8 Maryland Billionaires Make Forbes’ 2018 List

Jeff Bezos is at the top of Forbes’ billionaires list for 2018, dethroning fellow Seattle-area billionaire Bill Gates, who has lost the top spot for only the sixth time since 1995. Among the elite club of billionaires on the 32nd annual list, eight of them have Maryland ties.

The 2018 list has 2,208 members from 72 countries. With 585 Americans on the list, the United States leads the way with the most number of billionaires in the world, followed by China with 373 billionaires. The U.S. also had 18 newcomers featured on the 2018 list.

According to Forbes, Bezos is the first centi-billionaire at the top of the list, meaning he has a fortune of over a $100 billion. Forbes explains just how much wealth these billionaires have, being worth a combined $9.1 trillion. The top 20 people on the list alone are worth $1.2 trillion, 13 percent of the total fortune of all billionaires worldwide.

Here are the Maryland billionaires who made the Forbes list for 2018:

Ted Lerner, 92, is worth $4.7 billion and is ranked No. 441 on the list. Lerner of Chevy Chase, developer and founder of Lerner Enterprises and Washington Nationals owner, is the richest man in Maryland. In 1952 Lerner borrowed $250 from his wife to start a real estate company, selling homes for developers. Now he owns 20 million square feet of commercial and retail space, plus hotels, and 7,000 apartments.

Stephen Bisciotti, 57, is worth $4.2 billion and is ranked No. 514 on the list. Bisciotti of Millersville is co-founder of Allegis staffing company and owner of the Baltimore Ravens. Bisciotti and his cousin, Jim Davis, (who is also a billionaire), started what would become Allegis Group -- now one of the world's biggest staffing companies -- in 1983. Originally called Aerotek and focused on filling aeronautics, engineering and light industrial jobs, today Allegis Group places people in sectors spanning from IT to finance.

Mitchell Rales, 61, is worth $3.5 billion and is ranked No. 652 on the list. Rales of Potomac is co-founder of Danaher investment firm. Three decades after building Danaher Corp. into an industrial conglomerate, Steven Rales and his brother, Mitchell, broke their empire into two halves: one part devoted to science and technology, in late 2016.

Bernard Saul II, 85, is worth $3.5 billion and is ranked No. 652 on the list. Saul of Chevy Chase is chairman and CEO of Saul Centers Inc., a Washington, D.C.-based real estate company. Within a few years he expanded from real estate to banking, developing the plans for what became Chevy Chase Federal Savings Bank, which he sold to Capital One for $476 million in 2009. In the 1990s he founded another REIT, Saul Centers, which owns real estate, mostly shopping centers and office properties in Washington, D.C., and Baltimore.

Jim Davis, 57, is worth $2.8 billion and ranks at No. 859 on the list. Davis of Cockeysville, co-founder and now head of Allegis, a staffing company he co-founded with cousin and business partner Stephen Bisciotti in 1983. The company was originally called Aerotek, and it matched job seekers with aeronautics, engineering and light industrial jobs. Davis bought in as a minority partner of baseball's St. Louis Cardinals in 2010.

David Rubenstein, 68, is worth $2.8 billion and is tied at No. 859 on the list. Rubenstein of Bethesda, is co-chief executive officer and co-founder, Carlyle Group. He is donating nearly $19 million to restore the Lincoln Memorial and expand exhibits and research there. In all, he's given $44 million toward historic preservation of U.S. attractions, including the Washington Monument. He has funded panda procreation at the National Zoo.

Dan Snyder, 53, is worth $2.3 billion and is ranked No. 1070 on the Forbes list. Snyder of Potomac, is owner of the Washington Redskins, which he bought for $800 million after Jack Kent Cooke's death in 1997. Snyder made his first fortune in marketing, when Snyder Communications sold advertisements placed on boards inside of buildings, and distributed product samples. The firm went public in 1996, making Snyder, then 32, the youngest CEO on the New York Stock Exchange. He also owns private equity firm Red Zone Capital.

Kevin Plank, 45, is worth $1.5 billion and is ranked No. 1561 on the list. Plank of Lutherville, the founder and CEO of Under Armour, made his billions as the underdog competitor to Nike and in recent years has spent hundreds of millions to buy health and fitness tracking apps, including calorie counting app MyFitnessPal. While he was a University of Maryland football player, he noticed his teammates were all wearing heavy, sweat-soaked shirts. So he came up with a lightweight, sweat-wicking shirt using fabrics from women's undergarments. After graduating in 1996, he started selling the shirts from the basement of his deceased grandmother's house. Under Armour is now America's second biggest sportswear vendor behind Nike.

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The top 10 billionaires on the list are:

• Jeff Bezos, 54, worth $112 billion
• Bill Gates, 62, worth $90 billion
• Warren Buffett, 87, worth $84 billion
• Bernard Arnault, 69, worth $72 billion
• Mark Zuckerberg, 33, worth $71 billion
• Amancio Ortega, 81, worth $70 billion
• Carlos Slim Helu, 78, worth $67.1 billion
• Charles Koch, 82, worth $60 billion
• David Koch, 77, worth $60 billion
• Larry Ellison, 73, worth $58.5 billion

The Forbes billionaires list provides a look at wealth using stock prices and exchange rates from Feb. 9, 2018. Forbes values assets like private companies, art, real estate and more. Read more about Forbes methodology here.

See the full list of billionaires here.

PHOTO: Washington Nationals owner Ted Lerner (center) speaks with family members before the start of the Opening Day game against the Miami Marlins on April 3, 2017 at Nationals Park in Washington, DC. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)