Forbes lists state’s richest

The inventor of Rockstar energy drinks. The founders of Best Buy and SlimFast. A chewing gum tycoon. The man who holds the reins to the Marvel Comics universe.

These are some of the 34 Florida residents who made the 2018 Forbes 400, the annual list of the richest Americans. Most of them reside in Palm Beach, although six of the Florida billionaires do live in the 305, including condo king Jorge M. Pérez, Miami Heat owner Micky Arison, auto vendor Norman Braman and airline magnate Rakesh Gangwai.

A total of 57 women (up from 55 last year) made the list, including Cargill partowner Katherine Tanner of Marathon.

The top five richest of the rich remain unchanged from the 2017 list, but the order is different. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos (net worth: $160 billion) takes the top spot from Microsoft’s Bill Gates ($97 billion), who fell to No. 2.

Bezos’ fortune — up an astonishing $78.5 billion from last year — marks the first time anyone on the list has cracked a 12-figure sum.

Rounding out the top five: Berkshire Hathaway’s Warren Buffett ($88.3 billion), Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg ($61 billion) and Oracle software’s Larry Ellison ($58.4 billion).

The youngest person on the list is 28-year-old Snapchat co-founder Evan Spiegel, with a net worth of $2.3 billion. The oldest is 95-year-old Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone, with $4.8 billion.

The average net worth of the people on this year’s list rose to a record-setting $7.2 billion, up $500,000 from 2017.

Floridians on the list

The wealthiest Floridian on the list, coming in at No. 22, is Palm Beach’s Thomas Petterffy ($20.2 billion), founder and CEO of International Brokers Group, the electronic brokerage firm.

Here is the complete rundown of the other Florida billionaires on the list, ranked in order of appearance. Some individuals share the same position on the list because their respective fortunes are the same size.

Miami Beach-based hedge fund investor and Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper (No. 38, $11.6 billion); Carnival Corp. chairman and Miami Heat owner Micky Arison (No. 49, $9.4 billion); auto parts magnate and Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shahid Khan (No. 65, $7.6 billion), who lives in Naples; former Cargill CEO Whitney MacMillan (No. 85, $6.3 billion), who lives in Vero Beach.

Naples-based Reinhold Schmieding (No. 104, $5.9 billion), the orthopedic surgical tools magnate; Palm Beach’s Charles B. Johnson (No. 134, $5 billion), former chairman of the mutual fund company Franklin Resources; Hobe Sound’s J. Christopher Reyes and his brother Jude Reyes of Palm Beach, the beer and food distribution tycoons (No. 136, $4.9 billion); the aptly named frozen foods manufacturer Robert Rich Jr. (No. 136, $4.9 billion) of Islamorada; Palm Beach’s Dirk Ziff (No. 143, $4.8 billion), of Ziff Davis publishing fame.

Hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones II (No. 153, $4.5 billion) of Palm Beach; petroleum engineer Terrence Pegula (No. 153, $4.5 billion), of Boca Raton; Rockstar energy drink founder Russ Weiner (No. 153, $4.5 billion) of Delray Beach; Plantation’s Nick Caporella (No. 163, $4.4 billion), founder of National Beverage Co., which makes LaCroix sparkling water; Best Buy founder Richard Schulze (No. 163, $4.4 billion) of Bonita Springs.

Comic-book bigwig Isaac Perlmutter (No. 168, $4.3 billion), chairman of Marvel Entertainment, of Palm Beach; real estate developer Igor Olenicoff (No. 177, $4.1 billion) of Lighthouse Point; Tom Golisano (No. 223, $3.5 billion), founder of payroll giant Paychex, of Naples; real estate developer Jeff Greene (No. 232, $3.4 billion) of Palm Beach; pharmaceutical investor Randal Kirk (No. 271, $3 billion) of Lake Worth.

Shopping mall developer Edward DeBartolo Jr. (No. 280, $2.9 billion) of Tampa Bay; chewing gum king William Wrigley Jr. (No. 280, $2.9 billion) of North Palm Beach; pharmaceutical investor Phillip Frost (No. 316, $2.6 billion) of Miami Beach; Boston Red Sox and Boston Globe owner John Henry (No. 316, $2.6 billion) of Boca Raton.

Jorge M. Pérez (No. 316, $2.6 billion), chairman and CEO of the real estate development firm Related Group, of Miami; investor C. Dean Metropoulos (No. 328, $2.5 billion), who rescued ailing food and beverage brands such as Twinkies and Pabst Blue Ribbon, of Palm Beach; auto dealer Norman Braman (No. 344, $2.4 billion) of Miami; Disney on Ice and Monster Jam owner Kenneth Feld (No. 344, $2.4 billion) of Sarasota.

Airline magnate Rakesh Gangwai (No. 354, $2.3 billion) of Miami; hair-care products tycoon Todd Christopher (No. 368, $2.2 billion) of Clearwater; Netscape co-founder James Clark (No. 368, $2.2 billion) of Palm Beach; SlimFast founder S. Daniel Abraham (No. 383, $2.1 billion) of Palm Beach; Katherine Tanner (No. 383, $2.1 billion), part-owner of Cargill, the largest food company in the world, of Marathon.