Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos topped Forbes’ list of the richest Americans for the third year in a row, while President Donald Trump’s ranking fell as the coronavirus pandemic hit his office buildings, hotels and resorts.
Total wealth on the Forbes 400 list, released Tuesday, rose to a record $ 3.2 trillion as the richest Americans fared well despite the pandemic devastating the economy and causing more than 1.8 million Americans lose their jobs.
Eric Yuan, CEO of Zoom Video Communications, which has become ubiquitous in the work-from-home era, was one of 18 newcomers to the list with a net worth of $ 11 billion.
Trump’s ranking fell to 352 from 275 last year, as his net worth fell to $ 2.5 billion from $ 3.1 billion, as office buildings, hotels and resorts have suffered during the pandemic.
The top ten members of the Forbes 400 list for 2020 are shown in the table above
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos topped Forbes’ list of the richest Americans for the third year in a row, while Trump’s ranking fell to 352 from 275 last year.
His business, the Trump Organization, owns properties in all three categories.
Trump has long refused to release his tax records and has been locked in a battle with Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, who cited Trump for eight years of personal and corporate statements.
The annual list can serve as a way to track the richest people in the country who have the most power, said Kerry Dolan, assistant managing editor of wealth at Forbes, in an interview with Reuters TV.
“As a society, we should all know who is behind the biggest companies and what they are doing with their money,” he said.
Other newcomers to the list include Alice Schwartz, whose Bio-Rad produces diagnostic tests for Covid-19, and Trevor Milton, founder of electric truck maker Nikola.
The biggest winner on the list, in percentage terms, was Elon Musk, whose net worth jumped a staggering 242 percent, to $ 48.1 billion, on the rise of Tesla shares.
The biggest winner on the list, in percentage terms, was Elon Musk, whose net worth jumped a staggering 242 percent, to $ 48.1 billion, on the rise of Tesla shares.
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey also saw his wealth rise by $ 2.6 billion, or 62 percent, on this year’s list.
MacKenzie Scott, Bezos’s ex-wife, also saw her net worth skyrocket by $ 20.9 billion, or 58 percent. Her holdings are primarily in Amazon stocks, which have risen sharply in the last year.
Several members of the list saw their wealth drop significantly last year, including several who built their fortunes in the media, entertainment and oil sectors.
Warren Buffett’s fortune fell $ 7.3 billion, more than anyone else on the list in dollar terms.
Part of that drop was the result of a $ 2.9 billion donation of Berkshire Hathaway stock he donated in July to his children’s charitable foundations and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, according to Forbes.
Warren Buffett’s fortune fell $ 7.3 billion, more than anyone else on the list in dollar terms.
Laurene Powell Jobs, the widow of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, saw her wealth fall by $ 5.3 billion, or 25 percent.
She inherited sizeable stakes in Apple and Disney from her late husband, and while Apple shares are up 75 percent from last year, Forbes says it has new information about her stakes that caused it to revise its estimates of her net worth.
Casino mogul Sheldon Adelson’s net worth was down as well, by $ 4.7 billion, or 14 percent.
Its casinos, including The Venetian and The Palazzo on the Las Vegas Strip, were closed for nearly three months amid the coronavirus pandemic. While other casinos laid off workers, Adelson promised to keep paying her employees at least until October.
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