Forbes Ranks Newport Beach's Don Bren Among Nation's 30 Richest

Newport Beach resident and Irvine Co. Chairman Don Bren cracked Forbes’ annual top 100 list of billionaires this year worldwide, up five places to 64.

Forbes pegs Bren’s net worth at $15.2 billion. The 82-year-old was ranked 30th wealthiest in the United States.

The business publication noted Bren’s company broke ground on a 1.2 million square-foot office campus in Silicon Valley set to open next year. His company also bought an office building in Chicago’s downtown for $850 million.

Irvine Co. officials declined to comment.

Other notable Southern California residents on the list include Patrick Soon-Shiong, 63, of Los Angeles, who Forbes says is the world’s wealthiest physician.

Forbes reported Soon-Shiong is “working on a momentous project: a company called Nantworks that would connect all the data about a patient in the hospital, and combine it with genetic information on a level nobody else is imagining.”

Soon-Shiong, who was believed to be worth $12.3 billion, was listed in 96th place globally and 37th in the United States. He was ranked 122 last year.

Dreamworks co-founder David Geffen of Malibu was said to be worth $6.9 billion and was ranked in 195th place globally. Philanthropist Eli Broad, who Forbes reports is worth $7.2 billion, was ranked 185th richest in the world.

Bill Gross, founder of Pacific Investment Management Company, better known as PIMCO, was ranked in 810th place. He is worth $2.3 billion.

Gross, 70, of Laguna Beach, was ranked 764th richest last year in the world. His fortunes have dimmed as he left PIMCO on awkward terms to take a position with Janus Capital Group.

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