1 Billionaire From RI Among Richest Americans: New Forbes List

RHODE ISLAND — Billionaire Jonathan Nelson is the wealthiest person in Rhode Island, according to The Forbes 400, an annual ranking of America’s super rich released Tuesday.

Overall, the 400 richest billionaires in America are worth $4.5 trillion, tying a record set in 2021. Overall, they are about $500 billion richer than they were a year ago, in large part because of rebounding stock markets and an AI-driven tech boom, Forbes said.

Billionaires had to have a net worth at least $2.9 billion to be included on the prestigious list, up from $2.7 billion a year ago. Forbes said its net worth calculations use stock prices from Sept. 8.

Nelson, 67, the richest person in Rhode Island, is worth an estimated $3.4 billion. He made his fortune as the founder of Providence Equity Partners, a global private equity firm. He currently serves as the company's executive chairman and served as CEO until January 2021.

Nelson is the 67th richest billionaire in the United States, according to Forbes. He was also the only Rhode Islander to make The Forbes 400 list.

Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk, owner of the social media platform X, tops the list for a second year with an estimated net worth of $251 billion — $90 billion richer than Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, and No. 2 on the list, and $93 billion ahead of Oracle software development company founder Larry Ellison.

Forbes also tracked the charitable giving of every member of The Forbes 400, and scored each person on a scale of 1 (those who have given less than 1 percent of their wealth away so far) to 5 (those who have given at least 20 percent). The richest people in America are, so far, not all that generous. Two-thirds of them have given less than 5 percent of their wealth away so far; only 11 have donated 20 percent or more.

According to Forbes, Nelson scored a 2 on the philanthropy score, meaning he's given 1 to 4.99 percent of his wealth away to charity.

Read more about Forbes’ methodology.