The Forbes 400
Pandemic be damned: America’s 400 richest people are wealthier than ever, up a collective 8%. Last year’s threshold for entry ($2.1 billion) holds, and even in these trying times, new mega-fortunes are still being minted.
PANDEMIC BE DAMNED: America’s 400 richest people are worth a record $3.2 trillion, up $240 billion from a year ago. It takes at least $2.1 billion—a figure unchanged for the past three years—to make the cut. Even in these trying times, mega-fortunes are still being minted. We welcome to the ranks 18 new members (and nine returnees) who made their pile in everything from electric trucks to the now-ubiquitous Zoom. Two from last year’s list died, and 25 dropped off as their fortunes fell; 10 of those setbacks were attributable to the Covid-19 crisis.
No. 29 RAY DALIO
Assets of Dalio’s hedge-fund giant, Bridgewater Associates, fell $30 billion, to $138 billion, in the first four months of 2020. Bridgewater laid off dozens of employees in July. Days later, a former co-CEO filed a lawsuit alleging that Bridgewater was withholding up to $100 million in compensation because she had publicly disclosed a genderdiscrimination dispute with the firm. Bridgewater said it’s working to resolve the matter.
No. 51 JENSEN HUANG
Shares of his graphics microchip maker, Nvidia, more than doubled since last year amid a push beyond gaming into AI and data centers. In April, Nvidia acquired Santa Clara, California–based Israeli-American networking-technology company Mellanox for $6.9 billion. Huang, Nvidia’s cofounder and CEO, is $5.6 billion richer than a year ago.
No. 66 SHAHID KHAN
Khan, who immigrated to the U.S. from Pakistan at age 16 with $500 and a plane ticket, launched All Elite Wrestling with his son in 2019; it aired its first weekly show last October and inked a four-year contract extension with WarnerMedia in January. Khan, who made his first billions with autoparts manufacturer Flex-N-Gate, also owns the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars and London’s Fulham FC soccer team.
No. 90 JACK DORSEY
In April, Dorsey, cofounder and CEO of both Twitter and Square, tweeted that he had transferred $1 billion of his Square stock into #startsmall, his new philanthropic entity—and, in a spirit of transparency, included a public spreadsheet tracking his donations. He says Start Small will focus on Covid-19 relief, women’s health and education and lobbying for a universal basic income.
No. 115 JUDY FAULKNER
Epic, Faulkner’s medical-records software giant, is tackling the pandemic head-on. Her Verona, Wisconsin–based firm is rushing to identify labs that could help with testing and distributing protective equipment in Wisconsin, in addition to giving away its telehealth and remote monitoring software. Faulkner is CEO of the $3.2 billion (2019 sales) company she founded in a basement in 1979. She intends to give 99% of her fortune to a private foundation within the next decade.
No. 161 LES WEXNER
In February, Wexner agreed to step down as chairman and CEO of holding company L Brands and sell the majority of Victoria’s Secret to private equity firm Sycamore Partners. The deal fell apart amid the pandemic, but Wexner, whose reputation had been sullied by his ties to his former money manager Jeffrey Epstein, still exited day-to-day operations in May. Wexner’s L Brands laid off 15% of its employees in July; Victoria’s Secret is shuttering 250 North American stores.
No. 186 TONY TAMER
Tamer and co-CEO Sami Mnaymneh (also a newcomer at No. 186) launched private equity firm HIG Capital in 1993. It now has $39 billion in assets. They excel at investing in midsized companies, like online women’s retailer Lulus and online high school yearbook vault Classmates. Born in Lebanon, Tamer and his wife, Sandra, endowed the Tamer Center for Social Enterprise at Columbia Business School in 2015.
No. 213 RUSS WEINER
The Rockstar Energy Drink founder cashed out in April, selling the $850 million (est. 2019 sales) business to PepsiCo for nearly $3.9 billion. Weiner told Forbes in March, as coronavirus cases were spiking, that the deal “shows the American dream is still alive and well.” He started Rockstar in 2001 with $50,000 of his own money. The drink is now sold in more than 30 countries.