Forbes 400: Eight Georgia Billionaires Make the List

Forbes magazine has released its annual list of the 400 richest Americans, and eight billionaires from Georgia made the list.

The billionaires in the magazine's 35th annual rankings have a combined total net worth of $2.4 trillion, up from $2.34 trillion last year.

For the 23rd consecutive year, Bill Gates was in the list's top spot, checking in this year with a net worth of $81 billion.

Amazon's Jeff Bezos ($67 billion) took over the No. 2 spot from Warren Buffett, who will have to be satisfied with his $65.5 billion in third place.

But the Peach State's entrants were no slouches either. Here's a look at Georgia's Fortune 400 members:

• No. 39 Jim Kennedy ($10.8 billion). Kennedy, chairman of Cox Enterprises, is Georgia's richest person, according to Forbes. He is the grandson of company founder James M. Cox. Cox Enterprises is a media company and its holdings include the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Kelley Blue Book.
• No. 174 (tie) Bubba Cathy ($3.6 billion). Cathy, 61, is senior vice president of Chick-Fil-A. His father, Truett Cathy, who founded the fast-food chain near Atlanta in 1967, died in 2014.
• No. 174 (tie) Dan Cathy ($3.6 billion). Tied with his brother, Dan Cathy is chairman and CEO of Chick-Fil-A.
• No. 174 (tie) Bernard Marcus ($3.6 billion). It's awfully crowded at spot No. 174. Home Depot co-founder Bernard Marcus also falls into this slot with a net worth of roughly $3.5 billion. The 86-year-old Marcus and co-worker Arthur Blank (whom we'll hear about shortly) started their own hardware store after being fired from rival Handy Dan in 1978. Marcus is the chief benefactor behind the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta.
• No. 214 Arthur Blank ($3.1 billion). One of the most well-known members of Georgia's Billionaire Club, Blank parlayed his Home Depot fortune into owning the Atlanta Falcons and Atlanta United FC, the Major League Soccer team that will begin play next year.
• No. 246 (tie) Gary Rollins ($2.7 billion). Rollins is CEO of Rollins Inc., the parent company of Orkin pest control. It's the biggest pest control business, by volume, in the United States, Forbes says.
• No. 246 (tie) Randall Rollins ($2.7 billion). The chairman of the company, Randall is tied with his brother at the same spot. In his 80s, he is said to still work six days a week.
• No. 321 Ted Turner ($2.2 billion). Georgia's "Captain Outrageous" is America's second-largest individual landowner, according to Forbes. He owns roughly 2 million acres of land in the United States, with more in Argentina, and the world's largest bison herd.

Photo by Николай Парфёнов, via Wikimedia Commons