part of his Cyfrowy Polsat, Poland's leading pay-TV operator.
● Solorz is handing over the reins of his business empire, including mobile, energy and
financial products, to his sons Tobias Solorz and Piotr Zak.

Nicola Bulgari
$2.1B
● Nicola Bulgari is vice chairman of luxury goods brand Bulgari, which was founded by
his great-grandfather.
● Bulgari established itself as a global luxury brand in jewelry, watches, fragrances,
apparel, hotels and resorts.
● In 2011, the Bulgari family sold its controlling stake to luxury goods conglomerate
LVMH for $5.2 billion in cash and stock.
● Nicola Bulgari is well known for his car collection, which includes mostly American
cars from the 1920s to the 1940s.

Marina Berlusconi
$2.1B
● Marina Berlusconi is the eldest daughter of Silvio Berlusconi, the media mogul and
longest-serving Italian prime minister in the post-war era. He died at age 86 in June
2023.
● She is the president of media group Fininvest, which her father started in the late
1970s and built into a national force, importing American shows like 'Baywatch' to
Italy.
● She is one of five heirs and, with her brother Pier Silvio, inherited the majority of her
father's empire which includes stakes in media, publishing and banking firms.
● She is married to Maurizio Vanadia, an Italian ballet dancer and vice-director of the
ballet school of Milan's Teatro alla Scala.
● Berlusconi never finished her university studies and instead joined her father's
Fininvest in 1996.

Pier Silvio Berlusconi

$2.1B
● Pier Silvio Berlusconi is the son of Silvio Berlusconi, the media mogul and
longest-serving Italian prime minister in the post-war era. He died at age 86 in June
2023.
● He is one of five heirs and, with his older sister Marina, inherited the majority of his
father's empire which includes stakes in media, publishing and banking firms.
● Pier Silvio has been the CEO of publicly traded media conglomerate
MediaForEurope since 2015 and also sits on the board of the family's investment
company, Fininvest.
● Fininvest owns stakes in MediaForEurope plus publicly traded Italian bank Banca
Mediolanum and publisher Mondadori.
● Like his sister Marina, he never completed a college degree.

Alfredo Egydio Arruda Villela Filho

$2.1B
● Alfredo Egydio Arruda Villela Filho is a member of one of Brazil's oldest banking
families.
● His great-grandfather founded the bank Itaú, which merged with Unibanco in 2008 to
form Itaú-Unibanco, Brazil's biggest private sector bank.
● He is the largest individual shareholder of Itaúsa, the bank's holding company.
● His grandfather founded Dexco, a publicly-traded Brazilian maker of wood paneling
and bathroom fixtures; he owns a stake in the company.
● He currently serves as Itaúsa's executive vice president.
João Roberto Marinho
$2.1B
● João Roberto Marinho and his two billionaire brothers, José Roberto and Roberto
Irineu, inherited control of Globo, Brazil's largest media group.
● Their grandfather Irineu Marinho launched O Globo newspaper in 1925; he died 25
days after the first issue was published and his oldest son took over.
● Globo Group includes Brazil's largest broadcaster, Rede Globo; Brazil's largest
newspaper company and Globosat, Brazil's largest pay TV provider.
● João Roberto worked at O Globo, one of Brazil's most influential newspapers. He
held a number of positions before becoming vice president in 1982.
● João Roberto is now the executive president of Grupo Globo and the chairman of the
board of directors.

José Roberto Marinho

$2.1B
● José Roberto Marinho and his two billionaire brothers, João Roberto and Roberto
Irineu, inherited control of Globo, Brazil's largest media group.
● Their grandfather started Globo in 1925 by launching a newspaper. He died 25 days
after the first issue was published so his oldest son took over.
● Globo Group owns Brazil's largest TV broadcaster, Rede Globo; Brazil's largest
newspaper company, and Globosat, Brazil's largest pay TV provider.
● In 1991, José Roberto founded CBN, the first Brazilian radio to broadcast 24 hours of
news.
● José Roberto leads the family's philanthropy through Roberto Marinho Foundation,
which created the world's first museum dedicated to Portuguese.

Roberto Irineu Marinho

$2B
● Roberto Irineu Marinho and his two billionaire brothers, João Roberto and José
Roberto, inherited control of Globo, Brazil's largest media group.
● Grandfather Irineu Marinho started Globo in 1925 with a newspaper. He died 25 days
after the first issue was published and his son Roberto took over.
● Globo Group includes Brazil's largest broadcaster, Rede Globo, Brazil's largest
newspaper company and Globosat, Brazil's largest pay TV provider.
● In December 2017, Roberto Irineu quit as the executive president of the group. For
the first time ever, a non-family member assumed that position.
● He remains vice-president of the board of directors, which is chaired by his brother
João Roberto Marinho.

Esther Grether
$2B
● Esther Grether owns one of the world's most valuable and significant collections of
20th-century art, consisting of more than 600 pieces.
● The collection includes works by Picasso, Cezanne, Dali and one of Francis Bacon's
triptychs.
● She has been a major shareholder in Swatch and is a former board member of the
watchmaker.
● She inherited Doetsch Grether from her late husband Hans Grether in 1975. Hans'
father Oscar cofounded the personal care product company in 1904.

Brian Roberts
$2B
● Brian Roberts, the CEO and chairman of media and technology company Comcast,
has sole voting power over approximately a third of the company's stock.
● His father Ralph (d. 2015) was the founder of Comcast, where Brian had his first
internship at age 15.
● Roberts became president in 1990 at age 31; seven years later, his father Ralph
transferred the bulk of his voting shares in the company to him.
● Comcast posted revenues of $121.5 billion and a profit of $16.4 billion in 2023.
● In 2018, Comcast acquired UK-based Sky, the telecom and media company that
operates Sky News broadcast network and produces original content.

Gary Chouest & family

$2B
● Gary Chouest is the owner and president of Louisiana-based Edison Chouest
Offshore, which owns more than 200 offshore vessels for the oil & gas and wind
power industries.
● The firm was founded by his father, Edison Chouest (d. 2008), in 1960. Besides the
vessels, it also owns shipyards and ports in Brazil, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi.
● He also owns a stake in Louisiana-based shipbuilder Bollinger Shipyard Group,
which makes vessels for the U.S. Coast Guard.
● His other holdings include yacht manufacturers Westport and American Custom
Yachts plus Norwegian offshore supply vessel firm Island Offshore.

Joseph Bae
$2B
● Joseph Bae is co-CEO of storied private equity giant KKR, which has about $430
billion in assets under management.
● He was appointed to the top job alongside Scott Nuttall after KKR cofounders Henry
Kravis and George Roberts stepped down in October 2021.
● Bae started his career at Goldman Sachs and joined KKR in 1996.
● He led KKR's expansion into Asia and served on all its private market investment
committees.

David Adelman
$2B
● David Adelman is a real estate, alternative investments and sports mogul.
● His Campus Apartments is one of the largest providers of on- and off-campus
housing in America, with some $2 billion of properties across 80 schools in 23 states.
● He also cofounded FS Investments, an alternative investments firm that manages
$35 billion across a dozen mutual funds, REITs and other vehicles. He's vice
chairman.
● He has a 7% stake in Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, which owns the NHL's
New Jersey Devils and the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers. He's spearheading a plan to
build the Sixers a $1.3 billion arena.
● A Philadelphia native, Adelman got his start using $2,000 of bar mitzvah money to
invest with student housing entrepreneur and family friend Alan Horwitz.
● He then went to work for Horwitz, rising to CEO at age 25, and began taking more
and more of the equity as he expanded Campus Apartments nationwide.

Marcelo Claure
$2B
● Marcelo Claure is a Bolivian and American entrepreneur who served as chief
operating officer of Japanese firm SoftBank.
● After selling his first company, a regional phone chain, Claure founded Brightstar, a
wireless distributor targeting Latin America.
● Claure sold Brightstar to SoftBank in 2014, then joined the firm to run Sprint, a
SoftBank investment, as CEO.
● Much of his fortune is now tied up in shares of T-Mobile, which merged with Sprint in
2020. Claure sits on T-Mobile's board.
● He's now making investments through his family office Claure Group, which owns
stakes in fast fashion giant Shein and private equity firm Brightstar Capital Partners.

Craig McCaw
$2B
● Wireless pioneer Craig McCaw and his brothers took over their dad's cable-TV
business in 1966.
● They sold McCaw Cellular to AT&T in 1994 for $12.6 billion in stock.
● McCaw, with backing from Bill Gates and Boeing, cofounded Teledesic in 1990 to
provide internet access via satellite. It ceased operations in 2002.
● He has stayed out of the limelight since stepping down as chairman of telecom
operator Clearwire in 2010, two years before it was acquired by Sprint.

Tim Cook
$2B
● Tim Cook is the CEO of Apple, one of the world's most valuable companies.
● Cook, who became chief executive in 2011, had previously served as Apple's chief
operating officer under Steve Jobs.
● Cook joined Apple in 1998, having worked briefly at PC-maker Compaq and for 12
years at IBM.
● Cook owns more than 3 million shares of Apple, less than a 1% stake; he's sold
hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of shares over the years.
● Since 2005, he has also served on the board of Nike.

Dominika Kulczyk
$2B
● Dominika and her brother Sebastian inherited a fortune from their father Jan, who
died in 2015 from complications of minor heart surgery.
● The siblings divvied up the estate in 2018, with Dominika getting most of the cash
from the family's 2016 sale of its SAB Miller stake.
● She also took over the stake in renewable energy outfit Polenergia and now chairs its
supervisory board.
● With her parents, she started the Kulczyk Foundation in 2013, which fights
discrimination and inequality that affects women around the world.
● Dominika is president of the foundation, which was originally her idea.

Travis Boersma
$2B
● Travis Boersma is the cofounder and executive chairman of Oregon-based coffee
chain Dutch Bros.
● Boersma took Dutch Bros public on the New York Stock Exchange in September
2021; he owns more than 60 million shares.
● He and his late brother Dane (d. 2009) started selling coffee from a pushcart in
Grants Pass, Oregon in 1992 after quitting the family dairy business.
● Dutch Bros added the first of its now popular drive-through locations in 1994, and
now has more than 600 shops in 14 states.
● The company is known for its quirky culture; its baristas are called "broistas" and it
offers beverages such as the "Hot Annihilator."

Stephen Orenstein & family

$2B
● Stephen Orenstein is a German-American businessman who owns commercial real
estate in Germany, Italy, the U.K. and the U.S. plus a stake in German soccer team
Eintracht Frankfurt.
● He owns 75% of logistics firm Supreme Group, with the rest held by his business
partner Michael Gans. Supreme Group was the primary supplier of food and water to
the U.S. army in Afghanistan.
● The firm was founded in 1957 to supply food to U.S. military bases in Germany by his
father Alfred, a former U.S. army soldier. Orenstein took over in 1985 after his
father's death.
● In 2014, Supreme Group plead guilty to major fraud and paid $434 million in criminal
penalties to the U.S. Department of Justice for overcharging the military between
2005 and 2009.
● He also owns the Liva O, a 388-foot megayacht with a swimming pool and a helipad,
which was delivered in 2023.

Sandro Veronesi & family

$2B
● Sandro Veronesi is the president of Calzedonia, a hosiery and lingerie retail chain he
founded in 1986 in Verona, Italy.
● He got his start in the business by working for the Italian king of hosiery, Nerino
Grassi, at the Golden Lady Company.
● Today, his Calzedonia Group, with subsidiary brands Intimissimi, Tezenis and
Falconeri, boasts more than 5,300 stores in 56 countries.
● Veronesi is passionate about wine, and opened Signorvino, a chain of wine shops,
cafes and restaurants across Italy.

Edir Macedo & family

$2B
● Evangelical bishop Edir Macedo is the owner of Record, the second-largest
broadcasting company in Brazil.
● Macedo founded the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God in 1977, a
neo-Pentecostal religious denomination which now has branches in over 100
countries.
● One of the richest religious leaders in the world, Macedo also owns a majority stake
in the private Brazilian bank Banco Digimais.
● Macedo preaches "prosperity theology," which is the belief that the faithful will be
rewarded with material wealth.
● In 1992, Macedo spent 11 days in jail on accusations of charlatanism, an event that
features prominently in his self-financed documentary "Nothing to Lose."

Ana Lúcia de Mattos Barretto Villela

$1.9B
● Ana Lúcia de Mattos Barretto Villela is a member of one of Brazil's oldest banking
families.
● Her great-grandfather founded the bank Itaú, which merged with Unibanco in 2008 to
form Itaú-Unibanco, Latin America's biggest private sector bank.
● She is one of the largest individual shareholders of Itaúsa, the bank's holding
company, and is vice chairwoman of their board of directors.
● Her grandfather founded Duratex, a publicly-traded Brazilian maker of wood paneling
and bathroom fixtures; she is a shareholder.
● She became a shareholder of Itaú when she was 8 years old as her parents died in a
plane crash in 1982.
Jayme Garfinkel & family
$1.9B
● Jayme Brasil Garfinkel is the largest individual shareholder of Brazilian insurance
giant Porto Seguro.
● He was 26 when his family bought the small business in 1972.
● Garfinkel took a prominent position in the family business after his father passed
away in 1978, six years after he had acquired Porto Seguro.
● The company, one of the leading auto insurers in Brazil, went public in 2004.
Garfinkel was CEO until 2012.
● Garfinkel's son Bruno Campos Garfinkel is currently chairman of Porto Seguro's
board of directors.

Todd Wagner
$1.9B
● With business partner Mark Cuban, Todd Wagner joined the billionaire ranks after
selling video portal Broadcast.com to Yahoo in 1999.
● The $5.7 billion sale didn't just benefit Wagner and Cuban: their 300 employees
became millionaires.
● Wagner safeguarded his shares against the dot-com bubble's epic burst with put
options.
● Since then, Wagner and Cuban have continued to invest together in ventures such
as Magnolia Pictures, AXS TV and the Dallas Mavericks.
● He also founded and runs online fundraising platform Charity Network, which has
raised over $200 million for charity since it was started in 2014.
● Wagner sold his stake in the Dallas Mavericks in December 2023.

Marc Andreessen
$1.9B
● Marc Andreessen runs influential Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen
Horowitz, whose successful bets include Instagram, Oculus VR and GitHub.
● His first claim to fame was cofounding web browser firm Netscape, which AOL
bought in 1998 for $4.2 billion in stock.
● Andreessen's biggest score was as a seed investor in Facebook.
● He also cofounded Loudcloud, which, renamed Opsware, sold to Hewlett-Packard for
$1.6 billion in 2007.
● In June 2018, a16z raised raised $300 million for its first crypto-focused fund, led by
the firm's first female general partner, Katie Haun.

Pierre Karl Péladeau

$1.9B
● The son of Quebecor's founder, Pierre Karl Péladeau is the largest individual
shareholder in the media company, which prints Le Journal de Montreal.
● Péladeau has spent two decades as CEO, with a three year break between 2014 and
2017, and expanded the company into telecom, sports and entertainment.
● In 2015, he won and led the separatist Parti Québécois for nearly a year, before
resigning in May 2016.
● In February 2017, he returned as CEO of a very healthy Quebecor, as shares rose
70% during his political stint.
● Sister Anne-Marie sued Péladeau and his brother Erik over a 20-year-old agreement
to buy back her shares, and a judge awarded her $36 million in 2020.

Rubens Menin Teixeira de Souza

$1.9B
● Rubens Menin founded MRV Engenharia in 1979, and turned it into Brazil's leading
home builder; it trades on the São Paulo exchange.
● The company started in his home state of Minas Gerais and eventually spread to
Brazil's southern states.
● He is also the founder of Banco Inter, a Brazilian bank that went public in 2018.
● In January 2019, Menin announced the launch of CNN Brasil, a licensed brand,
which began operations in late 2019.
● A sports fan, Menin sponsors F1 racer Bruno Senna and years ago launched his own
tennis tournament in Brazil.

Terry Taylor
$1.9B
● Terry Taylor owns over 120 car dealerships in the U.S. through his majority stake in
Automotive Management Services Inc.
● Taylor first got into the car business working at his dads used Ford shop in Daytona
Beach, Florida.
● Taylor offers his dealership managers equity in his dealerships, usually around 25%.
● He owns several high profile properties, including Tommy Hilfiger's former New York
penthouse, and a private jet with his initials "TT" on the tail.

John de Mol
$1.8B
● Dutch entertainment mogul John de Mol is one of the biggest names in reality TV.
● With Joop van den Ende, he founded Endemol, the company responsible for
international hits "Deal or No Deal," "Fear Factor" and "Big Brother."
● De Mol sold Endemol for $5.3 billion to Spanish telecom giant Telefonica in 2000.
● In 2015, he sold most of his Talpa Media, creator of hit shows like "The Voice," to
British ITV for an initial cash payment of $545 million.

Jerry Moyes & family

$1.8B
● Jerry Moyes and his father founded Swift Transportation in 1966 with one truck,
moving cotton and imported steel between Arizona and California.
● Swift grew to nearly 20,000 trucks and some $4 billion in annual revenue before it
merged with Knight Transportation in 2017.
● Moyes owns nearly a quarter of the merged company, called Knight-Swift
Transportation.
● He stepped down as chairman of Swift in 2016, after 50 years in the business.
● Moyes owned the Phoenix Coyotes hockey team, with minority partner Wayne
Gretzky, until the team filed for bankruptcy in 2009 and was sold to the NHL.

Louis Le Duff
$1.8B
● Louis Le Duff got his start when he opened a combined restaurant-bakery in a
Quebec ski resort while studying abroad for his MBA.
● In 1976, he took the concept back to France and opened the first Brioche Dorée
bakery in Brittany with just $2,000.
● Groupe Le Duff operates more than 1,000 bakery and restaurant locations, including
La Madeleine French eateries chain in the U.S. and Del Arte in France.
● His restaurants now feed 1 million customers every day across 100 countries.
● Le Duff owned Bruegger's bagels chain until September 2017, when he sold it to
Caribou Coffee Company.

Jim Breyer
$1.8B
● One of Facebook's first venture investors, Jim Breyer made much of his fortune
investing in the social network.
● After 28 years at venture firm Accel Partners, Breyer now invests through his own
Breyer Capital and is betting big on artificial intelligence.
● He has invested in over 40 companies that have had successful IPOs or mergers,
including Etsy, Marvel Entertainment and Legendary Entertainment.
● Breyer is a trustee of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the American
Film Institute in Los Angeles and SFMOMA.
● Breyer's wife Angela Chao, a sister-in-law of U.S. senator Mitch McConnell, died in a
car accident in February 2024.

Terry Snow
$1.8B
● Canberra native Terry Snow is the executive chairman of Capital Airport Group,
which operates Australia’s Canberra Airport.
● He became a billionaire in 2017, thanks to a bumper increase in the value of his
property around the Australian capital city's main airport.
● He's invested more than $2 billion developing the airport and building office and
industrial parks on the 1,062 acres of surrounding land.
● After the family business was sold he used his share of the proceeds to buy the
99-year lease on the airport, paying just $40 million in 1998.
● In September 2023, Canberra Airport Group inked an agreement to acquire shares in
solar thermal power firm Vast Solar for up to $10 million.
Duncan MacMillan
$1.8B
● Duncan MacMillan cofounded financial data and media company Bloomberg LP in
1981 with Mike Bloomberg, Thomas Secunda and Charles Zegar.
● MacMillan left a job at investment bank Salomon Brothers to help Bloomberg with
what was then called Innovative Market Systems.
● He is credited with designing many of Bloomberg LP's computer systems.
● Bloomberg has estimated revenues north of $13 billion.

Herbert Allen, Jr. & family

$1.8B
● Herbert "Herb" A. Allen controls boutique investment bank Allen & Co., which
focuses on tech companies.
● Allen & Co. has had a hand in several large tech IPOs of the last decade, including
Twitter, Groupon and LinkedIn.
● The firm was founded as an investment partnership in 1922 by Allen's uncle Charles.
● Allen was reportedly named president of the firm's nascent underwriting business in
1966 at the age of 26.
● In the summer of 1982, Allen & Co. sold Columbia Pictures to the Coca-Cola
Company.

Robert Miller
$1.8B
● Robert Miller cofounded Duty Free Shoppers (DFS) in Hong Kong with fellow
American Charles Feeney and has co-owned it with LVMH since 1997.
● Born in the U.S., he has been a Hong Kong resident since 1960.
● He has three well-known daughters: Marie-Chantal, crown princess of Greece;
Alexandra von Furstenberg; and Pia Getty.
● He has donated millions to support the Hong Kong arts scene through the Asia
Society, where he is a trustee emeritus.

Sathien Sathientham
$1.8B
● Sathien Sathientham, previously known as Sathien Setthasit, is vice chairman of
Carabao Group, maker of Thailand's hugely popular Carabao Dang energy drink.
● Sathien founded the company in 2002 with his folk singer pal Aed Carabao and took
it public in 2014.
● Sathien is getting into large scale beer brewing with a $115 million investment in a
new brewery.
● Younger son Romtham is managing director of listed Carabao and older son
Veeratham is CEO of retail chain CJ Express.
● Carabao has a subsidiary to make packaging materials and a joint venture with a
Japanese partner to manufacture cans.
Carlos Sanchez
$1.7B
● Carlos Sanchez owns and runs privately-held generic drug firm EMS S.A., which was
founded by his late father.
● EMS S.A. sells prescription, generic, branded generic and over-the-counter products.
● In recent years, the company has benefited from adding drugs including generic
versions of Viagra and Lipitor to its sales arsenal.
● EMS was founded by Sanchez' father, Emiliano, in 1950 as a small pharmacy.
Sanchez inherited EMS at age 26 when his father died.
● Sanchez owns 75% of EMS; the rest is owned by the sons of his sister, who passed
away in 2009.

Andres Santo Domingo

$1.7B
● Andres Santo Domingo inherited a part of his father Julio Mario's multibillion dollar
stake in the beer giant SABMiller when he died in 2011.
● The bulk of his fortune is now in Anheuser-Busch InBev, following its $100 billion
acquisition of SABMiller in 2016.
● Santo Domingo is of Colombian heritage but has grown up and lived in the United
States for years. He graduated from Brown University in 2000.
● He sits on the boards of Conservation International and the New York Public Library.
● His brother, Alejandro, is a director at Anheuser-Busch InBev. His mother, Beatriz
Davila de Santo Domingo, is also a billionaire.

William Heinecke
$1.7B
● U.S.-born hotelier William Heinecke came to Thailand as a child and started his first
business before he turned 18, hence naming his company Minor.
● A Thai citizen since 1991, his Minor International has more than 530 hotels and
resorts, over 2,600 restaurants and 286 retail stores, spread across more than 60
countries.
● He tripled the size of his hotel portfolio by acquiring Spain's NH Hotels for $2.6 billion
in 2018, the year of Minor's golden anniversary.
● Minor also has franchises for such brands as Swensens, Sizzler, Dairy Queen and
Burger King.
● In January 2020, Heinecke ceded the CEO position to a Minor veteran. In 2021,
Minor expanded into China, partnering Funyard Hotels & Resorts.

Peter Sperling
$1.7B
● Peter Sperling stepped down as the chairman of the Apollo Education Group when it
was taken private in a $1.1 billion deal in February 2017.
● Sperling joined the company in 1983, about a decade after his father founded it.
● The for-profit education company became well-known for its online University of
Phoenix network.
● His father John Sperling, former San Jose State University professor, founded the
University of Phoenix in 1973.

Jorge Perez
$1.7B
● Jorge Perez runs Related Group of Florida, which claims to have developed more
than 80,000 condos, mostly in Miami, since it was founded in 1979.
● As a young urban planner, Perez met developer Stephen Ross, which led to a
partnership. Today Ross' affiliate Related Companies owns a 25% stake.
● They built affordable housing in the 1980s, then switched to high-end condo
construction.
● Perez has started diversifying where he develops, branching out elsewhere in South
Florida, as well as in Uruguay, Mexico and Argentina.

Kenny Troutt
$1.7B
● Kenny Troutt founded long-distance phone company Excel Communications in 1988
and took the company public in 1996.
● In 1998, Troutt sold Excel Communications to Teleglobe in a $3.5 billion deal and
reinvested the profits in stocks, bonds and horses.
● An avid horse racing fan, Troutt owns WinStar Farm in Versailles, Kentucky, breeder
of thoroughbreds including a Kentucky Derby winner.
● The son of a single mother who worked as a bartender, Troutt grew up in public
housing in Mount Vernon, Illinois.

Joe Rogers, Jr.

$1.7B
● Joe Rogers Jr. is the longtime chairman of Waffle House and the son of one of the
24-hour breakfast chain's cofounders.
● There are now 2,100 locations in 25 states and estimated annual revenue of over $1
billion.
● He was 26 in 1973 when he took the helm of the chain, which had two family
ownership groups, mounting debt and control of only 30% of the locations.
● Rogers consolidated ownership within his family, which now has a controlling share,
while ending the company's reliance on debt.
● Rogers also created an employee ownership plan that now provides 3,500 workers
(mostly hourly) with a piece of the business.

Kim Kardashian
$1.7B
● Kim Kardashian has parlayed reality TV stardom into a ten-figure fortune, the vast
majority of which comes from her stake in Skims, her shapewear business.
● Skims is worth $4 billion after a 2023 funding round. Its investors include billionaires
Stephen Mandel, Daniel Sundheim and Josh Kushner, who is Ivanka Trump's
brother-in-law.
● In 2020, Kardashian sold 20% of KKW Beauty, her cosmetics and fragrance
company, to publicly traded Coty for $200 million.
● Kardashian shut down KKW Beauty in 2021 and launched SKKN By Kim, a nine-step
high-end skincare collection, in June 2022.
● Kardashian divorced musician Kanye West in early 2022. They share custody of their
four children, and Kardashian reportedly paid $23 million to keep their Axel
Vervoordt-designed Hidden Hills mansion.

Don Levin
$1.7B
● Don Levin made a fortune in tobacco rolling paper.
● Levin's D.R.L. Enterprises owns Republic Brands and a group of companies that
owns a paper mill, a rolling paper manufacturing facility and iconic brands including
E-Z Wider, OCB and JOB.
● Born to a used car salesman, Levin was planning to be a car salesman himself until a
friend convinced him to buy a head shop in Chicago named Adams Apple.
● Most of the store's customers came in looking for rolling papers, so Levin started a
distribution company that sold rolling papers to smoke shops.
● In 2000, Levin bought iconic brands OCB and JOB from French paper magnate
Vincent Bolloré.
● Today Republic does more than $600 million in estimated annual revenue and is one
of the biggest players in the rolling paper industry.

George Joseph
$1.7B
● George Joseph is the founder of Mercury General, an insurance provider with $4.6
billion in annual revenues.
● After raising $2 million in capital, he started Mercury General in 1962 and offered
cut-rate deals to safer-than-average drivers.
● He owns 35% of the publicly-traded insurance firm, which offers automotive, home
and fire insurance.
● Raised in the midst of the Great Depression, Joseph was a flight navigator during
World War II.
● He graduated from Harvard with majors in math and physics in 1949.

Safra Catz
$1.7B
● Safra Catz has served as CEO of software firm Oracle since September 2014, when
founder Larry Ellison stepped down from the role.
● She joined Oracle in 1999 and is credited with spearheading Oracle's aggressive
acquisition strategy, helping close more than 130 acquisitions.
● Catz, who was born in Israel, earned a law degree at the University of Pennsylvania
and worked on Wall Street for 14 years covering the software industry.
● Catz and her husband Gal Tirosh gave $250,000 to President Trump's fundraising
committee in June 2020.

Katharina Andresen
$1.7B
● Katharina Andresen, born in 1995, is one of the world's youngest billionaires.
● She and her sister Alexandra, one year her junior, each inherited 42% of the
family-owned investment company Ferd.
● The sisters' father Johan still runs the company and controls 70% of the votes via a
dual-class share structure.
● Ferd runs hedge funds, is an active investor on the Nordic stock exchange and has
private equity investments.

Jorge Mas
$1.7B
● Jorge Mas is one of the most prominent Cuban American businessmen in the United
States.
● Mas is the largest shareholder and chairman of MasTec, a Miami-based
infrastructure engineering and construction company.
● In 1984, he started at his father's company, Church and Tower, which formed the
foundation of MasTec. At $12 billion in revenue in 2023, MasTec is one of the largest
Hispanic-owned U.S. firms.
● Mas cofounded Neff Rentals, a construction equipment and tool rental company,
which he sold in 2005 for a reported $510 million.
● He is also the managing owner of the Inter Miami CF Major League Soccer club.

Mike Repole
$1.6B
● Mike Repole cofounded sports drink BodyArmor in 2011 and serves as the
company's chairman.
● Coca-Cola bought 15% of BodyArmor in 2018, then purchased the rest in 2021 for
$5.6 billion, the company's largest acquisition of a brand.
● BodyArmor's investors included tennis star Naomi Osaka and the late Kobe Bryant,
who discovered the brand while rehabbing from a torn Achilles tendon.
● The son of a waiter and a seamstress, Repole studied sports management at St.
John's before working in sales for a small company, Mistic Beverage.
● Repole also cofounded Glaceau, maker of the popular brands Vitaminwater and
Smartwater, which he also sold to Coca-Cola in 2007.

Thomas Bruch
$1.6B
● Thomas Bruch's retail fortune derives from Globus, with roots dating back to 1828.
● Globus operates hypermarkets and DIY stores in Germany, Luxembourg, Russia and
Czech Republic. It employs almost 47,000 worldwide.
● Bruch owns about 38% of the holding company; the rest is distributed among other
family members, a family foundation and a charitable foundation.
● The charitable Globus Stiftung -- of which Bruch's wife, Graciela, is CEO -- holds
about 26% and will receive Bruch's stake after his death.
● In 2020, his son Matthias took over as managing director of Globus, representing the
sixth generation of the family to run the firm. He also holds 10% of the company.

Alexandra Andresen
$1.6B
● Alexandra Andresen and her sister Katharina, one year her senior, each inherited
42% of the family-owned investment company Ferd.
● Andresen's father Johan still runs the company and controls 70% of the votes via a
dual-class share structure.
● Ferd runs hedge funds, is an active investor on the Nordic stock exchange and has
private equity investments.

Sebastian Kulczyk
$1.6B
● Sebastian and his sister Dominika inherited a fortune from their father Jan, who died
in 2015 from complications of minor heart surgery.
● In 2018, the siblings divvied up assets, with Sebastian getting a stake in Autostrada
Eksploatacja, which maintains a major highway.
● He also took over the chemical business Ciech and shares in mining companies, the
latter of which he sold.
● Sebastian also founded and runs VC tech fund Manta Ray.

Richard Chang
$1.6B
● Richard Chang is vice chairman of Advanced Semiconductor Engineering.
● ASE is a world-leading provider of independent semiconductor assembling and test
manufacturing services.
● He and his brother Jason are the main investors in Chinese real estate developer
Sino Horizon.

Stanley Hubbard
$1.6B
● Veteran media mogul Stanley Hubbard helms Hubbard Broadcasting, which owns 13
TV stations and 57 radio stations across the U.S.
● Founded by Hubbard's father in 1925, the Minnesota-based company has expanded
its portfolio to include cable network Reelz.
● Hubbard grew up in the family business, working as prop person at 17, a
photojournalist in college and later moving into management.
Toto Wolff
$1.6B
● Toto Wolff is team principal and CEO of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula 1
Team. He owns 33%.
● Under his direction, Mercedes claimed eight consecutive Formula 1 Constructor's
Championships from 2014 to 2021, as well as seven consecutive Drivers'
Championships during that span.
● Wolff started as a banker, later shifting to investing by founding incubator-style
venture companies Marchfifteen in 1998 and Marchsixteen in 2004.
● In 2009, Wolff invested in the Williams F1 team and played a key role in their win at
the Spanish Grand Prix in 2012.

Gerald Schwartz
$1.5B
● Gerald Schwartz is the founder and chairman of Onex, one of Canada's largest
private equity firms, which he ran for 39 years before stepping down in May 2023.
● He got his start working with buyout legends Jerome Kohlberg, Henry Kravis and
George Roberts at Bear Stearns in the 1970s.
● The Americans left to start KKR in 1976; Schwartz went home to Canada and
cofounded the media company CanWest in 1977.
● In 1984, he started Onex, which now has $50 billion in assets under management
and offices in London, Toronto and the U.S.

John Bloor
$1.5B
● John Bloor is one of the largest builders in the UK through his Bloor Homes and also
owns Triumph Motorcycles, the iconic bike manufacturer.
● He reportedly left school at age 15 and began an apprenticeship as a plasterer, then
built his first house before turning 20.
● Now, the privately-held Bloor Homes puts up more than 3,500 homes every year.
● In 1983, he bought the manufacturing rights for Triumph motorcycles.
● He and son Nick have revamped the brand, which was made famous by riders like
Marlon Brando, James Dean and Steve McQueen.

Carmen Thyssen
$1.5B
● Carmen Thyssen inherited her fortune from her husband, Baron Hans Heinrich
Thyssen-Bornemisza, when he died in 2002.
● She owns an art collection being exhibited at the Thyssen Museum in Madrid that is
valued by the Spanish government at more than $1 billion.
● Carmen Thyssen, a former Miss Spain, married Hans Thyssen-Bornemisza, heir to a
German industrial fortune, in 1985; she was his fifth wife.
● Hans and his son Georg, now both deceased, settled a 3-year court battle over
control of the family's Monaco-based TBG Group months before the elder Thyssen
died in 2002.
● The Thyssen Museum exhibits the government-owned Thyssen Bornemisza
collection as well as the private collection of Carmen Thyssen.

Alan Gerry
$1.5B
● Alan Gerry started building a cable TV network in upstate New York in 1956.
● It became Cablevision Industries, which at its peak had 64 cable systems in 18
states.
● Gerry sold Cablevision Industries to Time Warner in 1996 for a reported $2.7 billion;
he pocketed an estimated $900 million.
● He used that money to start own venture capital firm, Granite Associates, in 1996 to
invest in emerging communications technologies.
● After a 17-year absence from cable, Gerry joined the advisory board of BCI
Broadband in 2013.

Peter Jackson
$1.5B
● Peter Jackson, a film director, is best known for his "Lord of the Rings" and "The
Hobbit" trilogies, which have grossed $6 billion worldwide.
● Jackson became a billionaire in November 2021 after selling a chunk of his Weta
Digital film effects shop to Unity Software for $1.6 billion in cash and stock.
● He made $10 million up front for each of the three "Lord of the Rings" films
(2001-2003), with at least another 10% of profits earned from each film's box office
receipts.
● For the "Hobbit" movies, he likely made $20 million per film with 20% backend.
● Jackson's Weta Digital used motion capture of the actor Andy Serkis to create the
now-iconic on-screen visualization of the character Gollum.

Carmen Daurella Aguilera

$1.5B
● Carmen Daurella owns nearly 4% of bottling company Coca-Cola Europacific
Partners, the largest independent Coke bottler by revenue.
● Coca-Cola European Partners was formed in 2016 as a merger of Coke bottling
companies from Spain, Germany and Coca-Cola Enterprises.
● Coca-Cola partnered with the Daurella family of Spain in the early 1950s to create its
first bottling plant in Barcelona.
● Carmen Daurella's husband Mario Rotllant Sola is a member of the board of
Coca-Cola Europacific Partners.
● Her cousin Sol Daurella, also a billionaire, is chair of Coca-Cola Europacific Partners
Chey Tae-won
$1.5B
● Chey Tae-won chairs the SK Group, Korea's second-largest conglomerate with
interests in telecom, semiconductors, chemicals and energy, among others.
● The group's SK Telecom is South Korea's no. 1 mobile carrier; its SK Hynix is the
country's second-largest chip maker.
● In 2013, he was convicted of misappropriating company funds but was later
pardoned by then-president Park Geun-hye and returned to his post in 2016.
● Chey is a nephew of SK Group founder Chey Jong-gun, who started the
conglomerate with a textile company called Sunkyong.

Bernd Freier
$1.5B
● Bernd Freier opened his first clothing store in Wuerzburg, Germany in 1969. He
named it Sir Oliver after the hero of Dickens' novel Oliver Twist.
● The company, whose name was later shortened to s.Oliver, initially focused on
standard mix-and-match casual fare.
● It has diversified into underwear, beachwear and nightwear, as well as licensing and
sub-labels for evening clothes and trend-focused collections.
● With annual sales of around $1.5 billion, s.Oliver now has more than 700 stores and
partner stores in over 20 countries.
● Freier stepped down as CEO in 2014, but took over again in 2018. He stepped down
once more in 2019.

Jimmy Rane
$1.5B
● Jimmy Rane is founder and CEO of Great Southern Wood Preserving, which makes
decks, fences and other treated lumber products.
● Rane is better known as "the Yella Fella," his cowboy alter-ego who appeared in his
company's TV commercials.
● He and his brother transformed the family's $22,000 (1971 sales) backyard treating
plant into a company with nearly $2 billion in annual sales.
● Rane started the Jimmy Rane Foundation in 2000, which has since awarded more
than 620 partial college scholarships.

Torstein Hagen
$1.5B
● Torstein Hagen started Viking Cruises in 1997, at age 54, with four riverboats in
Russia.
● He had previously served as CEO of upmarket cruise line Royal Viking. He was
forced to step down in 1984 after a failed bid to buy the company.
● Viking caters to wealthy, American retirees and has over 80 river cruise ships, which
primarily traverse Europe's major waterways.
● Hagen began to offer ocean cruises in 2015 and now has six, 930-passenger ships.
● Since 2016, Hagen has sold 23% of Viking Cruises to TPG Capital and the Canada
Pension Plan Investment Board for a total of $672 million.

Robert Mouawad
$1.5B
● Robert Mouawad inherited the family's eponymous high-end jewelry business that his
grandfather founded in Beirut in 1890.
● He turned over management of the business to his sons Fred, Alain and Pascal in
2010.
● Mouawad boasts one of the world's most dazzling gem collections, including
Dynasty, a 51.12 carat Russian diamond estimated at nearly $10 million.
● Robert Mouawad also owns extensive real estate and has developed luxury
residences on a man-made island in Bahrain.

Tyler Perry
$1.4B
● A director, actor, producer and writer, Tyler Perry is best known for his "Madea"
franchise, which has grossed more than $660 million.
● Perry started out in live theater in the 1990s and became extremely popular before
transitioning to film and television in the 2000s.
● Perry's wealth comes both from his cut as a producer and from a library dating back
to the early 1990s: he owns 100% of the content he's created.
● In 2019, he opened Tyler Perry Studios, a 330-acre property in Atlanta with 12 sound
stages and custom sets that include a to-scale White House.
● After seven years creating content for Oprah Winfrey's OWN, Perry struck a similar
deal with Viacom in 2019, getting 25% of streaming service BET+.

Charles Ergen
$1.4B
● Charlie Ergen is the cofounder and chairman of satellite and internet service
company EchoStar.
● Ergen first began selling satellite dishes out of the back of a truck in Colorado in
1980.
● In 1995, EchoStar went public and also launched its first satellite, birthing pay TV
subsidiary Dish Network.
● Ergen spun off Dish into a separate company in 2008 and remerged the businesses
in December 2023, again under the EchoStar name.
● Today, Dish Network has more than 8 million subscribers.

Jeffrey Lorberbaum
$1.4B
● Jeffrey Lorberbaum built Georgia-based Mohawk Industries into the largest flooring
company in the world; he owns a nearly 15% stake.
● His father Alan founded Aladdin Mills in 1957 as a maker of bathmats. Lorberbaum
joined the company in 1976 and later became CEO.
● In 1994, the family sold Aladdin to Mohawk Industries. Lorberbaum took charge of
Mohawk in 2001 and expanded into hard-surface flooring.
● The publicly traded flooring company is now in more than 170 countries and has
completed 54 acquisitions since it went public in 1992.

Alessandro Rosano
$1.4B
● Alessandro Rosano is the founder of HeyDude, a line of comfort shoes.
● He and his business partner and U.S. distributor, Daniele Guidi, sold the business to
Crocs for $2.5 billion in 2022.
● Before starting HeyDude, Rosano had launched a number of businesses, including a
wooden watch brand called WeWood and a line of wooden clogs with springs in their
heels that sold under the name Baldo.
● He grew up in Pistoia, Italy, a medieval city not far from Florence, and moved to Hong
Kong to run his businesses.
● With comfort shoes having a moment, HeyDude sales soared from $20 million in
2018 to $581 million in 2021, when Crocs agreed to buy the brand. Revenue for the
latest 12 months is now over $1 billion.

Frank McCourt
$1.4B
● Frank McCourt is an investor and entrepreneur with roots in his family's
Boston-based construction business founded five generations ago.
● In 2004, McCourt bought the Los Angeles Dodgers and sold the team for $2.2 billion
eight years later, the largest sports sale at the time.
● McCourt invested the proceeds into real estate, sports, tech and media through his
company McCourt Global.
● He stepped down as CEO of McCourt Global in January 2023 to focus on Project
Liberty, his $500 million commitment to fight for a safe, healthier internet.
● McCourt has also pledged $200 million to his alma mater, Georgetown, helping
establish the McCourt School of Public Policy.

David Paul
$1.4B
● David C. Paul is the founder and executive chairman of spine implant manufacturer
Globus Medical.
● A mechanical engineer by training, Paul moved to the U.S. from India to get his
master's degree at Temple University.
● Paul worked as an engineer for medical device giant Synthes before leaving in 2003
to start Globus.
● Paul took Globus public in 2012.
● In 2017, Paul stepped down as CEO due to a "health condition," according to a
company press release.

Jim Koch
$1.4B
● Jim Koch created Samuel Adams beer in 1984. Now chairman, he's known as a
founding father of the American craft brewery movement.
● A Harvard graduate, Koch quit his consulting job and began brewing beer in his
kitchen, using his great-great grandfather's 1870s recipe.
● The first batch Koch brewed was Boston Lager. He started selling the beer
door-to-door at Boston bars and restaurants.
● He took Samuel Adams' parent company, Boston Beer, public in 1995 and owns an
18.5% stake.
● Boston Beer's brands include Dogfish Head, Twisted Tea, Angry Orchard and Truly
Hard Seltzer.

Marie-Hélène Peugeot-Roncoroni & family

$1.4B
● Marie-Hélène Peugeot-Roncoroni owns part of Peugeot Invest, the investment
holding company of France's Peugeot family, which founded automaker Peugeot.
● She owns her stake through Établissements Peugeot Frères (EPF), a holding
company for the Peugeot family. She served on Peugeot Invest's board before
stepping down in 2022.
● EPF and Peugeot Invest own stakes in publicly traded automaker Stellantis;
automotive supplier Forvia; French bank Rothschild & Co.; and several other public
and private companies.
● The Peugeot family started a steel foundry in eastern France in 1810 and made its
first steam-driven car in 1889, going on to become one of the world's largest car
manufacturers.
● Peugeot merged with Italian automaker Fiat Chrysler Automobiles in a $52 billion
deal in 2021 to create Stellantis.

Robert Peugeot & family

$1.3B
● Robert Peugeot is the chairman of the board of Peugeot Invest, the investment
holding company of France's Peugeot family, which founded automaker Peugeot.
● He owns a stake in Établissements Peugeot Frères (EPF), a holding company for the
Peugeot family that owns most of publicly traded Peugeot Invest.
● EPF and Peugeot Invest own stakes in publicly traded automaker Stellantis;
automotive supplier Forvia; French bank Rothschild & Co.; and several other public
and private companies.
● The Peugeot family started a steel foundry in eastern France in 1810 and made its
first steam-driven car in 1889, going on to become one of the world's largest car
manufacturers.
● Peugeot merged with Italian automaker Fiat Chrysler Automobiles in a $52 billion
deal in 2021 to create Stellantis.

Petter Stordalen & family

$1.3B
● Petter Stordalen and his three children own Scandinavia's largest hotel chain, Nordic
Choice Hotels, which has 180 high-end hotels in five countries.
● In 2018, he signed over almost all ownership, but none of the control, of the hotel
chain to his kids; he has vowed to keep control until his death.
● Stordalen got his start working at his father's grocery store at age 10 and later helped
found one of Norway's largest commercial real estate firms.
● He married model-turned-physician Gunhild Stordalen in a lavish $5 million affair
officiated by Irish singer Bob Geldof in 2010.

Michael Tojner
$1.3B
● Michael Tojner bought German microbattery maker Varta in 2007 for $40 million and
floated the business on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in 2017.
● He has a 50% stake in Varta, which is reported to make the batteries for Apple
AirPod Pros.
● A serial entrepreneur, he has run an online gambling website, invested in real estate
and hotels and has investments in other industrial companies.
● He bought the Hotel InterContinental Vienna for 50 million euro in 2012, but local
opposition has stalled his efforts to redevelop it.

Ben Francis
$1.3B
● Ben Francis is the founder and CEO of Solihull, England-based sportswear brand
Gymshark.
● Francis sold a 21% stake to private equity firm General Atlantic in August 2020, in a
deal that valued the company at $1.45 billion; he owns 70%.
● He cofounded the company with his friend Lewis Morgan in his parents' garage in
2012 at age 19, when he was still a college student delivering pizzas.
● Gymshark grew thanks to partnerships with fitness influencers on social media,
paying them small amounts to wear the company's gear in their videos.
● The company also has an office in Denver and opened its first brick-and-mortar store
on London's Regent Street in October 2022.

Benedicte Find
$1.3B
● Benedicte Find is the daughter of the late Aage Louis-Hansen, founder of Danish
healthcare company Coloplast.
● Coloplast provides medical devices and services in the fields of colostomy,
continence and urology; products include colostomy bags and catheters.
● The company went public in 1983 and trades on the Copenhagen Stock Exchange.
Find owns approximately 4% of Coloplast stock.
● Her brother, Niels Peter Louis-Hansen, is Coloplast's deputy chairman. He is also a
billionaire.
● Find, an architect, is based in Copenhagen.

Markus Persson
$1.3B
● Markus "Notch" Persson made his fortune selling the rights to his game Minecraft to
Microsoft.
● In September 2014, after selling 15 million copies of Minecraft across gaming
consoles, Persson sold out to Microsoft in a $2.5 billion cash deal.
● Persson has since been jetting around the world while programming new games in
his spare time.
● An avid social media user, Persson has been open about the downsides of instant
success as he used Reddit to express loneliness.
● Persson has said he mostly spends money on computer gear and traveling, though
he bought a $70 million home in Beverly Hills in December 2014.

Peter Kelly
$1.3B
● Peter Kelly founded IT infrastructure provider Softcat in 1993, spending a reported
$44,400 and working out of his garden shed.
● Kelly, a college dropout, started out in sales at Xerox Corp.
● He took Softcat public in 2015 on the London Stock Exchange and owns just over
30% of the company.
● Kelly is known to offer his staff free breakfast and a weekly shirt-ironing service.

Michael Spencer
$1.3B
● Michael Spencer founded inter-broker dealer NEX Group (formerly ICAP), which was
acquired by CME Group in 2018 for $5.4 billion.
● After the half stock, half cash deal, Spencer was granted 3 million shares of CME.
● He now owns and runs private IPGL Group, which has more than £1 billion in assets.
● A loyal Tory, Spencer served as the Conservative Party's treasurer from 2006 to
2010.
● In 2020, Spencer was granted peerage by UK prime minister Boris Johnson and now
sits in the House of Lords.

Angela Bennett
$1.3B
● Angela Bennett's wellspring of wealth is her share of a royalty paid by mining giant
Rio Tinto on every ton of iron ore it mines in Western Australia.
● The royalty was negotiated by her father, Peter Wright, and his partner, Lang
Hancock, father of fellow Australian billionaire Gina Rinehart.
● Bennett holds a major stake in Wright Prospecting, which is in litigation with
Rinehart's Hancock Prospecting over various iron-ore properties.
● In 2009, Bennett sold her Mosman Park mansion in Perth for A$57.5 million, an
Australian record then and still a Western Australian record.
● Bennett's son Todd Bennett is the executive director of her private investment
company AMB Holdings.

Tiger Woods
$1.3B
● Tiger Woods has earned roughly $1.8 billion during his pro golf career, including a
PGA Tour-record $121 million in prize money. In 2022, Forbes certified him as a
billionaire, making him only the second active athlete ever with that distinction, after
LeBron James.
● Woods reached that rarified air despite reportedly turning down a "mind-blowingly
enormous" offer from the upstart LIV Golf tour, a deal that LIV CEO Greg Norman
told the Washington Post would have been in the "high nine digits."
● Woods has parlayed his golfing paychecks into investments that include two homes
on Jupiter Island, a golf-course design business and high-end mini-golf chain
Popstroke.
● Woods and fellow golf star Rory McIlroy announced in 2022 that they had founded
TMRW Sports, a tech-focused venture with plans to launch a new golf league called
TGL.
● The superstar is also a partner with Justin Timberlake and British billionaire Joe
Lewis in Nexxus, a luxury real-estate venture.

Darwin Deason
$1.3B
● Tech entrepreneur Darwin Deason sold his Affiliated Computer Services to Xerox in
2010 for $6.4 billion.
● The day after he graduated high school, the Arkansas native moved to Tulsa,
Oklahoma and got a job as a mail boy at Gulf Oil.
● Deason eventually joined Dallas data-processing firm MTech; he became its CEO at
age 29 after all but his division failed. He sold it in 1988.
● Within days of sale, he started ACS to handle computer and other business process
services for clients such as E-ZPass.

Drorit Wertheim
$1.3B
● David and Drorit Wertheim are the children of the late Moshe Wertheim (d. 2016)
who founded the Central Bottling Company, Israel's only Coca-Cola bottler.
● Before he died, Moshe Wertheim gave his children ownership over the company, as
well as his shares in Mizrahi Tefahot Bank and Alony Hetz.
● In 2018, David purchased all of his sister's shares in Alony Hetz, then sold them
because of Israeli anti-monopoly rules.
● In 2019, the siblings became majority shareholders in Mizrahi Tefahot bank.
● David controls 67% of the Central Bottling Company and manages the business
while Drorit owns the remaining shares.

Ivan Müller Botelho

$1.3B
● Ivan Müller Botelho is the chairman of the board of directors of publicly traded
Brazilian electricity utility Energisa.
● Müller Botelho is the third-generation descendant of one of the founders of Energisa;
the family has maintained control of the company since 1905.
● Energisa serves over 20 million customers in Brazil, controlling nine regional
electricity distribution companies.
● Müller Botelho's elder son Ricardo Perez Botelho currently serves as chief executive
officer of Energisa, while his younger son Maurício Perez Botelho is its chief financial
officer.
● Müller Botelho received a degree in electrical engineering from the University of
Miami.

Myron Wentz
$1.3B
● Myron Wentz is the founder of USANA, a multilevel marketing company that sells
nutritional supplements and skincare products.
● Wentz owns 41% of the business, which trades on the NYSE and makes $1 billion in
net sales. He took it public in 1996.
● In December 2019, he retired as USANA's chairman.
● Prior to USANA, he founded Gull Laboratories in 1974 to sell diagnostic tests to
hospitals and labs; he sold his stake in 1994 for $22 million.
● Wentz renounced his American citizenship in the mid-1990s. He now claims
citizenship in tax haven St. Kitts & Nevis.

Joop van den Ende

$1.3B
● Joop van den Ende is a Dutch entertainment mogul and theatrical producer who
founded Amsterdam-based Stage Entertainment in 1998.
● Advance Publications acquired Stage in 2018 for a reported price of about $1.1
billion (975 million euros). Prior to the sale, Van den Ende owned 40%.
● Van den Ende was Stage's sole owner until 2015, when CVC Capital Partners
reportedly bought a 60% stake for $550 million.
● Stage's original productions have included Rocky, Sister Act and Ice Age Live.
● In April 2021, van den Ende sold his 50% stake in the venture capital firm he created
in 2006 to its two other cofounders.
Manuel Lao Hernández & family
$1.3B
● Manuel Lao Hernández founded Cirsa, a multinational casino company. He sold it to
Blackstone for an estimated $2.6 billion (including debt) in 2018.
● He started the business in 1978 and expanded it to nine countries in Latin America
and Europe. He still owns Cirsa's Argentina operations.
● His three children all worked for the family business, which was based just outside of
Barcelona.
● Today, through his Nortia investment firm, Lao Hernández has interests in
infrastructure, real estate and leisure and entertainment.

Gary Magness
$1.3B
● Gary Magness's late father, Bob, started cable giant TCI, then merged with AT&T in
1999 in a $48 billion deal.
● He inherited half of the fortune (his late brother, Kim, got the rest) and now focuses
on off-road racing, movie producing and philanthropy.
● He collects vintage cars, owns cattle ranches in Colorado and invests in oil, gas and
real estate.
● His wife, Sarah Siegel-Magness, runs the couple's film company, Smokewood
Entertainment, which produced the Oscar winning "Precious."

Richard Desmond
$1.3B
● Richard Desmond founded Northern & Shell, which published the Daily Express
newspapers, OK! and Star magazines, and operates UK's Health Lottery.
● He was raised by his secretary mom in a garage apartment -- his parents divorced
after his dad, an advertising executive, gambled away their savings.
● Desmond started his first magazine, International Musician, at age 22 with a $60,000
loan, then became Penthouse's U.K. licensee.
● He expanded to titles like Asian Babes and Posh Housewives, then sold some
holdings and went mass market, launching OK! and buying Express Newspapers.
● In February 2018, he sold N&S's publishing arm, including its newspaper and
magazine titles, to rival Trinity Mirror for about $177 million.

James Jannard
$1.3B
● Jim Jannard founded sunglasses brand Oakley out of his car in 1975.
● He took Oakley public in 1995 and sold it to Luxottica in 2007 for $2.1 billion in cash.
● By then he was working on his next project, Red Digital, building high-resolution
cameras used in movies like "Avatar" and "The Hobbit." He agreed to sell the
business to Nikon in March 2024.
● He launched Red Hydrogen One, a holographic smartphone that was plagued with
issues, in 2018 but shut down the project in 2019.
Joseph Steinberg
$1.3B
● Joseph Steinberg is the chairman of Jefferies Financial Group, a New York-based
financial services firm best known for investment banking.
● He served as president of Leucadia National Corporation, an investment firm which
was often compared to a mini-Berkshire Hathaway, from 1979 to 2013.
● During his time at the helm, Leucadia purchased companies like National Beef and
helped finance Bill Ackman's Pershing Square Capital Management.
● In 2013, the firm merged with Jefferies and Steinberg became chairman. The
combined company changed its name to Jefferies Financial Group in 2018.
● Steinberg also serves as a director of Crimson Wine Group, which owns vineyards in
California, Oregon and Washington.

William Franke
$1.3B
● William Franke is the chairman of low-cost carrier Frontier Airlines and the owner of
air transport-focused private equity firm Indigo Partners.
● Raised in Latin America, Franke attended law school at Stanford and then worked as
an executive at firms including Valley National Bank and Circle K.
● He first got into the airline business as the CEO of America West Airlines from 1993
to 2001, turning the company into a low-cost carrier.
● He was an early investor in Ryanair; since starting Indigo Partners in 2002, he's
invested in several airlines including Volaris, Wizz Air, and Spirit.
● He took Frontier public in April 2021; eight months later in February 2022, the firm
announced a $6.6 billion merger with its rival Spirit Airlines.
● Spirit and Frontier terminated their merger agreement in July 2022, with Spirit
shareholders instead agreeing to a merger with JetBlue three months later.

Eduardo Voigt Schwartz

$1.3B
● Eduardo Voigt Schwartz is one of the largest individual shareholders of WEG, the
largest manufacturer of electrical motors in Latin America.
● The company was cofounded by his grandfather Werner Ricardo Voigt along with the
late Eggon João da Silva and Geraldo Werninghaus, who were billionaires.
● A publicly-traded multinational with factories in over ten countries, WEG had
revenues of approximately $6 billion in 2022.
● Eduardo does not hold a board seat or any executive position at WEG.

Mariana Voigt Schwartz Gomes

$1.3B
● Mariana Voigt Schwartz Gomes is one of the largest individual shareholders of WEG,
the largest manufacturer of electrical motors in Latin America.
● The company was cofounded by her grandfather Werner Ricardo Voigt along with the
late Eggon João da Silva and Geraldo Werninghaus, who were billionaires.
● A publicly-traded multinational with factories in over ten countries, WEG had
revenues of approximately $6 billion in 2022.
● Mariana does not hold a board seat or any executive position at WEG.

Sara Blakely
$1.3B
● Sara Blakely is founder and part owner of shapewear brand Spanx, which sells
undergarments, leggings, swimwear and maternity wear in over 50 countries.
● In late 2021, Blackstone bought a majority stake in Spanx in a deal that valued the
company at $1.2 billion.
● A onetime door-to-door fax machine salesperson, Blakely created Spanx at first
using pantyhose to wear under white slacks.
● She initially shilled her new invention, which became shapewear brand Spanx, on the
sales floor at various Neiman Marcus stores.
● While Spanx is a celebrity favorite, Blakely is becoming a celebrity herself. She was a
guest judge on 'Shark Tank' and had a cameo in 'Billions.'

Lisa Su
$1.3B
● Lisa Su, the CEO of semiconductor firm Advanced Micro Devices, has led one of the
greatest recent turnarounds in the technology sector.
● AMD's stock soared nearly 30-fold since Su became CEO in 2014 through early May
2023.
● Next, she's preparing for battle against Nvidia in the AI revolution, and expects to
keep winning.
● The daughter of a mathematician and a bookkeeper turned entrepreneur, Su was
born in Tainan, Taiwan, in 1969, and immigrated to New York City at age 3.
● After graduating from the Bronx High School of Science, Su went to MIT, where she
earned a bachelors (and later a PhD) in electrical engineering because it seemed to
be the most difficult major.
● She did stints at Texas Instruments, IBM and Freescale, then joined AMD in 2012
and became CEO two years later.

Richard Saghian
$1.3B
● Richard Saghian is the founder and CEO of fast fashion company Fashion Nova,
which generates some $2 billion in annual sales.
● The son of Iranian immigrants, Saghian started the company in 2006 after dropping
out of college.
● He offered hundreds of new clothing styles a week, promoted on Instagram by
influencers and celebrities like Cardi B.
● In 2018, Fashion Nova was the most Googled fashion brand, beating out the likes of
Louis Vuitton, Versace and Gucci.
● Saghian owns several properties in Los Angeles, including a sprawling hilltop estate
in Bel Air that he purchased for $141 million.

Paul Fireman
$1.3B
● Paul Fireman bought the US distribution rights for a British company in 1979, turned
it into Reebok and rode the sneakers & aerobics craze in the 80s.
● Nike pulled ahead in the early 1990s and shareholders demanded that Fireman step
down in 1996, which he eventually did.
● Fireman returned in 1999 and revived the business before selling it to Adidas for $3.8
billion in 2005, a deal that earned him $600 million.
● Fireman owns Liberty National Golf Course, a $250 million country club built on a
New Jersey landfill overlooking the Statue of Liberty.

Johan Johannson
$1.3B
● Johan Johannson and his family own nearly 75% of NorgesGruppen, the Norwegian
grocery store chain he inherited from his father and uncle.
● His father still oversees the company as chairman of the board; Johan has no role in
running the business.
● The company has been family run since it was founded in 1866.
● NorgesGruppen has more than 1,850 grocery stores and 650 convenience stores
and a nearly 40% market share in Norway.

David Fattal
$1.3B
● David Fattal founded Fattal Hotels, Israel's largest hotel organization.
● Fattal got his start as a waiter and bellboy and rose through management ranks
before starting Fattal Hotels in 1998 at age 41.
● He took the chain's parent company, Fattal Holdings 1998, public on the Tel Aviv
Stock Exchange in 2018.
● The company owns 41 hotels with more than 10,000 rooms in Israel. It also manages
253 hotels in Israel and Europe.
● Fattal owns nearly 53% of Fattal Holdings and nearly 9% of Mediterranean Towers,
which is also listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.

Horst Wortmann & family

$1.3B
● Horst Wortmann, Germany's shoe billionaire, established Wortmann KG in 1967 in
the city of Detmold in North Rhine-Westphalia.
● Considered the European market leader in women's fashionable shoes, its brands
include Tamaris, Marco Tozzi, Caprice, Jana and s.Oliver.
● Nephew Jens Beining developed "Agenda 2020" to prepare the company for future
challenges, with special focus on online retail.
● Heir apparent Beining, who assumed operational management control in 2016, owns
10% of the company.
● The company, operating under the umbrella of Wortmann Schuh-Holding KG, has
about 1,100 direct employees and an overall workforce of 30,000.

Michael Steinhardt
$1.3B
● A pioneer of the modern hedge fund, Michael Steinhardt closed his fund in 1995 after
making a fortune in the 1990s from stellar returns.
● He came out of retirement a decade later to help run WisdomTree Investments,
where he is still a leading shareholder.
● He retired as chairman of the board in October 2019.
● WisdomTree is a publicly traded asset manager that focuses on ETF investing.
● Steinhardt cofounded Birthright Israel, a foundation that provides funding for young
Jewish Americans to take heritage trips to Israel.

Josef Boquoi & family

$1.3B
● Frozen-food king Josef Boquoi presides over bofrost, which has approximately
11,000 employees, four million customers and $1.4 billion in revenue.
● He joined his father's small coffee- and grain-roasting firm in 1953, after receiving a
business degree and completing an apprenticeship in Hamburg.
● He founded bofrost in 1966 and its first refrigerated vans hit the streets of Germany
in 1969.
● He introduced new items and developed a business model based on freezing and
packaging a variety of fresh food and delivering direct to households.
● Today, bofrost, based in Straelen, offers upwards of 1,000 different foods in Europe,
delivered by a fleet of 5,500 sales vehicles.

Fumio Kaneko
$1.3B
● Fumio Kaneko is the president of waste management company Daiei Kankyo, which
he founded with three others in 1979.
● The company has expanded into waste recycling, power generation using waste and
soil remediation.
● Daiei Kankyo was listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in December 2022.
● The company reported $450 million in revenue in the fiscal year through March 2023.

Jahm Najafi
$1.3B
● Jahm Najafi is a Phoenix-based private equity investor whose portfolio includes
direct-to-consumer brands and minority stakes in sports teams.
● An Iranian by birth, Najfi's family immigrated to the U.S. when he was a child.
● After a stint on Wall Street and his older brother's Pivotal Group real estate firm,
Najafi launched his own investment firm, Najafi Companies.
● His most lucrative investment was a $100 million bet in 2003 on domain registrar
Network Solutions, which he sold for $800 million in 2007.
● Najafi acquired a 10% stake in the Phoenix Suns in 2009 for an estimated $43
million; that stake is now worth $400 million.

Martin Moller Nielsen

$1.3B
● Danish aviation entrepreneur Martin Moller Nielsen founded aircraft leasing firm
Nordic Aviation Capital in 1990.
● A quarter of a century later, he sold a 66% stake in it to private equity firms EQT and
Krikbi in a deal that valued the firm at $3.3 billion.
● He later brought on Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC as an investor and, in
2022, sold the last of his shares in NAC.
● Moller Nielsen now runs Axiom Group, his private family office that invests in areas
such as renewable energy and real estate.

Bruce Mathieson
$1.3B
● Bruce Mathieson operates his poker machine and pub empire Australian Liquor and
Hospitality in a joint venture with supermarket giant Woolworths.
● Mathieson is now a minority shareholder in the listed Endeavour Group, which holds
both the Australian Liquor assets and Woolworth's extensive liquor retailing business.
● In a board shakeup in January 2024, Endeavour's chairman resigned as well as
Mathieson's son, Bruce Mathieson Jr., who had a board seat.
● He has a fondness for racehorses and part-owned a horse that ran in the Melbourne
Cup.

Ulrich Mommert & family

$1.3B
● In 1982, Ulrich Mommert took over Austrian lighting company ZKW, which was then
on the brink of bankruptcy.
● He refocused ZKW on lighting technology for high-end automobiles, with clients such
as BMW, Mercedes, Porsche and Audi.
● In 2018, Mommert sold the company to South Korean firm LG for $1.2 billion.
● Mommert owns a horse racing team and a trotting track in Berlin-Mariendorf.

Christine Knauf
$1.3B
● Christine Brigitte Knauf is an heir to one of the world's leading producers of building
materials and systems, Knauf Gips KG.
● Based in Iphofen, Germany, the company employs more than 35,000 people around
the world and has annual revenue of over $11 billion.
● Its product line includes plasterboards, cement boards and insulating materials.
● Knauf Gips dates to 1932, when brothers and mining engineers Alfons and Karl
Knauf obtained rights to gypsum deposits in Schengen, Germany.
● Their original gypsum factory, on the Moselle River in the border region of
Luxembourg, Germany and France, is still the company's production nucleus.

Karl Knauf
$1.3B
● Karl Knauf is an heir to one of the world's leading producers of building materials and
systems, Knauf Gips KG.
● Based in Iphofen, Germany, the company employs more than 35,000 people around
the world and has annual revenue of over $11 billion.
● Its product line includes plasterboards, cement boards and insulating materials.
● Knauf Gips traces its roots to 1932, when brothers and mining engineers Alfons and
Karl Knauf obtained rights to gypsum deposits in Schengen, Germany.
● Their original gypsum factory, on the Moselle River in the border region of
Luxembourg, Germany and France, is still the company's production nucleus.

Michael Krasny
$1.3B
● Michael Krasny founded Computer Discount Warehouse (CDW) in 1984 as an online
store for IT products.
● In 2007, he sold the company to Madison Dearborn Partners for $7.3 billion and has
maintained a low profile ever since.
● Krasny is an active donor to Jewish causes and medical research through his Circle
of Service Foundation.

Seth Klarman
$1.3B
● Seth Klarman runs Boston-based hedge fund Baupost, which has $27.4 billion under
management as of March 2023.
● Klarman's book "Margin of Safety," a cult classic among value investors, sells for
about $1,700 on Amazon.
● Once a major donor to the Republican Party, Klarman publicly denounced Trump in
2016, and has been contributing to the Democratic Party.

Mohammed Ibrahim
$1.3B
● Mohammed "Mo" Ibrahim founded Celtel International in 1998, one of the first mobile
phone companies serving Africa and the Middle East.
● He sold Celtel to Kuwait's Mobile Telecommunications Company for $3.4 billion in
2005 and pocketed $1.4 billion.
● Since then, he's focused on fighting corrupt leadership in Africa through the Mo
Ibrahim Foundation, directed by his daughter Hadeel.
● Ibrahim also chairs the board of Satya Capital, a private equity fund that invests in
African businesses, education and healthcare.

Mathias Doepfner
$1.2B
● Mathias Doepfner is chairman and CEO of German media giant Axel Springer, which
is active in over 40 countries and employs more than 16,000 people.
● Axel Springer hired him in 1998 as editor-in-chief of its newspaper Die Welt. He
joined the company's executive board in 2000 and became CEO in 2002.
● His success in building revenue from digital activities, from under $150 million to
around $3 billion, helped earn the trust of controlling shareholder Friede Springer.
● To ensure continuity, in 2020, Friede Springer gave him a 15% stake in Axel Springer
and sold him an additional 4.1%. He was awarded additional stock and now owns
nearly 22%.
● Axel Springer went public in 1985. In 2020, it went private again in a KKR-funded
buyout that valued the company at around $8 billion.

LeBron James
$1.2B
● LeBron James is the first active NBA player to become a billionaire, with Forbes
estimating his net worth at $1 billion in June 2022.
● Born to a 16-year-old single mother, he lived with an assortment of family members,
friends and neighbors, plus his youth football coach, before being drafted by the
Cleveland Cavaliers in 2003.
● James has reportedly earned nearly $480 million in pretax salary from stints with the
Cavaliers, the Miami Heat and his current team, the Los Angeles Lakers.
● He has raked in upwards of $900 million (pretax) off the court, according to Forbes
estimates from business ventures and endorsement deals with the likes of PepsiCo
and Nike.
● Key to his billionaire status: James has been more than a pitchman, taking equity in
brands he works with, including Beats by Dre.
● His LeBron James Family Foundation opened its first elementary school in 2018 and
has pledged to spend more than $40 million to send kids to college.

Maria Frias
$1.2B
● Maria Cristina Frias is a journalist who inherited a third of Brazilian media giant Folha
de São Paulo from her father Octávio Frias in 2007.
● Her brother Luiz Frias, also a billionaire, runs the conglomerate and owns the
remaining bulk of the company.
● The siblings' late father acquired the precursor to Folha de São Paulo in the 1960s,
which was already one of Brazil's most popular daily newspapers.
Gabriel Escarrer & family
$1.2B
● Gabriel Escarrer founded Meliá Hotels International, now one of the world's largest
hotel chains, with a 60-room hotel when he was 21.
● Now in his late 80s, Escarrer sits atop an empire of more than 350 hotels and resorts
in 35 countries.
● In 2023, Escarrer resigned as Meliá's chairman, and was succeeded by his son
Gabriel Escarrer Jaume.
● Together with his family, Escarrer owns nearly 54% of publicly-traded Meliá Hotels
International.

Chung Yong-jin
$1.2B
● Chung Yong-jin is a grandson of Samsung Group founder Lee Byung-Chull and a
cousin of Samsung Electronics executive chairman Jay Y. Lee.
● The bulk of his fortune comes from Samsung Electronics and E-Mart, Korea's largest
discount retailer.
● In March 2024, Chung was promoted from vice chair to chairman of Shinsegae, a
retail conglomerate.
● In 2021, Shinsegae acquired Korean baseball team SK Wyverns (now SSG
Landers), winner of four championships, from the SK group for about $120 million.

Dick Wolf
$1.2B
● Dick Wolf is a writer and producer who created crime series Law & Order and built
Wolf Entertainment into one of television's most prolific companies.
● Law & Order first aired on NBC in 1990 and continues to have a near ubiquitous
presence across a variety of networks and streaming platforms.
● Wolf Entertainment's other programs include Law & Order: SVU, Law & Order:
Organized Crime, three Chicago shows (Fire, Med, P.D.) and three F.B.I. shows. He
produces 200 episodes per year.
● Wolf maintains a large art collection, even after donating 200 pieces of Baroque and
Renaissance art plus enough money to have two galleries named for him at New
York's Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Timothy Headington
$1.2B
● Inspired by his geologist father, Timothy Headington founded Headington Oil in 1978.
He sold his North Dakota oilfields to XTO Energy in 2008.
● He found a new passion in filmmaking and helped bankroll "Hugo," "Argo," "World
War Z," and the 2018 reboot of "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider."
● He has invested in downtown Dallas, where he owns the Joule Hotel and department
store 4510 and is partnering on a Virgin hotel with Richard Branson.
● After Oklahoma University, Headington earned graduate degrees in theology and
psychology at Fuller Theological Seminary.

Chung Mong-joon
$1.2B
● Chung Mong-joon is the largest shareholder of shipbuilder Hyundai Heavy Industries.
● He is the sixth son of the late Hyundai group founder Chung Ju-yung, who got his
start repairing trucks for the U.S. Army after the Korean War.
● Chung ran Hyundai Heavy Industries until he entered politics in 1988; he served
seven terms in the National Assembly.

Guy Laliberté
$1.2B
● In 1984, Guy Laliberté, a former street performer, cofounded Cirque du Soleil, which
would become one of the world's biggest entertainment companies.
● His empire began with a show, funded by $1 million from the Canadian government,
put on for the 450th anniversary of the discovery of Canada.
● The celebration went global, and the shows have been performed for more than 180
million spectators across more than 450 cities in 60 countries.
● He sold much of his 90% stake to U.S. private equity firm TPG Capital and Chinese
investment group Fosun in 2015, but kept 10% of the company.
● In 2020, Laliberté sold his remaining 10% stake in Cirque du Soleil to Quebec
pension fund CDPQ.
● He founded Lune Rouge in 2017, which develops and invests in projects in arts,
technology and entertainment.

Barbara Berlusconi
$1.2B
● Barbara is the daughter of Silvio Berlusconi, the media mogul and longest-serving
Italian prime minister in the post-war era. He died at age 86 in June 2023.
● Barbara is one of five heirs to media group Fininvest, which her father started in the
late 1970s and built into a national force, importing American shows like 'Baywatch'
to Italy.
● Her father Silvio, a three-time Italian prime minister, was convicted of tax fraud in
2014 and was initially banned from running for political office until 2019.
● She was the CEO of Italian soccer team AC Milan from 2013 to 2017, when her
father sold it to Chinese investors for $790 million.
● She joined the board of directors of Fininvest in 2003.

Eleonora Berlusconi
$1.2B
● Eleonora Berlusconi is the daughter of Silvio Berlusconi, the media mogul and
longest-serving Italian prime minister in the post-war era. He died at age 86 in June
2023.
● Eleonora is one of five heirs to media group Fininvest, which her father started in the
late 1970s and built into a national force, importing American shows like 'Baywatch'
to Italy.
● Her father Silvio, a three-time Italian prime minister, was convicted of tax fraud in
2014 and was initially banned from running for political office until 2019.
● Eleonora joined the board of directors of Fininvest in November 2023.
● She manages companies outside the family's empire, including jewelry design and a
fur and clothing business.

Luigi Berlusconi
$1.2B
● Luigi Berlusconi is the son of Silvio Berlusconi, the media mogul and longest-serving
Italian prime minister in the post-war era. He died at age 86 in June 2023.
● Luigi is one of five heirs to media group Fininvest, which her father started in the late
1970s and built into a national force, importing American shows like 'Baywatch' to
Italy.
● His father Silvio, three-time Italian prime minister, was convicted of tax fraud in 2014
and was initially banned from running for political office until 2019.
● He has served on the board of directors of Fininvest since 2012.

Christian Louboutin
$1.2B
● Christian Louboutin is a French fashion designer who cofounded his self-named
fashion brand, known for its signature red-soled heels.
● He started the firm in Paris in 1991 with his friends Bruno Chambelland and Henri
Seydoux. In 2021, they sold a 24% stake to Exor, the investment holding company of
Italy's Agnelli family, for about $650 million.
● His shoes became famous in the U.S. when they were featured by Sarah Jessica
Parker's Carrie Bradshaw in Sex and the City and have been name-dropped by Cardi
B and Drake.
● Today, Louboutin has more than 160 boutiques in 32 countries across 4 continents
and also makes men's shoes, bags and beauty products.
● In 2023, both Taylor Swift and Beyoncé wore Louboutins in their record-breaking
Eras and Renaissance tours.

Donald Friese
$1.2B
● Donald Friese's fortune stems from C.R. Laurence, which manufactures or distributes
more than 65,000 products for the glass industry.
● In 2015, he sold C.R. Laurence to a big customer, Oldcastle BuildingEnvelope, a
subsidiary of Irish conglomerate CRH, for $1.3 billion in cash.
● Friese grew up a poor orphan in rural Pennsylvania, going to work on a dairy farm at
age 12 before enlisting in the Army after high school.
● After a three-year tour, he moved to California with just $125 and landed in the
warehouse of C.R. Laurence, then a small distributor of supplies.
● He climbed the ladder, amassing equity in the company until he owned 100%, and
expanded by purchasing competitors and moving into manufacturing.

Larry Fink
$1.2B
● Larry Fink is the founder, CEO and chairman of powerhouse investment
management firm BlackRock, one of the world's largest asset managers.
● He and seven partners founded BlackRock in 1988. Originally it was part of The
Blackstone Group.
● BlackRock was spun off from Blackstone in 1994 and went public in 1999.
● Today Blackrock has $8.7 trillion in assets under management.
● Before starting BlackRock, Fink was a managing director at The First Boston
Corporation.

Nigel Austin
$1.2B
● Nigel Austin is the founder and majority owner of the Cotton On clothing and
stationery group. Its brands include Cotton On, Supre, Factorie and Typo.
● His company has grown rapidly in the past few years, expanding to 1,500 stores in
22 countries with estimated 2023 revenue of around $1.4 billion.
● About half of these stores are in Australia, while the other half are spread across
countries such as Singapore, South Africa and the U.S.
● Founded in 1991, Austin started selling acid-washed denim jackets from the trunk of
his car in his hometown southwest of Melbourne.
● Now it sells inexpensive fashion basics, including T-shirts, leggings, sweatpants,
shoes and underwear, as well as quirky stationery.

Gary Tharaldson
$1.2B
● Gary Tharaldson purchased his first Super 8 motel in 1982 in Valley City, North
Dakota.
● He has since built, owned and operated over 480 hotels, opening one new hotel per
month on average over 40 years.
● In 2006, he sold 130 hotels to Goldman Sachs for about $1.2 billion, which he
reinvested into land and commercial and residential developments.
● In 2008, he launched an ethanol facility near Fargo, North Dakota, which produces
over 175 million gallons per year.

Kenzo Tsujimoto
$1.2B
● Kenzo Tsujimoto is the chairman and CEO of Osaka gaming company Capcom,
which he founded in 1983.
● Capcom is known for popular video games such as Resident Evil, Monster Hunter
and Street Fighter.
● His eldest son Haruhiro Tsujimoto, is president and COO of Capcom while his
youngest son Ryozo Tsujimoto oversees Monster Hunter.
● Tsujimoto also owns the 3,800-acre Kenzo Estate in California's Napa Valley, of
which 125 acres have been developed into vineyards.

Helena Revoredo
$1.2B
● Helena Revoredo is chair of Prosegur, a Spanish private security company known for
its fleet of 10,000 yellow armored trucks and 150,000 employees.
● Her late husband, Herberto Gut, founded the company in 1976; Gut died in a car
accident in 1997.
● Her son Christian is Prosegur's CEO and her daughter Chantal Gut sits on the board.
● Prosegur, which went public in 1987, operates throughout Europe, Latin America and
Asia.
● Revoredo is involved in the Prosegur Foundation, which promotes education as well
as inclusion for people with intellectual disabilities.

Chris Ellison
$1.2B
● Chris Ellison is a veteran of the Australian mining sector, who draws his wealth from
a minority stake in listed Mineral Resources.
● The company mines both iron ore and a mineral called spodumene, which contains
lithium.
● In 2021, Mineral Resources together with U.S. lithium giant Albemarle reopened the
Wodinga mine in the Pilbara, in north-west Australia. It holds 29% of the world's
spodumene.
● Ellison was appointed non-executive chairman of lithium explorer Delta Lithium in
September 2023, after Mineral Resources increased its stake to 23%.
● Ellison grew up in a poor family in rural New Zealand where his father was a pig
farmer and later worked in a quarry.

Richard Fairbank
$1.2B
● Richard Fairbank is the chairman and CEO of Capital One Financial, a U.S. bank
known for its credit cards.
● He presided over the bank's creation in 1994, helping it branch out into credit card
and loan services.
● He owns just under 1% of the bank's shares and has sold hundreds of millions of
dollars of the stock over the years.
● He resides in the Washington D.C. area and is a part owner of the Washington
Capitals professional ice hockey team.
Aydin Dogan
$1.2B
● Aydin Dogan owns 29% of Dogan Holding, a public company active in oil distribution,
electricity production, real estate, tourism and e-commerce.
● He was once Turkey's biggest media boss but came into conflict with the policies of
the Turkish government.
● In 2018, he sold his portfolio (including TV channels Kanal D and CNN Turk, and the
newspapers Hurriyet, Posta and Fanatik) for around $1.1 billion.
● In 2012, he entered into a licensing deal with Donald Trump for an office tower and
shopping mall project in Instanbul.
● In 2019, he sold Trump Towers to publicly traded Dogan Holding for around $150
million.

J. Christopher Flowers
$1.2B
● J. Christopher Flowers runs private equity firm J.C. Flowers & Co., which focuses on
the financial services sector.
● Flowers studied math at Harvard and then joined Goldman Sachs in 1979, becoming
a partner in 1988.
● He struck out on his own a decade later and, in 2000, bought a beleaguered
Japanese bank, Long-Term Credit Bank, which had been nationalized in 1998.
● He resold the business to the public under the moniker Shinsei Bank in 2004; the
partners reaped $2.3 billion.
● In 2008, he helped advise Bank of America and Merrill Lynch on their merger.

Magic Johnson
$1.2B
● Earvin "Magic" Johnson is one of the greatest NBA players of all time. Forbes named
him a billionaire in October 2023.
● Johnson earned only around $40 million total as a Los Angeles Lakers player, mainly
in the 1980s, and even at his peak only brought in between $2 million and $4 million
per year in endorsements.
● Instead he built his wealth through joint venture partnerships in everything from
movie theaters, Starbucks franchises, real estate and healthcare.
● The majority of his fortune comes from a 60% ownership stake in life insurance
company Equitrust, which has grown from $16 billion in assets under management to
$26 billion since he took over in 2015.
● He also owns small ownership stakes in the NFL's Washington Commanders, MLB's
Los Angeles Dodgers, WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks and MLS' LAFC.

Ankur Jain
$1.2B
● Ankur Jain founded and runs home rental rewards startup Bilt Rewards, which raised
$200 million from private investors at a $3.1 billion valuation in January 2024.
● Bilt Rewards processes rent payments and enables renters to earn and redeem
points with airlines, hotels, gyms and restaurants.
● Jain, who is CEO, owns about 36% of Bilt Rewards, which is based in New York City.
● Jain previously cofounded Humin, an app that combined contacts, calendars and
more and was acquired by Tinder; he made the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in 2015.
● Jain's father, former Microsoft executive Naveen Jain, was briefly a billionaire in 2000
when shares of InfoSpace, the search engine he founded, peaked.

Anne Werninghaus
$1.2B
● Anne Marie Werninghaus is a major individual shareholder of WEG, the largest
manufacturer of electrical motors in Latin America.
● The company was cofounded by her grandfather Geraldo Werninghaus along with
late billionaires Eggon João da Silva and Werner Ricardo Voigt.
● A publicly-traded multinational with factories in over ten countries, WEG had
revenues of $6 billion in 2022.
● Anne doesn't work at the company or hold a board seat; she is the founder of
VestesBr, a short-lived B2B fashion marketplace launched in 2011.
● Anne is married and currently lives quietly in Joinville, a Brazilian city where
Germans once settled, not far from WEG's headquarters.

Vicente Boluda Fos

$1.2B
● Vicente Boluda Fos is the owner of Boluda Corporación Marítima, the second-largest
towage company in the world, based in Valencia, Spain.
● The firm was founded in 1837 and expanded to tugboats in 1920 under Boluda Fos'
grandfather. Boluda Fos took over in 1982 and expanded internationally.
● Boluda Corporación Marítima now owns more than 400 tugboats operating in 100
ports in 18 countries in Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America.
● The company also owns divisions in freight logistics, maritime terminals, mooring
services and maritime insurance.
● Boluda Fos also owns a stake in Bodegas Fos, a winery in the Rioja Alavesa region
of Spain's Basque Country.

Takaya Awata
$1.2B
● Takaya Awata is president and CEO of Tokyo-listed Toridoll Holdings, Japan's largest
operator of noodle restaurants.
● Awata opened his first yakitori grilled-chicken restaurant in 1985, after dropping out
of the Kobe City University of Foreign Studies.
● Toridoll has over 1,900 restaurants in Japan, China, Singapore, Europe and the U.S.
● The company posted $1.3 billion in revenue in the fiscal year through March 2023.
Toridoll plans to more than double its revenue over the next four years to $2.8 billion,
with 4,900 restaurants.
● In October 2021, the firm listed its Tam Jai International, an operator of Chinese
noodle restaurants that it acquired in 2018, on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Benny Suherman
$1.1B
● Benny Suherman is a cofounder and the majority owner of Nusantara Sejahtera
Raya, which runs Cinema XXI, Indonesia's largest cinema chain.
● Cinema XXI operates nearly 1,300 screens in 240 locations across the country.
● Suherman took the company public in August 2023 in a $150 million IPO.
● His sons Suryo and Arif are Nusantara Sejahtera Raya's president director and
director, respectively; daughter Melia is commissioner.

Art Levinson
$1.1B
● Art Levinson has been chairman of the board of Apple since 2011; he owns more
shares of Apple than CEO Tim Cook.
● He was the CEO of successful biotech firm Genentech from 1995 to 2009 and served
as its chairman from 1999 to 2014.
● Levinson was also on the board of Google from 2004 to 2009. A few years later, he
was named CEO of Calico, a health company created by Google.
● He has authored or co-authored dozens of scientific papers and been named an
inventor on 11 U.S. patents.
● He has a Ph.D in biochemical sciences from Princeton.

Kenneth Tuchman
$1.1B
● Kenneth Tuchman is the founder and CEO of customer care outsourcing giant TTEC,
a public company operating on six continents.
● Tuchman's personal frustration with the way businesses approached customer
service led him to found the company in 1982.
● Today, Tuchman is the majority owner of the $2.4 billion (revenue) company, which
handles customer inquiries via phone, messaging and social media.
● Tuchman originally studied architecture at a junior college and dropped out to pursue
his own business ventures.

Carlos Pires Oliveira Dias

$1.1B
● Carlos Pires Oliveira Dias is the largest individual stakeholder of the Brazilian
drugstore company RD, formerly known as Raia Drogasil.
● The largest drugstore chain in Latin America by market cap, RD was formed in the
2011 merger of Droga Raia and Drogasil, the latter of which was founded by Carlos'
grandfather.
● Carlos continues to serve on the board of directors of RD, which operates over 3,000
stores across Brazil.
● He is married to Regina de Camargo Pires Oliveira Dias, one of the controlling
shareholders of construction and cement conglomerate Mover, formerly Camargo
Corrêa.

Forrest Preston
$1.1B
● Forrest Preston founded Life Care Centers of America in 1970 and has since made a
fortune with facilities that house and care for the elderly.
● The private firm operates over 200 nursing homes, assisted living facilities and
retirement living communities in 27 states.
● Preston is the CEO and sole owner of the company, which is based in Cleveland,
Tennessee.
● In 2016, the company agreed to pay $145 million to settle a government lawsuit
alleging that the firm had over-billed federal healthcare programs.
● In February 2020, an LCCA facility in Seattle became the epicenter of Washington's
Covid-19 outbreak as nursing homes across the country struggled.

Manny Stul
$1.1B
● Manny Stul took over a struggling company named Moose Toys in 2000. Sales have
soared since.
● Its Shopkins collectibles, inspired by grocery and department store items, with names
like Milk Bud and Kris P. Lettuce, are some of their best-known.
● He made a fortune building and selling a giftwares company. He then dabbled in
various ventures like organic farming before investing in Moose Toys.
● Stul tackled a logistics crisis triggered by the pandemic by chartering an entire ship to
transport products from China.

Kenneth Lo
$1.1B
● Kenneth Lo founded clothing manufacturer Crystal Group with his wife in 1970.
● He built a modest sweater factory into one of Asia's largest garment manufacturers,
with 80,000 employees at 20 sites around the world.
● Crystal's customers include Fast Retailing, Gap, Abercrombie & Fitch, Nike, Adidas
and Puma.
● Lo, whose fortune includes that of his wife and his son Andrew, is chairman of the
group while Andrew is chief executive.
● He is the eldest son of the late textile magnate Law Ting-pong. His brother is fellow
billionaire Law Kar Po.

Jonas Kamprad
$1.1B
● Ingvar Kamprad, who died in 2018, transferred the bulk of his Ikea empire to
foundations in the 80's, but kept enough to make his sons billionaires.
● Jonas and his brothers own Ikano Group, which was created to manage Ikea's real
estate and financial service businesses, but was spun out in 1988.
● Today, Ikano Group is a $9.1 billion (sales) company with interests in banking, real
estate and Asian shopping centers.
● Jonas, the middle child, studied industrial and furniture design in Switzerland and
applied his skills in Ikea-run subsidiary Habitat.
● He is a board member of Netherlands-based Ikea parent Stichting INGKA
Foundation and Ikano Group.

Mathias Kamprad
$1.1B
● Ingvar Kamprad, who died in 2018, transferred the bulk of his Ikea empire to
foundations in the 80's, but kept enough to make his sons billionaires.
● Mathias and his brothers own Ikano Group, which was created to manage Ikea's real
estate and financial service businesses, but was spun out in 1988.
● Today, Ikano Group is a $9.1 billion (sales) company with interests in banking, real
estate and Asian shopping centers.
● Mathias, the youngest brother, is a board member of Inter Ikea Holding, the owner of
the intellectual property assets.
● He sits on the board of Ikano Group and on the supervisory board of Interogo, a
Liechtenstein-based foundation that is the ultimate owner of Ikea.

Peter Kamprad
$1.1B
● Ingvar Kamprad, who died in 2018, transferred the bulk of his Ikea empire to
foundations in the 80's, but kept enough to make his sons billionaires.
● Peter and his brothers own Ikano Group, which was created to manage Ikea's real
estate and financial service businesses, but was spun out in 1988.
● Today, Ikano Group is a $9.1 billion (sales) company with interests in banking, real
estate and Asian shopping centers.
● Peter, the eldest brother, ran Ikea's Belgian operations for 12 years; he now sits on
the board of Ikano.
● Early in his career, Peter worked three years at a different Swedish retail giant,
fast-fashion company H&M.

Morris Kahn
$1.1B
● Morris Kahn cofounded Amdocs, a customer-relationship management-and-billing
software firm for large telecom outfits.
● He sold nearly $1 billion worth of shares after Admocs went public in 1998.
● A South African native, he lives on the Israeli coast and spends much of his time on a
100-foot yacht.
● Through his Aurum Ventures, Morris invests in life sciences and clean-tech
companies that he hopes will contribute to the wellbeing of the planet.
● He currently serves as the chairman of SpaceIL, which attempted to send the first
Israeli spacecraft to the moon in 2019.

Jean Madar
$1.1B
● Jean Madar cofounded French fragrance company Interparfums in 1982, along with
Philippe Benacin.
● The pair started the company out of business school after learning in class about the
high margins of the fragrance industry.
● They took the business public on the NASDAQ in 1988 at a $4 million valuation. It is
now worth more than $3 billion.
● Madar served as president of the company until 1993, when he became director
general of Interparfums' European subsidiary. He became CEO in 1997.
● Madar oversees Interparfums' U.S. operations, which account for 35% of net sales.

Gyorgy Gattyan
$1.1B
● Gyorgy Gattyan made the bulk of his fortune from porn site LiveJasmin.com. He is
also a cofounder of the International Teqball Federation.
● He founded the political party Megoldás Mozgalom (Solution Movement) prior the
2022 Hungarian election but failed to win any seats in Parliament.
● He co-founded the Hungarian Prima Primissima Award to celebrate achievements in
Hungarian culture and supports causes related to children in need.

Vera Rechulski Santo Domingo

$1.1B
● Vera Rechulski Santo Domingo is the widow of Julio Mario Santo Domingo Jr. (d.
2009), who was the son of Colombian beer baron Julio Mario Santo Domingo.
● She controls about 11% of the Santo Domingo family's Luxembourg-based holding
company, through which she owns shares in Anheuser-Busch InBev.
● Her two children, Tatiana Casiraghi and Julio Mario Santo Domingo III, own smaller
stakes of about 5% each.
● The family also owns a stake in Château Pétrus, a French wine estate near
Bordeaux that produces some of the world's most expensive wines.
● The family's public holdings include stakes in Keurig Dr. Pepper and Kraft Heinz.

Michael Andlauer
$1.1B
● Michael Andlauer has spent more than three decades running Canadian logistics
companies focused on healthcare, founding Andlauer Transportation Services in
1991 and Associated Logistics Solutions in 1994.
● Roughly 25 years later, he formed Andlauer Healthcare Group as a subsidiary of his
management company to move several healthcare supply-chain businesses under
one umbrella. It went public on the Toronto Stock Exchange in 2019.
● In 2004, he took over as majority owner of the AHL's Hamilton Bulldogs and oversaw
the club's 2007 Calder Cup victory.
● In 2009, he bought into the Montreal Canadiens and has served as the team's
alternate governor.
● After selling his AHL club in 2015, he bought the amateur Belleville Bulls and
relocated them to Hamilton, where they won the OHL championship in 2018 and
2022.

William Fung
$1.1B
● William Fung and his older brother Victor own a significant stake in Li & Fung, which
operates as a middleman between global manufacturers and retailers in the U.S. and
Europe.
● William stepped down as chairman of Li & Fung in 2020 when Victor's son, Spencer,
took the helm.
● In May 2020, Li & Fung was privatized through a deal worth $930 million.
● In August 2022, Danish shipping giant A.P. Moller-Maersk acquired the brothers'
logistics business, LF Logistics, for $3.4 billion.
● Their grandfather, Fung Pak-liu, founded Li & Fung with partner Li To-ming in 1906,
exporting porcelain and silk.

Nicolas Howley
$1.1B
● W. Nicholas Howley cofounded TransDigm through a 1993 leveraged buyout in which
he acquired four struggling aerospace units from his employer, IMO Industries.
● The Cleveland-based aerospace parts manufacturer has grown into a $7 billion
(sales) company through acquisitions of small companies that are the sole makers of
particular components.
● Howley has twice been called to testify before Congress over allegations the
company has overcharged the Pentagon for spare parts.
● His family foundation has provided scholarships to hundreds of low-income students,
primarily to attend Catholic high schools in Cleveland and Philadelphia.

Dora Voigt de Assis

$1.1B
● Dora Voigt de Assis is one of the largest individual shareholders of WEG, the largest
manufacturer of electrical motors in Latin America.
● The company was cofounded by her grandfather Werner Ricardo Voigt along with
late billionaires Eggon João da Silva and Geraldo Werninghaus.
● A publicly-traded multinational with factories in over ten countries, WEG had
revenues of approximately $6 billion in 2022.
● Dora does not hold a board seat or any executive position at WEG; she graduated
from university with an architecture degree in 2020.
Livia Voigt
$1.1B
● Livia Voigt is one of the largest individual shareholders of WEG, the largest
manufacturer of electrical motors in Latin America.
● At nineteen years old, she is now the world's youngest billionaire, taking the title from
EssilorLuxottica's heir Clemente Del Vecchio, who is just two months older.
● The company was cofounded by her grandfather Werner Ricardo Voigt along with
late billionaires Eggon João da Silva and Geraldo Werninghaus.
● A publicly-traded multinational with factories in over ten countries, WEG had
revenues of approximately $6 billion in 2022.
● Livia does not hold a board seat or any executive position at WEG; she is currently
attending university.

Allan Wong
$1.1B
● Allan Wong cofounded electronic toymaker VTech Holdings, which is also the largest
manufacturer of residential phones in the U.S.
● The company is headquartered in Hong Kong with manufacturing facilities in
mainland China, Malaysia and Mexico.
● He is an independent non-executive director of the Bank of East Asia and deputy
chairman of the board.
● He's also an independent non-executive director of China-Hongkong Photo Products
Holdings.

Stanley Motta
$1.1B
● Stanley Motta is a Panamanian investor with interests in aviation, banking, property,
insurance and duty-free retail.
● His holdings include Copa Airlines, Banco General, ASSA Compañía de Seguros,
MKH Capital Partners and Motta Internacional.
● Motta's interests in Central America include high end real estate and the Panama
Canal shipping terminal at Colon, as well as Costa Rica's largest pineapple
plantation.
● His philanthropic interests include the Nature Conservancy and his alma mater,
Tulane University.

Kevin Plank
$1.1B
● Under Armour founder Kevin Plank built a popular sportswear brand as the underdog
competitor to Nike.
● Noticing his football teammates' sweat-soaked shirts, Plank came up with a
lightweight, sweat-wicking shirt using fabrics from women's undergarments.
● In the mid-1990s, he sold his first shirts from his grandmother's basement,
exaggerating to early customers to make the company sound bigger.
● Plank, who stepped down as Under Armour's CEO in 2019 and is now chairman,
took the company public 2005; he owns a nearly 16% stake.
● He is building a 4 million-square-foot headquarters for Under Armour in Baltimore as
part of a larger development called Port Covington.

Christian Angermayer
$1.1B
● Christian Angermayer invests in life sciences, fintech, AI, psychedelics and
cryptocurrencies through his family office Apeiron Investment Group.
● He made his first millions cofounding biotech firm Ribopharma with his college
professors; he sold his stake when it merged with Alnylam in 2003.
● His Malta-based Apeiron owns shares in several publicly traded firms and private
companies in the U.S., Germany, Canada and Australia.
● His holdings include psychedelics biopharma firm Atai Life Sciences and blockchain
holding company Cryptology, alongside co-investor Mike Novogratz.
● He owns an extensive art collection that includes ancient artifacts highlighting the
role that psychedelics have played in human history.

Taylor Swift
$1.1B
● Taylor Swift became a billionaire in October 2023, thanks to the earnings from her
Eras tour and the value of her music catalog.
● Swift is the first musician to make the ranks solely based on her songs and
performances.
● Her fortune includes more than $500 million in estimated wealth amassed from
royalties and touring, plus a music catalog worth $500 million and some $125 million
in real estate.
● In 2021, Swift began releasing re-records of her first six albums in order to regain
their ownership rights.
● Demand for tickets to her 2023 Eras Tour overwhelmed Ticketmaster, prompting
members of Congress to question the company's hold on concert sales.

Antonio Gracias
$1.1B
● Antonio Gracias is the founder and CEO of Chicago-based growth equity firm Valor
Equity Partners, which has $16 billion in gross assets.
● In 1995, Gracias was in law school at the University of Chicago when he founded
Valor's predecessor, MG Capital.
● A major Musk loyalist, Gracias met Musk through a mutual friend around 2000; Valor
became one of Tesla's first institutional investors in 2005.
● Much of Gracias' wealth comes from his shares of Tesla, where he served as a
director from 2007 to 2021.
● He's known for operationally-involved investing, even sleeping on Tesla's factory floor
to work through manufacturing and supply chain issues.
Michael Gans & family
$1.1B
● Michael Jacques Gans is a Luxembourgish-American businessman who owns
commercial real estate in Dublin, London, Luxembourg and Manchester.
● He owns 25% of logistics firm Supreme Group, with the rest held by his business
partner Stephen Orenstein. Supreme Group was the primary supplier of food and
water to the U.S. army in Afghanistan.
● The firm was founded in 1957 to supply food to U.S. military bases in Germany by
Orenstein's father Alfred, a former U.S. army soldier. Gans joined the company after
Orenstein took over in 1985.
● In 2014, Supreme Group plead guilty to major fraud and paid $434 million in criminal
penalties to the U.S. Department of Justice for overcharging the military between
2005 and 2009.

Sam Altman
$1B
● Sam Altman is the CEO of OpenAI and a prolific venture investor.
● In 2005, he dropped out of Stanford to found social mapping company Loopt, which
sold in 2012 for $43 million; he used proceeds to seed his own venture fund.
● Around that time, Altman became a partner at startup accelerator Y Combinator, then
served as YC's president from 2014 to 2019.
● That year, Altman left YC to become CEO of OpenAI, now worth some $80 billion,
although he was briefly fired and rehired in 2023.
● He has no equity in OpenAI, and instead owes his wealth to his investments,
including stakes in Stripe, Reddit and nuclear fusion firm Helion.

Ric Elias
$1B
● Ric Elias is the cofounder and CEO of Red Ventures, the digital media company that
owns brands like CNET, Lonely Planet, Best Colleges and The Points Guy.
● He started Red Ventures with friend Dan Feldstein in 2000 and grew it by buying up
specialized websites.
● It bought personal finance site Bankrate for $1.4 billion in 2017 and paid $500 million
for product reviewer CNET in 2020.
● A Puerto Rico native, Elias has started multiple foundations, including Golden Door
Scholars, which provides scholarships to undocumented students.

Victor Fung
$1B
● Victor Fung and his younger brother William own a significant stake in Li & Fung,
which operates as a middleman between global manufacturers and retailers in the
U.S. and Europe.
● Victor chaired Li & Fung until William took over in 2012. Victor's son, Spencer,
became executive chairman in 2020.
● In May 2020, Li & Fung was privatized through a deal worth $930 million.
● In August 2022, Danish shipping giant A.P. Moller-Maersk acquired the brothers'
logistics business, LF Logistics, for $3.4 billion.
● Their grandfather, Fung Pak-liu, founded Li & Fung with partner Li To-ming in 1906
by exporting porcelain and silk.

Harvey Jones
$1B
● Investor and entrepreneur Harvey Jones joined the board of Nvidia when it was
founded in 1993 and has been a director ever since.
● Jones cofounded two tech companies, Daisy Systems in 1981 and Tensilica in 1997.
● In between, he was CEO and chairman of electronic design automation company
Synopsys, which now has a market cap of more than $80 billion.
● Now, Jones has just 0.03% of shares and is a billionaire based almost solely on
Nvidia director's compensation.
● He continues to invest as a venture capitalist through his firm Square Wave Ventures.

Philippe Benacin
$1B
● Philippe Benacin cofounded French fragrance company Interparfums in 1982, along
with Jean Madar.
● The pair started the company out of business school after learning in class about the
high margins of the fragrance industry.
● They took the business public on the NASDAQ in 1988 at a $4 million valuation. It is
now worth more than $3 billion.
● Benacin became president of the company in 1994 and has been the CEO of
Interparfums' European subsidiary since 2018.
● Benacin oversees the company's European operations, which account for 65% of net
sales.

Edouard Carmignac
$1B
● Edouard Carmignac founded Carmignac Gestion, one of Europe's largest asset
managers, in 1989.
● Carmignac owns 79% of the company, which now has over $40 billion in assets
under management; employees and executives own the rest.
● His daughter Maxime works at the company and is the heir apparent. His son directs
Foundation Carmignac and another daughter, Lucrece, is an actress.
● In 2019, Carmignac stepped back from managing Carmignac Patrimoine, which he
had run since 1989. He is chairman and chief investment officer.
● The Foundation Carmignac opened an exhibition space in 2018 to show nearly 300
art works on Porquerolles, an island off the south of France.

Hong Seok-joh
$1B
● Hong Seok-joh heads Korea's largest convenience store company, BGF Retail.
● Operating under the brand name CU, BGF boasts more than 8,000 stores.
● His sister, Hong Ra-hee, is the widow of the late Samsung Group chairman Lee
Kun-hee.
● Prior to his start in the business, Hong was a prosecutor.

Chang Pyung-soon
$1B
● Chang Pyung-soon is chairman of Kyowon Group, one of the biggest educational
companies in Korea, which he founded in 1985.
● With education and training centers in bucolic settings throughout South Korea,
Kyowon provides training programs to some 43,000 Kyowon staff members.
● He has diversified and the company now has interests in educational travel
programs, leisure activities, hotels and health foods.

Jonathan Oringer
$1B
● Jon Oringer started Shutterstock with $10,000 in 2003 to create a more affordable
way to supply stock photos.
● He took the photo service public in 2012 and served as its CEO until April 2020,
when he became executive chairman.
● Oringer owns nearly 32% of Shutterstock, which had 2023 revenues of $874 million.
● A serial entrepreneur, Oringer created one of the first pop-up blockers as a computer
science graduate student at Columbia University.
● In October 2020, he reportedly spent $42 million to buy a mansion in Miami Beach
and moved there from New York City.

John Oyler
$1B
● John Oyler is the CEO and cofounder of biotech outfit BeiGene. He owns about 5%
of the publicly traded company.
● BeiGene, which was founded in 2010 as a research and development firm, went
public on the Nasdaq in 2016 and listed in Hong Kong two years later.
● Before he cofounded BeiGene, Oyler helped start and then sell two companies in the
U.S. and China.
● He sold Telephia, a consumer telecom research firm he founded in 1997, to The
Nielsen Co. for $449 million in 2007.
● Oyler's next success came with drug discovery outsourcing company BioDuro, which
he founded in 2005 and sold to PPD Inc. for $77 million in 2010.
Michael S. Smith
$1B
● Michael S. Smith built Freeport LNG, a $15 billion complex on the Texas coast that
chills and exports liquefied natural gas.
● He made his first fortune with oil and gas company Basin Exploration, which he sold
in 2001 for $428 million.
● Enjoys homes in Miami Beach, Malibu and the Hamptons.
● Freeport LNG was originally envisioned as an LNG import terminal; when the shale
gas boom arrived, Smith turned his strategy 180 degrees.

Mark Jones
$1B
● Mark Jones is cofounder, chairman and CEO of Goosehead Insurance.
● Jones was a truck driver before getting an MBA from Harvard and landing a
consulting job at Bain.
● He married Robyn Jones, his teenage sweetheart, right out of high school, and she
raised the couple's six kids while he went to school and worked.
● Frustrated with Mark's road warrior lifestyle, Robyn started a property and casualty
insurance agency in 2003. Mark left Bain in 2004 to join her.
● They took Goosehead public in 2018. The Jones family owns more than a third of the
$261 million (2023 revenue) business, which has more than 1,000 franchises.

Robyn Jones
$1B
● Robyn Jones is the cofounder and vice chairman of Goosehead Insurance.
● The Alberta native married her teenage sweetheart Mark straight out of high school.
● She raised their six children while her truck driver husband went to college,
graduated from Harvard Business School and consulted at Bain.
● Frustrated with Mark's road warrior lifestyle, Robyn started a property and casualty
insurance agency in 2003. Mark left Bain in 2004 to join her.
● They took Goosehead public in 2018. The Jones family owns more than a third of the
$261 million (2023 revenue) business, which has more than 1,000 franchises.

Axel Stawski
$1B
● Real estate billionaire Axel Stawski founded Stawski Partners in 1973.
● The company owns six office buildings and three condos in Manhattan.
● He sold a residential tower project in Queens’ Long Island City for $200 million in
March 2022.
● Stawski was born in post-war Germany to Jewish parents who both survived the
Holocaust.
● He immigrated to the U.S. in 1971 to attend New York University.
Louis Bacon
$1B
● One of Wall Street's macro-trading legends, Louis Bacon cut his teeth as a
commodities and currencies trader, earning big profits in the 1987 crash.
● He created hedge fund Moore Capital in 1989 using trading profits and a small
inheritance.
● Bacon announced he was closing his hedge fund and returning outside investors'
money in November 2019, citing years of "disappointing results."
● Moore Capital still manages internal money and scored 70% returns in 2020 for
Bacon and his employees.

Richard Kurtz
$1B
● Richard Kurtz is the founder, CEO and controlling shareholder of The Kamson
Corporation, a privately held real estate management company.
● The Englewood, New Jersey-headquartered Kamson controls 75 multifamily
apartment buildings properties, across New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania,
Connecticut and South Dakota.
● Kurtz founded Kamson in 1976 after selling his New Jersey-based pizza chain, which
had 39 stores. His first property was a 62-unit apartment building in Trenton.
● In 2006, Kurtz bought the historic estate of industrialist Henry Clay Frick for $58
million in Alpine, New Jersey, an upscale neighborhood.
● Kurtz donated over $230,000 in support of Mehmet Oz's campaign for U.S. Senate in
the state of Pennsylvania.

Larry Silverstein
$1B
● Larry Silverstein is the chairman and founder of Silverstein Properties, a New
York-based real estate development firm.
● Silverstein Partners owns nearly 16 million square feet of office, residential and retail
properties in the U.S., including 7 World Trade Center in Manhattan.
● Silverstein signed a 99-year lease on the World Trade Center towers for $3.2 billion
in July 2001, seven weeks before the 9/11 attacks.
● Silverstein Properties and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey ultimately
received a $4.55 billion insurance payout and built new towers on the site.
● The firm developed the 7, 2 and 3 World Trade Center office towers. A fourth
building, 5 World Trade Center, will be a residential high-rise when it's complete.

Scott Watterson
$1B
● Scott Watterson is the cofounder of Logan, Utah-based fitness equipment maker iFIT.
He stepped down as CEO in February 2022, but remains the chairman.
● The firm makes interactive treadmills, bikes and other machines and offers fitness
content under brands like NordicTrack and ProForm and the iFIT app.
● Watterson and his college buddy Gary Stevenson started iFIT, then named Weslo, as
college students at Utah State in 1977.
● iFIT raised $200 million from Bernard Arnault-backed private equity firm L Catterton
in October 2020 at a $7 billion valuation.
● The company filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a potential IPO
in August 2021, but withdrew in April 2022.

Oliver Samwer
$1B
● Oliver Samwer and his brothers Alexander and Marc founded Berlin-based tech
incubator Rocket Internet in 2007 and took it public in October 2014.
● Oliver is the middle brother and the CEO of Rocket Internet, which delisted from the
Frankfurt Stock Exchange in October 2020.
● Together, the Samwers own around 45% of Rocket. The company was valued at
more than $8 billion at the time of its IPO.
● Inspired by the dot-com boom, they created a German auction site, Alando, in 1999
and sold it to eBay for $43 million after a few months.
● That was followed by the creation of mobile phone content provider Jamba!, which
they sold to Verisign in 2004 for $273 million.

Apoorva Mehta
$1B
● Apoorva Mehta is the executive chairman and founder of Instacart, a San
Francisco-based grocery delivery firm most recently valued at $13 billion.
● Born in India, Apoorva lived in Libya before moving to Canada, where he eventually
studied engineering at the University of Waterloo.
● He worked as an engineer at Blackberry, Qualcomm and Amazon before leaving his
job to be an entrepreneur in 2010.
● He came up with ideas for around 20 products (none worked out) before starting
Instacart in 2012.
● With Instacart, customers order groceries online from brick and mortar stores, then
they are packed and delivered by an Instacart shopper.

Dulce Pugliese de Godoy Bueno

$1B
● Dulce Pugliese de Godoy Bueno and Edson de Godoy Bueno, who died in February
2017, founded health insurance and medical care firm Amil in 1972.
● Dulce Pugliese and Edson Bueno, who were married when they cofounded Amil,
later divorced. Dulce kept her roughly 33% ownership stake at Amil.
● Amil's IPO was in 2007. It became Latin America's largest health care company,
providing medical care and discount pharmacy coverage to millions.
● Giant U.S. health insurer United Health Group purchased 90% of Amil in 2012 for
$4.9 billion in cash.
● She owns a 48% stake in Dasa, a publicly-traded chain of medical laboratories.
Pedro Bueno, her stepson, became CEO of Dasa in 2014.

Tory Burch
$1B
● Fashion mogul Tory Burch's preppy-chic lifestyle brand sold an estimated $1.75
billion worth of clothing, shoes, accessories and fragrances in 2022.
● Now boasting more than 370 locations around the world, the company is currently
focused on expanding its presence in Asia.
● In 2019, Burch became executive chairman and chief creative officer of the fashion
company that bears her name.
● Pierre-Yves Roussel, a former LVMH executive and Burch's husband, took over the
CEO position.
● The art history grad worked for designers Ralph Lauren and Vera Wang before
opening a boutique in New York City's Nolita neighborhood in 2004.

Luigi Cremonini & family

$1B
● Luigi Cremonini supplies hamburger meat to McDonald's and Burger King in Italy and
other countries through his privately-held Inalca SpA.
● Born to poor farmers in an Italian village near Modena, Cremonini got his start by
opening a small butcher shop in 1963.
● Beginning in the late 1970s, he diversified into cured meats, distribution and catering
and within a decade expanded the business internationally.
● Today, Cremonini Group employs more than 19,500 workers all over the globe and
generated $5.6 billion in revenues in 2022.
● Its catering arm Chef Express sells food on trains in Europe, Turkey and Russia,
including the Eurostar service between London and Paris.

Alexander Knauf
$1B
● Alexander Knauf is an heir to one of the world's leading producers of building
materials and systems, Knauf Gips KG.
● Based in Iphofen, Germany, the company employs more than 35,000 people around
the world and has annual revenue of over $11 billion.
● Its product line includes plasterboards, cement boards and insulating materials.
Alexander has served as managing director since 2012.
● Knauf Gips dates to 1932, when brothers and mining engineers Alfons and Karl
Knauf obtained rights to gypsum deposits in Schengen, Germany.
● Their original gypsum factory, on the Moselle River in the border region of
Luxembourg, Germany and France, is still the company's production nucleus.
Martin Knauf
$1B
● Martin Bernhard Knauf is an heir to one of the world's leading producers of building
materials and systems, Knauf Gips KG.
● Based in Iphofen, Germany, the company employs more than 35,000 people around
the world and has annual revenue of over $11 billion.
● Its product line includes plasterboards, cement boards and insulating materials.
● Knauf Gips dates to 1932, when brothers and mining engineers Alfons and Karl
Knauf obtained rights to gypsum deposits in Schengen, Germany.
● Their original gypsum factory, on the Moselle River in the border region of
Luxembourg, Germany and France, is still the company's production nucleus.

Robert Knauf
$1B
● Robert Matthias Knauf is an heir to one of the world's leading producers of building
materials and systems, Knauf Gips KG.
● Based in Iphofen, Germany, the company employs more than 35,000 people around
the world and has annual revenue of over $11 billion.
● Its product line includes plasterboards, cement boards and insulating materials.
● Knauf Gips dates to 1932, when brothers and mining engineers Alfons and Karl
Knauf obtained rights to gypsum deposits in Schengen, Germany.
● Their original gypsum factory, on the Moselle River in the border region of
Luxembourg, Germany and France, is still the company's production nucleus.

Danilo Iervolino
$1B
● Danilo Iervolino is an Italian entrepreneur who founded online university UniPegaso
in 2006, one of the first to be established in Italy.
● Iervolino started UniPegaso at age 28 and grew it to become the largest in Italy,
serving more than 120,000 students.
● He sold his company Multiversity, which includes UniPegaso, to private equity firm
CVC Capital Partners for $1.3 billion in October 2021.
● Since selling UniPegaso, Iervolino has purchased Italian soccer team Salernitana.
● He also invests in Italian tech startups, both independently and through a startup
accelerator and venture capital funds.

James Truchard
$1B
● James Truchard cofounded National Instruments, a supplier of testing and
measurement equipment and software for scientists and engineers, in 1976.
● A Texas native, he got a PhD in electrical engineering from the University of Texas,
Austin in 1974.
● He launched National Instruments while working as managing director of the
acoustical measurements division at the university's applied research lab.
● He retired as chairman in 2019. National Instruments was acquired by manufacturing
giant Emerson Electric in 2023.

Richard Yuengling, Jr. & family

$1B
● Dick Yuengling, fifth-generation owner of D.G. Yuengling & Son, turned his family's
struggling brewery into one of America's largest beer makers.
● When he bought out his father in 1985, the company was producing 137,000 barrels
per year; now it pumps out some 2 million barrels annually.
● After dropping out of Lycoming College, Yuengling joined the business but soon
walked out following an argument with his father about modernization.
● He spent 11 years running a beer distributorship peddling Yuengling and its
competitors to local bars and stores before buying his father out in 1985.
● He quickly upgraded his packaging, equipment and distributor network, then struck
gold with Yuengling Lager, today responsible for about 85% of sales.
● Yuengling's four daughters work at the brewery and are being primed to take over the
company.