39. SHEILA JOHNSON

$750 million  SOURCE: Cable TV AGE: 72 • RESIDENCE: The Plains, VA SELF-MADE SCORE:  The Black Entertainment Television cofounder is breaking ground on 49 luxury homes near her Salamander Resort & Spa in Middleburg, Virginia—one of five properties she operates in Virginia, South Carolina, Jamaica and Florida. Since selling BET to Viacom in 2001 for $3 billion, Johnson has also poured some money into the WNBA’s Washington Mystics, the NBA’s Washington Wizards and the NHL’s Washington Capitals.