January 28, 1997
TO: Nicholas Johnson
FROM: Sarah Thier
RE: Forbes 400 list
Here is the list of the richest people in America and how they made their billions. Per your request, I only listed the most current companies and investments they are involved in, unless they just sold something very recently. Also, the names in bold are the ones involved with telecommunications, mass media, electronics, comuputers, entertainment, etc. The name of the main company is listed first, what it does is in parethesis (I also sometimes listed a few other things they did that were not related to that specific company.) A few people had no main company listed, most of them were heirs and oil people; I just put ?? where the name would be.
1. Bill Gates 18.5 billion Microsoft (computer software)
2. Warren Buffett 15 billion Geico (insurance, stock market)
3. Paul Allen 7.5 billion Microsoft (computer software)
4. John Kluge 7.2 billion Metromedia (cable TV, radio, telephone)
5. Lawrence Ellison 6 billion Oracle Corp. (computers)
6. Phillip Knight 5.3 billion Nike (sports apparel)
7. Walton family 23.6 billion Wal-Mart (stores)
8. Newhouses 4.5 billion Conde Nast (newspapers, magazines, publishing, TV programming)
9. Cox sisters 4 billion/ea. Cox Enterprises (newspapers, cable TV)
10. Ronald Perleman 4 billion MacAndrews & Forbes (investments)
11. Gordon Moore 3.7 billion Intel (chips)
12. Walter Annenberg 3.7 billion Triangle Publishing (note- recently sold, was in publishing)
13. Steven Ballmer 3.7 billion Microsoft (computer software)
14. Kirk Kerkorian 3.4 billion ?? (various investments, including some in MGM)
15. Sumner Redstone 3.4 billion Viacom (entertainment)
16. H. Ross Perot 3.3 billion Perot Systems (computer services)
17. Rupert Murdoch 3.2 billion News Corp. (TV, newspapers)
18. Richard DeVos 3.2 billion Amway (sales) Jas VanAndel 3.2 billion Amway
19. Hass family 3.2 billion Levi Strauss (clothing)
20. Mars family 3 billion/ea. Mars (candy)
21. Pritzker brothers 3 billion/ea. Pritzker & Pritzker (Hyatt, other investments)
22. William Hewlett 2.9 billion Hewlett-Packard (computers)
23. Edgar Bronfonan 2.7 billion Seagram Co. (liquor, but note some big entertainment investments like MCA)
24. Samuel Johnson 2.6 billion S.C. Johnson & Son (cleaning products)
25. Henry Hillman 2.6 billion Hillman Co. (industrialist, also some real estate)
26. George Soros 2.5 billion ?? (money manager)
27. Johnson family 2.5/1.3 billion Fidelity Investments (investments, mutual funds)
28. Jon Huntsman 2.5 billion Huntsman Chemical (chemicals)
29. Robert Bass 2.3 billion ?? (oil, investments)
30. Philip Anschutz 2.2 billion Rio Grande RailRoad (railroads, oil, investments)
31. Marvin Davis 2.2 billion ?? (oil, real estate, prior owner 20th C. Fox)
32. more Bass family 2.2/1.9 billion ?? (oil, investments)
33. Lauder family 2.1 billion/ea. Este Lauder (cosmetics)
34. Ted Turner 2.1 billion Turner Broadcasting (media conglomerate)
35. Michel Fuborg 2.1 billion Continental Grain (commodity marketing)
36. George Lucas 2 billion Industrial Light and Magic Digital Studio (producer)
37. Koch brothers 2 billion/ea. Koch Industries (oil marketers)
38. Lester Crown 2 billion General Dynamics (inherited and sold it off; building supply firm)
39. Donald Bren 2 billion Irvine Co. (real estate)
40. Martha Ingram 2 billion Ingram Industries (computers, entertainment, video)
41. James Goodnight 2 billion SAS Institute (software) John Sall 1 billion SAS Institute
42. Ray Lee Hunt 2 billion Hunt Oil (oil, real estate)
43. Tisch brothers 2 billion/ea. Loews Corp. (hotels, insurance, oil, etc. note-sold CBS to Westinghouse 1995)
44. Dorrance siblings 1.9/1.8 billion Campbell Soup (soup)
45. David Geffen 1.9 billion DreamWorks (movie production)
46. William Wrigley 1.9 billion Wrigley Co. (gum)
47. John Simplot 1.9 billion Micron Technologies (microchips and potatoes)
48. Stanley Hubbard 1.8 billion Hubbard Broadcasting (TV stations, radio)
49. Gordon Peter Getty 1.7 billion ?? (prior owner Getty Oil)
50. Theodore Waitt 1.7 billion Gateway 2000 (computers)
51. Harry Helmsley 1.7 billion ?? (real estate, I think he just died recently)
52. Joan Kroc 1.7 billion McDonalds (food)
53. Mickey Arson 1.7 billion Carnival Cruise Lines (cruise ships)
54. Bechtel family 1.6 billion/ea. Bechtel Group (engineering, construction)
55. Peter Nicholas 1.6 billion Boston Scientific (medical devices)
56. Cargill siblings 1.5 billion/ea. Cargill (grain trader, financial services)
57. James Sorenson 1.4 billion Abbott Labs (medical devices, lingere)
58. David Rockefeller Sr. 1.4 billion Rockefeller Financial Services (financial services)
59. Harry Huizenga 1.4 billion Republic Industries (car sales, security, hotels)
60. Kenneth Trout 1.4 billion Excel Communications (telecommunications)
61. Maurice Greenberg 1.4 billion American International Group (insurance)
62. Alfred Lerner 1.4 billion MNBA (banking, real estate)
63. Donald Hall 1.3 billion Hallmark Cards (greeting cards, but note they also Barbara Marshall 650 million own RHI Entertainment- TV miniseries producers) Elizabeth Reid 650 million
64. Ralph Lauren 1.3 billion Polo (clothing, home furnishings)
65. Samuel LeFrak 1.3 billion ?? (real estate)
66. Leslie Wexter 1.3 billion Limited (clothing)
67. Craig McCaw 1.3 billion Nexten Communications (telephony)
68. Amos Hostetter Jr. 1.4 billion American Cable Systems (cable TV)
69. Barbara Johnson 1.2 billion Johnson & Johnson (personal care products)
70. William Davidson 1.2 billion Guardian Industries (glass makers)
71. Dennis Washington 1.2 billion Montana Rail Link (railroads, mining)
72. Kathryn Albertson 1.2 billion Albertson's Inc. (retail food-drug chain)
73. Robert Galvin 1.2 billion Motorola (computer chips, cellular phones)
74. Fisher family 1.2 billion The Gap (clothing)
75. David Duffield 1.2 billion PeopleSoft Manufacturing (comupter software)
76. Fayez Sarofim 1.2 billion Sarofim & Co.(money management)
77. Paul Mellon 1.2 billion ?? (finance)
78. Susan Buffett 1.2 billion See Warren (#2), also runs Buffett Foundation
79. Samuel Zell 1.2 billion Jacor Communications (radio)
80. Carl Lindner Jr. 1.1 billion American Financial Corp. (insurance, investments)
81. Ted Schwartz 1.1 billion APAC TeleServices (telemarketing)
82. William Ford 1.1 billion Ford Motor Co. (cars)
83. Richard Rainwater 1.1 billion Mesa, Inc. (investments)
84. Michael Dell 1.1 billion Dell Computers (computers)
85. Reese Rowling 1.1 billion Tana Oil & Gas (oil, hotels)
86. Curtis Carlson 1.1 billion Carlson Marketing (trading stamps, hotels, restaurants)
87. Charles Schwab 1.1 billion Charles Schwab Corp. (stockbroker)
88. Thomas Frist Jr. 1.1 billion Columbia/HCA (hospitals)
89. Charles Gates Jr. 1.1 billion Gates Rubber Co. (just sold; manufacturing)
90. Eli Broad 1.1 billion Kaufman & Broad (financial services, homes)
Another fact related to your point about where the money is: in 1982 no software people made the list; now there are 20 related to software and another 14 in other computer related companies.