Maryland's Billionaire's Club Drops To 8 Members In 2017

Maryland's group of billionaires dropped one spot in the members in Forbes' annual list of billionaires, which was released Monday.

The Maryland residents are included in the 2017 list of billionaires, which features a record 2,043 billionaires. The names include sports business owners – Steve Bisciotti, Dan Snyder and Kevin Plank – and investors like Mitchell Rales. His brother, Steven Rales, was on the 2016 list but didn't make the cut for this year's roundup.

"It was a record year for the richest people on earth, as the number of billionaires jumped 13 percent to 2,043 from 1,810 last year, the first time ever that Forbes has pinned down more than 2,000 ten-figure-fortunes," according to Forbes. "Their total net worth rose by 18% to $7.67 trillion, also a record. The change in the number of billionaires — up 233 since the 2016 list — was the biggest in the 31 years that Forbes has been tracking billionaires globally."

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Here's the breakdown, according to Forbes, ranked from highest to lowest placings on the global list:

Ted Lerner of Chevy Chase, developer and founder of Lerner Enterprises and Washington Nationals owner, is the richest man in Maryland. He is No. 294 on the Forbes list with a net worth of $5.3 billion. 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.

Mitchell Rales of Potomac, co-founder of Danaher investment firm, is No. 367. Net worth: $4.5 billion. 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.

Stephen Bisciotti of Millersville, co-founder of Allegis staffing company and owner of the Baltimore Ravens, is No. 474. Net worth: $3.8 billion. 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.

Bernard Saul II of Chevy Chase, chairman and CEO of Saul Centers Inc., is No. 522. Net worth: $3.6 billion. Saul inherited his grandfather's 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 of Cockeysville, co-founder and now head of Allegis, a staffing company, is No. 814. Net worth: $2.5 billion. Davis is the chairman of staffing firm Allegis Group, which 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 of Bethesda, co-chief executive officer and co-founder, Carlyle Group, is No. 814. Net worth: $2.5 billion. Rubenstein 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. Rubenstein cofounded Carlyle in 1987; he raised the money and managed its stable of advisers, which has included George H.W. Bush and ex-British prime minister John Major.

Dan Snyder of Potomac, owner of the Washington Redskins, is No. 939. Net worth: $2.2 billion. A lifelong Redskins fan, Snyder bought the NFL team 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 of Lutherville, founder and CEO of Under Armour, is No. 1,030. Net worth: $2 billion. Under Armour founder Kevin Plank made his billions as the underdog competitor to Nike and in the past two years he spent hundreds of millions to buy a trio of 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.

Photo credit: DodgertonSkillhause via morgue.file.com.