3 NJ Billionaires Are Among Richest In The World: Forbes

NEW JERSEY — Those on the world’s billionaires list, which includes three New Jersey residents, aren’t as flush as they were a year ago, but collectively are still worth $12.2 trillion, Forbes said with the release of its annual list.

That’s down from $12.7 trillion last year. Nearly half of the list is less wealthy than a year ago, including Elon Musk, who lost his No.1 spot after shares in Tesla fell when he bought Twitter. Musk is now No.2 on the list and was worth $192.8 billion Wednesday morning after having made about $12.8 billion since Tuesday.

Twenty-eight people fell off the list altogether, with the number of people with 10-figure fortunes now at 2,640. The United States has the most billionaires of any country — 735 people collectively worth $4.5 trillion. Overall, Forbes attributed the loss of wealth to falling stock markets, especially in the technology sector, and rising interest rates.

To calculate net worth, Forbes used stock prices and exchange rates from March 10 to determine the ranking, but updates wealth in real time.

Below are the New Jersey billionaires who made the list:

• Rocco Commisso (ranked 276th on the list), founder and CEO of cable company Mediacom. Commisso's real-time net worth Thursday was $7.8 billion, compared to $7.7 billion last year. He is 73 years old.
• John Overdeck (352nd), co-founder of Two Sigma, a New York City-based hedge fund. Overdeck's net worth stayed at $6.8 billion this year. He is 53 years old.

• Peter Kellogg (787th), who sold brokerage house Spear, Leeds & Kellogg to Goldman Sachs for $6.5 billion in cash and stock in 2000. Kellogg's net worth Thursday was $3.6 billion, compared to $3.5 billion last year. He is 80 years old.

With Musk’s slip from the No. 1 position, Bernard Arnault, who heads luxury goods giant LVMH, tops the list as the richest person in the world. It’s the first time a citizen of France has led the ranking, whose top 10 includes seven U.S. billionaires. Besides Musk, they are (net worth is reflected as of Wednesday and may not align exactly with their placement on the list):

• Jeff Bezos, Amazon, worth $126.9 billion;
• Larry Ellison, Oracle, worth $118.9 billion;
• Bill Gates, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, worth $109.9 billion;
• Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway, worth $107.4 billion;
• Michael Bloomberg, Bloomberg Inc., worth $95.4 billion; and
• Steve Balmer, Microsoft, worth $90.1 billion.

Patch’s national desk contributed to this report.