MA's Richest People: 11 Make New Forbes List

Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos is at the top of yet another list of billionaires, this time the Forbes 400 list of wealthiest Americans. The list released Wednesday puts Bezos ahead of his Washington-area neighbor, Bill Gates, who had been at the top since 1994.

Bezos was also at the top of Forbes’ billionaires list, which was released in March. He dethroned Gates on that list as well.

The 400 richest Americans have a massive amount of wealth. According to Forbes, the minimum net worth needed to join the list in 2018 was $2.1 billion, the highest amount ever for admission. In all, Forbes says the net worth of the 400 was a record high of $2.9 trillion and half of that belongs to just the 45 richest people in the country.

In Massachusetts, 11 residents made it to the elite club, according to Forbes:

• 28. Abigail Johnson, 56 ($17.3 billion) - The CEO of Fidelity Investments, which her grandfather founded in 1946.
• 57. Edward Johnson, III, 88 ($8.6 billion) - Was CEO of Fidelity until 2014, when his daughter replaced him.
• 79. Robert Kraft, 77 ($6.6 billion) - Owner of Kraft Sports Group and the New England Patriots, the team he bought in 1994 for just $174 million.
• 104. Jim Davis & family, 75 ($5.9 billion) - Davis bought a small Boston shoemaker in 1972 that turned into New Balance.
• 190. Edward Johnson, IV, 53 ($3.9 billion) - Brother of Abigail Johnson and grandson of Fidelity founder Edward Johnson, II.
• 190. Elizabeth Johnson, 55 ($3.9 billion) - Sister of Abigail Johnson and granddaughter of Fidelity founder Edward Johnson, II.
• 232. Amos Hostetter, Jr. 81 ($3.4 billion) - Flipped Continental Television to US West for $11 billion.
• 328. Alan Trefler, 62 ($2.5 billion) - At 27, started software company Pegasystems.
• 368. Steve Conine, 46 ($2.2 billion) - Cofounder and co-chairman of Wayfair.
• 368. Niraj Shah, 44 ($2.2 billion) - Cofounder and CEO of Wayfair.
• 383. Phillip T. (Terry) Ragon, 69 ($2.1 billion) - Founded software company InterSystems.

Some other notable points from Forbes’ reporting:

• 57 women were on the list
• Those with self-made fortunes vastly outnumber those with inherited wealth
• President Donald Trump dropped 11 spots on the list compared to 2017, coming in at No. 259; see the New York Times account of how Trump accumulated his wealth, which differs significantly from the president’s account.

Forbes’ takes a hard and thorough look at the wealth of those on the list to figure out just how much they’re worth. Reporters at Forbes conduct interviews, look over documents, assets and factor in debt in their calculations. (You can see a more detailed methodology here.)

The top 10 billionaires on the list are:

• Jeff Bezos (Amazon)
• Bill Gates (Microsoft)
• Warren Buffett (Berkshire Hathaway)
• Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook)
• Larry Ellison (software)
• Larry Page (Google)
• Charles Koch (Koch Industries)
• David Koch (Koch Industries)
• Sergey Brin (Google)
• Michael Bloomberg (Bloomberg LP)

>>>You can see the full list here.

>>>Click here to see Forbes’ full report on the list.

Photo of Robert Kraft by Scott Halleran/Getty Images