Just How Rich are America's Wealthiest People?

America's wealthiest

The land of opportunity where capitalism reigns supreme, the USA boasts more ultra-high-net-worth individuals than any other nation on the planet.

Needless to say, Americans dominate Forbes's definitive list of the planet's billionaires too. 

Read on as we profile the 30 wealthiest Americans right now, based on the latest real-time data from Forbes as of 28 June 2023.

30. Lukas Walton: $23 billion

Walmart is the world's largest company by revenue and the Walton family remains the retail juggernaut's major shareholder.

The grandson of late company founder Sam Walton, Lukas Walton has a nearly 4% stake in the business through inheritance after his father John died in a plane crash in 2005.

The 36-year-old, who also owns shares in First Solar and Arvest Bank, is one of several billionaires in the family, as well as one of four Waltons to feature in our top 30.

29. Thomas Frist Jr and Family: $23.7 billion

Former Air Force flight surgeon, physician, and businessman Thomas F. Frist, Jr. is one of the co-founders of HCA Healthcare, started in 1968 and one of the nation’s first investor-owned hospital companies.

He still owns more than 20% of the company that has thousands of locations across the US and the UK, including 187 hospitals. 

Frist's philanthropy is largely based on his own foundation in his hometown of Nashville, and includes establishing the Frist College of Medicine at Belmont University, which is in alliance with HCA Healthcare.  

28. Thomas Peterffy: $25.3 billion

Hungarian-born self-made billionaire Thomas Peterffy was broke when he arrived in the US in 1965 but went on to fulfil the American Dream, and then some, by pioneering digital trading.

In addition to his role as chairman of Interactive Brokers, the firm he founded in 1993, Peterffy is one of the nation's leading landowners with some 560,000 acres in his portfolio – a holding that's larger than the size of New York City and LA combined.

27. Jim Simons: $28.1 billion

Dubbed the "Numbers King," hedge fund supremo and math genius Jim Simons revolutionized investing with the use of mathematical models and algorithms.

Renaissance Technologies, the quantitative trading hedge fund firm that Simons set up in 1982, has generated gains of more than $100 billion, making its founder very rich indeed.

A passionate philanthropist too, the finance guru has pumped $4 billion into good causes, from his Math for America non-profit to autism research.

26. Jeff Yass: $28.5 billion

A relative newcomer to the Forbes list of billionaires, Jeff Yass is cofounder of Wall Street trading firm Susquehanna International Group, which struck gold by investing in TikTok's parent company ByteDance in the app's early days.

This fantastically shrewd move has worked wonders on Yass's net worth, which currently amounts to $28.5 billion – a significant jump from the $12 billion he had when he first appeared on the Forbes list in 2021.

25. Stephen Schwarzman: $29.1 billion

Stephen Schwarzman is one of America's most successful and influential financiers. The self-made Wall Street luminary derives his multibillion-dollar fortune from Blackstone, the Big Apple-based private equity titan that he cofounded in 1985.

Describing itself on its website as the "world's largest alternative asset manager," Blackstone counts a staggering $991 billion in assets under management.

24. Len Blavatnik: $31.3 billion

Ukrainian-born Len Blavatnik has citizenship for the US, with his family having emigrated to America in 1978 when his home country was under Soviet rule, and currently lives in the UK. 

Blavatnik made his first fortune from Russian oil firm TNK-BP, from which he's since divested. The tycoon's numerous other interests currently include fat stakes in plastics colossus LyondellBasell and real estate platform Opendoor, not to mention majority ownership of Warner Music Group.

23. Ken Griffin: $32.6 billion

Ken Griffin is the founder and CEO of Miami-based trading company Citadel, which is currently managing around $57 billion in assets.

Last year, the wildly successful firm made a whopping $16 billion, the largest annual return on record. As might be expected, Griffin's wealth has skyrocketed in tandem, having more than doubled since 2021.

Like several others in the top 30, the financier is renowned for his philanthropy, with total lifetime donations of $1.56 billion so far.

22. MacKenzie Scott: $35 billion

MacKenzie Scott is also exceedingly generous with her fortune. The novelist ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Scott secured a 4% stake in the e-commerce and cloud-computing empire after the couple's 2019 divorce.

Having signed the Giving Pledge in May 2019, Scott has committed to giving away at least half her wealth during her lifetime. To date, the mega-philanthropist has parted with over $14 billion, which has gone to causes including the Girl Scouts of America and Habitat for Humanity.

21. Miriam Adelson & family: $35.8 billion

The widow of casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, Miriam Adelson inherited a majority stake in Las Vegas Sands, the gaming and resort company her husband founded and ran, after he died in 2021.

Born in Israel, Miriam Adelson is a physician specializing in addiction. As well as funding research into substance abuse, she's founded and bankrolled two rehab centers in Las Vegas and Tel Aviv.

Adelson is also notable for being among the Republican Party's biggest donors.

20. Jensen Huang: $37 billion

Born in Taiwan, Jensen Huang moved to the US as a child, and would go on to cofound computer chip giant Nvidia in 1993. 

The company went public in 1999, and is now one of the most valuable firms in the world, with a valuation that soared past the $1 billion mark earlier this year. Huang owns 3.6% of it. Its stock price nearly tripled during the pandemic, which is why Huang's net worth has skyrocketed from $4.7 billion in 2020.

Joint 18. John Mars: $39.6 billion

One of America's richest dynasties, the Mars clan owes its fortune to confectionery tycoon Forrest Mars Sr., who died in 1991. He bequeathed the eponymous candy and pet care giant – which was founded by his own father Franklin in 1911 – to his three children: Forrest Jr., John, and Jacqueline.

His two surviving children, John and Jacqueline, are the richest members of the family.

Joint 18. Jacqueline Mars: $39.6 billion

Jacqueline and her brother own a third of Mars Inc. each. The remaining third is split between the late Forrest Jr.'s four daughters Victoria, Valerie, Marijke, and Pamela, who are worth around $9.6 billion each as a result.

Jacqueline worked for the family firm for two decades, and her nieces Pamela and Valerie continue to play an active role in the business today.

17. Phil Knight & family: $43.6 billion

Together with his family, Nike cofounder Phil Knight owns a huge chunk of the world's number one sportswear company, which he set up with his former track coach Bill Bowerman for a mere $1,000 back in 1964. 

Fast-forward to 2023 and the firm is valued at nearly $75 billion. However, its value has faltered since fall 2021, when Knight's net worth was closer to $50 billion.

Charity-wise, the Nike chairman emeritus likes to give big, having donated $2.4 billion to date.

Joint 15. Julia Koch & family: $57.3 billion

In 2019, Julia Koch and her three children collectively received a 42% stake in Koch Industries after the death of her husband David, who was instrumental in making the privately-held conglomerate the enormous success it is today.

Now one of America's richest woman according to Forbes, the socialite and philanthropist sits on the boards of Koch Industries, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Joint 15. Charles Koch: $57.3 billion

The elder brother of the late David Koch, Charles is the long-time chairman and CEO of the aforementioned Koch Industries, which is involved in everything from oil refining and paper manufacturing to cloud computing and finance, and has an annual turnover of $125 billion.

A political megadonor concentrating on conservative causes, the business magnate is a major philanthropist, having funneled more than $1 billion to various causes. 

14. Michael Dell: $59.9 billion

Dell started out in 1984 when its namesake founder was a student at the University of Texas. The computer hardware firm went on to conquer the world and the Lone Star State company pulled in annual revenues of over $100 billion in 2022.

Michael Dell owns around half of the business and his wealth is managed by private investment outfit MSD Capital, which has interests in hotels and music.

One of the more generous billionaires in the top 30, the PC tycoon's total lifetime gifting totals around $2.43 billion.

13. Alice Walton: $62.5 billion

Walmart founder Sam Walton's only daughter Alice holds a 13% stake in the retail goliath, which provides her with plenty of money to pursue her passion for fine art.

In 2011, the heiress opened the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas, and has funded its many acquisitions. Among them are works by Andy Warhol, Georgia O'Keeffe, Jasper Johns, John Singer Sargent, and Mary Cassatt.

12. Rob Walton: $63.4 billion

Rob Walton is the first-born son of Walmart's late founder. Now retired from his role as company chairman, he owns 1.291 billion shares in the retailer, making him its third-biggest shareholder after Alice – she has 1.294 billion – and his younger brother Jim, who holds 1.298 billion.

Outside of Walmart, the multibillionaire has a major stake in Arkansas's Arvest Bank and part-owns the Denver Broncos NFL team.

11. Jim Walton: $64.8 billion

Walmart's biggest individual shareholder is unsurprisingly the richest Walton family member, Jim, who boasts a net worth of $64.8 billion.

As well as owning more shares than his siblings and other relatives, Jim Walton owns a larger stake in Arvest Bank than his brother, with his holding estimated at 44% against Rob's 25.5%. He also acts as chairman and CEO of the financial organization.

10. Michael Bloomberg: $94.5 billion

The former Mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg derives his fortune from the eponymous media and financial information company that he founded in 1981.

These days, however, the mogul devotes much of his time to charity and is among the nation's foremost philanthropists, having promised to give away the bulk of his fortune.

To date, he's donated a humongous $12.7 billion to a variety of mostly liberal causes, ranging from climate change and gun control to the arts and education.

9. Sergey Brin: $96.7 billion

Russian-born Sergey Brin cofounded Google with his Stanford classmate Larry Page in 1998, and the pair took the world's leading search engine firm public in 2004.

Brin relinquished his role as the chairman of Google's parent company Alphabet Inc. in 2019, but still owns 5.7% of the business.

Brin's also held stakes in Tesla and genetic-testing outfit 23andMe, and he's also a generous philanthropist, with donations to Parkinson's disease research exceeding $1 billion.

8. Mark Zuckerberg: $101.6 billion

Mark Zuckerberg's net worth has sunk since his fortune peaked at $142 billion in September 2021, which temporarily made him the world's third-richest person.

The Meta Platforms chairman and CEO owns around 13% of the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, which has seen its stock market value slump since the fall of 2021, though the firm's stock price has started to pick up again recently.

Together with his wife Priscilla Chan, Zuckerberg ranks among America's biggest philanthropists, and they've pledged $3 billion for disease control alone.

7. Larry Page: $101.7 billion

Brin's fellow Google cofounder also stepped down from his active role at Alphabet in 2019, resigning from the position of CEO but remaining a key shareholder.

Page's piece of the pie is fractionally bigger than Brin's at 6.1%, hence his larger net worth. And while the search engine tycoon has plowed an estimated $2 billion into his nonprofit foundation, not much of it has actually been donated to charity according to a 2019 investigation by Vox.

6. Steve Ballmer: $102.8 billion

CEO of Microsoft from 2000 to 2014, Steve Ballmer is thought to own 4.5% of the tech giant and derives the lion's share of his wealth from this significant stake.

Ballmer acquired the Los Angeles Clippers for $2 billion the same year that he quit Microsoft.

In addition to his hands-on role overseeing the NBA team, the former tech exec takes an active approach when it comes to philanthropy, having so far given away $2.9 billion to worthy causes.

5. Warren Buffett: $111.8 billion

The legendary "Oracle of Omaha," Warren Buffett will go down as one of the most savvy and successful investors in history.

As the chairman of Berkshire Hathaway and its largest shareholder, the man with the Midas touch owns a slew of lucrative businesses that range from GEICO to Dairy Queen. He also holds substantial stakes in world-famous companies such as Apple and Coca-Cola.

Like Bill Gates, Buffett has promised to give away the vast majority of his fortune and, according to Forbes, he's already doled out around $51 billion to good causes.

4. Bill Gates: $118 billion

Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates, who owns an estimated 1.3% of the company as well as numerous diversified holdings, is even more front-and-center when it comes to giving to charity. 

Along with his ex-wife Melinda, the software whizz chairs the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which is thought to be the world's largest private philanthropic organization.

Forbes reports that Gates has so far paid out $59 billion to good causes and has pledged to give away significantly more, with an emphasis on alleviating poverty, fighting inequality, and eradicating disease worldwide.

3. Larry Ellison: $147.3 billion

In 1977, Larry Ellison cofounded the company that would morph into Oracle – and he hasn't looked back since.

The software firm has mopped up a bunch of competitors over the decades and is now worth around $230 billion. Ellison, who resides on his very own Hawaiian island, holds 35% of the business and he also has 15 million shares in car maker Tesla.

2. Jeff Bezos: $153 billion

Officially the world's wealthiest person between 2018 and 2021, Jeff Bezos became the first individual to achieve a net worth of $200 billion when his fortune surpassed the magic number at the height of the pandemic in 2020.

Amazon, the e-commerce and cloud-computing behemoth he founded in 1994, has since come down from its COVID lockdown high, which explains the drop in Bezos's wealth – after all, he owns 9.7% of the company.

While not quite as generous as his ex-wife MacKenzie Scott, Bezos has nonetheless gave away $400 milion of stock to non-profits in 2022.

Richest. Elon Musk: $233.9 billion

Elon Musk is not only America's wealthiest individual but the world's.

The South African-born tech entrepreneur, whose net worth peaked in 2021 at an almost unfathomable $320 billion, has seen his fortune falter following his troubled takeover of Twitter in October 2022.

This has contributed considerably to the drop in value of his main concern, Tesla, with Musk owning 23% of the electric vehicle maker.

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