Houston Leads the way with Nine of the State’s 20 Billionaires

HOUSTON, TX -- Don’t look now, but Houston is well-represented on Forbes list of the top 400 wealthiest people in America.

In fact, Houston leads the way in Texas with nine of the state’s 20 billionaires -- yes, billionaires -- which include the likes of well known Dallas sports owners Jerry Jones and Mark Cuban; Computer magnate Michael Dell, and Wal-Mart heiress Alice Walton, daughter of the late Sam Walton.

Collectively, Houston and Dallas have the most billionaires, with 17 of the state’s 20, while Austin counts two billionaires and Fort Worth had one.

The majority of Houston’s billionaires club is understandably based in the energy sector with seven of the nine having ties to oil and gas, pipelines or other forms of energy.

While some on the list created their own wealth, at least four inherited it from someone who did created it.

One of Houstonians made his fortune selling cars and another was a hedge fund manager that amassed his wealth through Enron Corp.

Here is the list of Houston’s wealth, along with biographical notes, courtesy of Forbes:

• No. 69, Richard Kinder, Houston. Source of wealth: Pipelines. Total: $7 billion.

He made the list despite some negative market forces affecting his sector as chair of oil and gas pipeline giant Kinder Morgan. The company has been hit by depressed oil prices, and is weighed down with a high debt load as a result. But there was a recent cash flow: In July, Kinder Morgan sold a stake in a 7,600-mile natural-gas pipeline system to utility Southern Co. for $1.47 billion.

• No. 94, Dannine Avara, Houston. Source of wealth: Pipelines. Total: $5.2 billion.

One of four children of the late Dan Duncan -- energy industry titan who founded Enterprise
Products Partners. The patriarch died in 2010 and his children inherited the business.

• No.94, Scott Duncan, Houston. Source of wealth: Pipelines. Total: $5.2 billion.

Another heir to the considerable fortune of Dan Duncan, who was the richest man in
Houston before his death in 2010 at 77.

• No. 94, Milane Frantz, Houston. Source of wealth: Pipelines. Total: $5.2 billion.

Another heir of the late Dan Duncan

• No. 94, Randa Williams, Houston. Source of wealth: Pipelines. Total: $5.2 billion.

A former attorney, she's chair of Enterprise Products Partners, the pipeline giant her father
Dan Duncan (d. 2010) founded in 1968. Williams is the only one of her four siblings (see
above) actively engaged in running the family business, which owns 49,000 miles of energy
pipelines, along with natural gas processing plants and storage facilities. A Rice University
alumna, she's also on her alma mater's board of trustees.

• No. 184, Jeffrey Hildebrand, Houston. Source of wealth: Oil. Total: $4.1 billion

This guy might shatter whatever preconceived notion you might have of the shrewed
billionaire prototype. Forbes reports that, despite the oil bust, Hildebrand awarded each of
his 1,400 employees at Hilcorp Energy a $100,000 bonus for their help in doubling the size
of his company in a five-year span. That team effort has made the company the nation's
largest privately held oil and gas company.

• No. 174, Dan Friedken, Houston. Source of wealth: Toyota dealerships. Total: $3.6 billion.

Owner of Gulf States Toyota, the $8.4 billion (estimated sales) car distributor built by his
father. The company's wide swath of exclusive distribution rights in Texas, Arkansas,
Louisiana, Mississippi and Oklahoma hints at the business tactics that have yielded his
accumulate wealth.

• No. 184, Robert McNair, Houston. Source of wealth: Energy, sports. Total: $3.5 billion.

As principal owner of the Houston Texans, McNair is credited with bringing football back to
Houston. Since he founded the team, it's grown in value to $2.6 billion. His original fortune
was derived from the 1999 sale of power generator Cogen Technologies to Enron for a cool
$1.5 billion.

• No. 232, John Arnold, Houston. Source of wealth: Hedge funds. Total: $2.9 billion.

An exceedingly successful energy trader, Arnold has the dubious distinction of having
helped the disgraced and defunct Enron Corp. some $750 million in the same year the
company declared bankruptcy. Arnold parlayed the wealth he accumulated as an Enron
trader to create his own hedge fund, Centaurus Advisors, while recruiting from the detritus of
Enron to fill the employee ranks. In 2012, Arnold announced he was retiring at the ripe old
age of 38.

Antonio Cantu, Patch Editor in Austin, contributed to this article

Read the Forbes article here

Texans Bob McNair, and oil tycoon Richard Kinder, and heirs to the Duncan pipeline fortune among Houston’s wealthiest

HOUSTON, TX -- Don’t look now, but Houston is well-represented on Forbes list of the top 400 wealthiest people in America.

In fact, Houston leads the way in Texas with nine of the state’s 20 billionaires -- yes, billionaires -- which include the likes of well known Dallas sports owners Jerry Jones and Mark Cuban; Computer magnate Michael Dell, and Wal-Mart heiress Alice Walton, daughter of the late Sam Walton.

Collectively, Houston and Dallas have the most billionaires, with 17 of the state’s 20, while Austin counts two billionaires and Fort Worth had one.

The majority of Houston’s billionaires club is understandably based in the energy sector with seven of the nine having ties to oil and gas, pipelines or other forms of energy.

While some on the list created their own wealth, at least four inherited it from someone who did created it.

One of Houstonians made his fortune selling cars and another was a hedge fund manager that amassed his wealth through Enron Corp.

Here is the list of Houston’s wealth, along with biographical notes, courtesy of Forbes:

• No. 69, Richard Kinder, Houston. Source of wealth: Pipelines. Total: $7 billion.

He made the list despite some negative market forces affecting his sector as chair of oil and gas pipeline giant Kinder Morgan. The company has been hit by depressed oil prices, and is weighed down with a high debt load as a result. But there was a recent cash flow: In July, Kinder Morgan sold a stake in a 7,600-mile natural-gas pipeline system to utility Southern Co. for $1.47 billion.

• No. 94, Dannine Avara, Houston. Source of wealth: Pipelines. Total: $5.2 billion.

One of four children of the late Dan Duncan -- energy industry titan who founded Enterprise
Products Partners. The patriarch died in 2010 and his children inherited the business.

• No.94, Scott Duncan, Houston. Source of wealth: Pipelines. Total: $5.2 billion.

Another heir to the considerable fortune of Dan Duncan, who was the richest man in
Houston before his death in 2010 at 77.

• No. 94, Milane Frantz, Houston. Source of wealth: Pipelines. Total: $5.2 billion.

Another heir of the late Dan Duncan

• No. 94, Randa Williams, Houston. Source of wealth: Pipelines. Total: $5.2 billion.

A former attorney, she's chair of Enterprise Products Partners, the pipeline giant her father
Dan Duncan (d. 2010) founded in 1968. Williams is the only one of her four siblings (see
above) actively engaged in running the family business, which owns 49,000 miles of energy
pipelines, along with natural gas processing plants and storage facilities. A Rice University
alumna, she's also on her alma mater's board of trustees.

• No. 184, Jeffrey Hildebrand, Houston. Source of wealth: Oil. Total: $4.1 billion

This guy might shatter whatever preconceived notion you might have of the shrewed
billionaire prototype. Forbes reports that, despite the oil bust, Hildebrand awarded each of
his 1,400 employees at Hilcorp Energy a $100,000 bonus for their help in doubling the size
of his company in a five-year span. That team effort has made the company the nation's
largest privately held oil and gas company.

• No. 174, Dan Friedken, Houston. Source of wealth: Toyota dealerships. Total: $3.6 billion.

Owner of Gulf States Toyota, the $8.4 billion (estimated sales) car distributor built by his
father. The company's wide swath of exclusive distribution rights in Texas, Arkansas,
Louisiana, Mississippi and Oklahoma hints at the business tactics that have yielded his
accumulate wealth.

• No. 184, Robert McNair, Houston. Source of wealth: Energy, sports. Total: $3.5 billion.

As principal owner of the Houston Texans, McNair is credited with bringing football back to
Houston. Since he founded the team, it's grown in value to $2.6 billion. His original fortune
was derived from the 1999 sale of power generator Cogen Technologies to Enron for a cool
$1.5 billion.

• No. 232, John Arnold, Houston. Source of wealth: Hedge funds. Total: $2.9 billion.

An exceedingly successful energy trader, Arnold has the dubious distinction of having
helped the disgraced and defunct Enron Corp. some $750 million in the same year the
company declared bankruptcy. Arnold parlayed the wealth he accumulated as an Enron
trader to create his own hedge fund, Centaurus Advisors, while recruiting from the detritus of
Enron to fill the employee ranks. In 2012, Arnold announced he was retiring at the ripe old
age of 38.

Antonio Cantu, Patch Editor in Austin, contributed to this article

Image: Shutterstock

Read the Forbes article here