By Kerry A. Dolan and Luisa Kroll
Thanks to a buoyant stock market, the richest people in the U.S. just keep getting richer. That has made it harder than ever to join the ranks of the 400 wealthiest Americans. The price of entry to The Forbes 400 this year is $1.55 billion, the highest it’s been since Forbes started tracking American wealth in 1982. Last year it took $1.3 billion to score a spot. Because the bar is so high, 113 U.S. billionaires didn’t make the cut.
Bill Gates is the richest American for the 21st year in a row, with a net worth of $81 billion. The Microsoft Microsoft chairman’s stake in the software company he cofounded accounts for just under 20% of his total net worth. His friend Warren Buffett, chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway Berkshire Hathaway, occupies the number two spot on the 400 (he’s been number 2 since 2001) with a net worth of $67 billion. Larry Ellison, who just announced that he was giving up the CEO role at Oracle, the software firm he founded, comes in at number three, with a net worth of $50 billion.
In a record year for American wealth, 113 billionaires don’t make the cut.
Facebook cofounder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg is now the 11th richest person in the U.S., and the biggest dollar gainer on the list. His fortune soared to $34 billion, up $15 billion since last year, due to a sharp rise in the price of the social network’s shares. In percentage terms, Nick Woodman, founder of wearable video camera company GoPro, jumped the most, with a 200% increase in his net worth since last year, to $3.9 billion. GoPro went public in June; the stock has been on a tear as more people buy GoPro cameras and strap them onto bike helmets, surfboards, scuba gear and more.
All together the 400 wealthiest Americans are worth a staggering $2.29 trillion, up $270 billion from a year ago. That’s about the same as the gross domestic product of Brazil, a country of 200 million people. The average net worth of list members is $5.7 billion, $700 million more than last year and a record high. An impressive 303 of the 400 saw the value of their fortunes rise compared to a year ago. Only 36 people from last year’s list had lower net worths this year. Twenty-six people fell off the list; another six people died, including businessman and Tampa Bay Buccaneers owner Malcolm Glazer.
There are 27 newcomers to the Forbes 400, including Elizabeth Holmes the youngest woman on the list, and the youngest self-made female billionaire in the world. Just 30 years old, the Stanford University dropout has built blood testing company Theranos into a firm that venture capitalists have valued at $9 billion. She owns 50% of it.
In a record year for American wealth, 113 billionaires don’t make the cut.
The Youngest Billionaires On The Forbes 400: 11 Under 40
METHODOLOGY
This is the 33rd year of the flagship Forbes 400. Though we’ve been at it a long time, it’s still always a challenge. Our reporters dig deep. This year we started with a list of more than 600 individuals considered strong candidates and then got to work.
When possible we met with list candidates in person; we spoke with dozens of billionaires this year. We also interviewed their employees, handlers, rivals, peers and attorneys. We pored over thousands of SEC documents, court records, probate records, federal financial disclosures, and Web and print stories. We took into account all types of assets: stakes in public and private companies, real estate, art, yachts, planes, ranches, vineyards, jewelry, car collections and more. We factored in debt. Of course, we don’t pretend to know what is listed on each billionaire’s private balance sheet, although some candidates did provide paperwork to that effect.
Some billionaires who preside over private companies were happy to share their financial figures, but others were less forthcoming. A few even threatened to sue. To value these businesses we coupled revenue or profit estimates with prevailing price-to-revenue or price-to-earnings ratios for similar public companies.
We didn’t include dispersed family fortunes. Those appeared on our America’s Richest Families list, which came out in July. We did include wealth belonging to a member’s immediate relatives if the wealth could be traced to a single living person. In that case you’ll see “& family” on the list.
Our estimates are a snapshot of each list member’s wealth on Sept. 12, when we locked in net worth numbers and rankings. Some of The Forbes 400 will become richer or poorer within weeks—even days—of publication.
Special thanks to Orbis by Bureau van Dijk, Real Capital Analytics and dozens of other sources who helped us with our reporting and valuations including the following:
Andy Hargreaves, Pacific Crest Securities
Ben Carlos Thypin, Real Capital Analytics
Berry Fennell, Lipper Corp.
Biederman Real Estate and Auctioneers
Brad Thomas, KeyBanc Capital Markets
Brian Sponheimer, GAMCO Investors, Inc.
Chuck Cerancosky, Northcoast Research
Clayton Press, Linn Press Art Advisory Services
Cliff Leimbach, IHS iSuppli
Daniel Lesser, LW Hospitality Advisors
Gary Bisbee, RBC Capital Markets
GP Bullhound
Greg Warren, Morningstar
Hans Mosesmann, Raymond James
Harris Roen, Swiftwood Press
Jack Russo, Edward Jones
James J Albertine, Stifel
Jason Wangler, Wunderlich Securities
Jeffrey M. Blaeser, Morgan Joseph TriArtisan
Jinming Liu, Ardor Capital Investments
Lance Vitanza, CRT Capital
Liang Feng, Morningstar
Lynne Collier, Stern Agee and Leach
Mark Gulley, BGC Financial
Mark Howard, IHS iSuppli
Marysol Nieves, Christie’s
Matt Wokasch, Green Street Advisors
Matthew Tarpley, Massey Knakal Realty Services
Michael Waterhouse, Morningstar
Michael Wong, Morningstar
Nicholas Mitchell, North Coast Research
Nik Modi, RBC Capital Markets
Peter Keith, Piper Jaffray
Peter Slatin, Slatin Group
Privco
Robert D. Straus, Gilford Securities
S. Craig Cognetti, Grail Partners
Sharon Zackfia, William Blair
Sven Del Pozzo, IHS Energy
Timothy Landhuis, Staffing Industry Analysts
Vincent Caintic, Maquarie Group
Zak Brown, justmarketing .com
The Forbes 400 team:
Editors: Kerry A. Dolan and Luisa Kroll with Abram Brown
Reporters: Dan Alexander, Liyan Chen, Agustino Fontevecchia, Chris Helman, Max Jedeur-Palmgren, Alex Morrell, Andrea Murphy, Carl O’Donnell, Natalie Robehmed, Katia Savchuk, Sandhya Subbarao, Chloe Sorvino, Tom Van Riper, and Nathan Vardi
Additional editing: Dan Bigman
Additional reporters: Kurt Badenhausen, Erin Carlyle, Kathryn Dill, Daniel Fisher, Russell Flannery, Alex Konrad, Ryan Mac, Zina Moukheiber, Joann Muller, Clare O’Connor, Chase Peterson-Withorn, Dorothy Pomerantz, Brian Solomon
Research: Sue Radlauer
Photo Research: Merrilee Barton, Gail Toivanen
Database: Dmitri Slavinsky, Louie Torres, Kyle Rogers, Ken Barney
Designers: Nina Gould, Kai Hecker, Johnny McCampbell, Joseph Pietruch
Product: Andrea Spiegel, Audrea Soong, Katheryn Thayer
Producer: Kate Pierce
Video: Will Sanderson, Meg Christensen, Kirsten Taggart, Greg Andersson, Amanda Tallini, Kelly Appleton, Tim Pierson
Follow us on Twitter at @KerryDolan and @LuisaKroll and @AbeBrown
