The Arizona Republic

Forbes: Richest Arizonan, Carvana’s Garcia, is worth $5.3 billion

- Russ Wiles

Forbes has identified new leaders on its list of wealthiest billionair­es, both nationally and in Arizona.

Thanks to a surge in the value of Amazon.com shares, Jeff Bezos supplanted Microsoft executive Bill Gates to claim the No. 1 ranking nationally.

In Arizona, Ernest Garcia II claimed the top spot.

Full results are at forbes.com.

For the past two years, Arizona has had six people on the list. These are the wealthiest billionair­es in Arizona, according to Forbes:

1. Ernest Garcia II: $5.3 billion

Ernest Garcia II zoomed to the top on the heels of the strong stock-market performanc­e for Carvana, the online usedcar retailer, for which he is the dominant shareholde­r.

Garcia supplanted Bruce Halle, the owner of Discount Tire, who led the list for eight years but died in January. Halle had an estimated net worth of $4.6 billion in 2017.

Garcia, who also owns Drive-Time Automotive, was worth $5.3 billion, according to the latest estimate by Forbes in its ranking of 400 richest Americans, finishing first in Arizona and 127th overall.

2. Mark Shoen: $3.2 billion

Mark Shoen, who owns roughly onefifth of U-Haul Internatio­nal parent Amerco along with a self-storage business, placed second in Arizona with an estimated net worth of $3.2 billion.

He is in 251st place overall.

3. Arturo Moreno: $3 billion

Arturo Moreno, a former billboard executive who owns the Los Angeles Angels baseball team, has a net worth of $3 billion, and is in 271st place nationally.

4. E. Joe Shoen: $2.7 billion

E. Joe Shoen, another major Amerco owner, finished in 302nd place overall and fourth in Arizona with a net worth of $2.7 billion.

5. Bennett Dorrance: $2.6 billion

Bennett Dorrance, a real estate executive and Campbell Soup heir, has a net worth of $2.6 billion and is in 316th place nationally, according to Forbes.

6. Bob Parsons: $2.5 billion

Bob Parsons, founder of tech-company GoDaddy, came in 328th place nationally and sixth in Arizona with a net worth of $2.5 billion.

For the first time, Forbes estimated how philanthro­pic each of the billionair­es is. Among the Arizona contingent, Parsons got the only average score of 3 on the 5-point scale.

The other five Arizonans ranked below average for philanthro­py or couldn’t be analyzed, Forbes said.

Donald Trump, Bill Gates drop in list

President Donald Trump finished with $3.1 billion in wealth both years, Forbes said, though he dropped to 259th place from 248 last year.

Gates had topped the national list for 24 straight years before being supplanted by Bezos, worth an estimated $160 billion, in the latest ranking.

Forbes estimates Gates is worth about $97 billion.

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