6 Connecticut Billionaires Make Forbes 400 List Of Super Rich

CONNECTICUT — For the first time since the Great Recession, the 400 richest Americans didn’t get wealthier this year, according to the 2022 Forbes 400, which includes six billionaires from Connecticut.

As a group, the net worth of super rich Americans was down $500 billion, or 11 percent, to $4 trillion, Forbes said. The Forbes list is based on stock prices from Sept. 2.

Connecticut's billionaires fared better as a group than did their super-rich compatriots elsewhere in the U.S., managing to avoid taking any appreciable financial hits

Ray Dalio, 73, is the founder of the world's biggest hedge fund firm, Bridgewater Associates, which manages $150 billion. His real-time net worth Thursday was $19.1 billion, and he has been able to keep his net worth intact over the past year. Greenwich resident Dalio is the richest man in Connecticut, and the 38th wealthiest nationwide, according to Forbes.

The fortunes of Steve Cohen, 68, the state's second-richest resident and another Greenwich hedge fund tsar, took a dip, by Forbes' reckoning. Cohen's net worth is $17.5 billion, down 0.01 percent.

Branford resident Karen Pritzker, 64, is one of 11 billionaire Pritzker heirs, and her bank account is down $121 million this year, a 2.19 percent drop, according to Forbes.

Todd Boehly, 49, cofounded holding company Eldridge in 2015, after building Guggenheim Partners' credit business and serving as president. The Darien resident, and 4th richest in Connecticut, has managed to keep his $5.3 billion net worth on an even keel over the past year.

Trucking magnate Brad Jacobs wasn't so lucky. The 66-year-old Greenwich resident saw his fortune drop by $4 million, a 0.1 percent loss. His real-time net worth as of Thursday was $3.7 billion.

Stephen Mandel started his hedge fund firm, Lone Pine Capital, in 1997, but stepped back from managing investments for the firm in January 2019. The 66-year-old Greenwich resident's new hands-off approach hasn't dinged his net worth, which held steady at $3.6 billion this past year, Forbes said.

“The rich don’t always get richer,” Chase Peterson-Withorn, Forbes’ deputy wealth editor said, noting that like many Americans, the wealthiest 400 people in the country are feeling the stock market slowdown.

“But they’re doing just fine,” he said. As a group, they are $1 trillion richer than they were in 2019 before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Elon Musk, who cofounded six companies, including electric carmaker Tesla and rocket producer SpaceX, topped the real-time list of super rich Americans for the first time with a real-time net worth Thursday of $263.2 billion. That’s up from $251 billion from Sept. 2.

He unseated Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who had topped the list for four years. Bezos’ real-time net worth is $141.4 billion, down from $151 billion when the list was compiled.

Facebook founder and Meta Platforms co-founder Mark Zuckerberg was knocked out of the top 10, coming in at No. 11, down from No. 3 last year. His real-time net worth Thursday was $51.2 billion, down from $57.7 billion when the list was released.

Forbes said Zuckerberg has lost more than half of his fortune, $76.8 billion, since September 2021. No one on the Forbes 400 lost more money in the past year than Zuckerberg, the financial news outlet said.

Former president Donald Trump returned to the list after falling out of the ranking in 2021. Forbes lists his real-time net worth at $3.2 billion. Of note, Forbes noted, New York Attorney General Letitia James is suing Trump, three of his children and the Trump Organization for $250 million, claiming they had repeatedly and grossly inflated the value of his properties to obtain loans.

The other eight billionaires in the Top 10 and their real-time wealth are:

• No. 3: Bill Gates, Microsoft founder and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation co-founder, $103 billion.
• No. 4: Larry Ellison, Oracle founder and CTO, $89.9 billion.
• No. 5: Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway CEO, $95 billion.
• No. 6: Larry Page, Google co-founder and board member, $86.6 billion.
• No. 7: Sergey Brin, Google co-founder and board member, $83.1 billion.
• No. 8: Steve Ballmer, Los Angeles Clippers owner, $78.8 billion.
• No. 9: Michael Bloomberg, Bloomberg LP CEO, $76.8 billion.
• No. 10: Jim Walton, Arvest Bank Group Inc. chairman and CEO, $57.9 billion.