8 Washingtonians Are Among Richest American Citizens

SEATTLE — America’s billionaires are richer than they’ve ever been, Forbes said with Tuesday’s release of The Forbes 400, its annual list of the 400 richest U.S. billionaires. The same is certainly true in Washington, where nearly everyone on the list added to their net worth. The Evergreen State's contingent also grew by one, with the addition of Melinda French Gates.

Here are the Washington billionaires on this year's Forbes 400:

• Jeff Bezos
  • Overall rank: #1
  • Net worth: $201 billion
  • Source: Amazon
• Bill Gates
  • Overall rank: #4
  • Net worth: $134 billion
  • Source: Microsoft
• Steve Ballmer
  • Overall rank: #9
  • Net worth: $96.5 billion
  • Source: Microsoft
• MacKenzie Scott
  • Overall rank: #15
  • Net worth: $58.5 billion
  • Source: Amazon
• Melinda French Gates
  • Overall rank: #158
  • Net worth: $6.3 billion
  • Source: Microsoft
• Charles Simonyi
  • Overall rank: #168
  • Net worth: $6.1 billion
  • Source: Microsoft
• Howard Schultz
  • Overall rank: 212
  • Net worth: $5 billion
  • Source: Starbucks
• Gabe Newell
  • Overall rank: #289
  • Net worth: $3.9 billion
  • Source: Valve

Jeff Bezos, the founder of the e-commerce giant Amazon, again topped The Forbes 400 list. His net worth was $189.8 billion, according to Forbes’ real-time wealth tracker. Bezos has topped the list for four consecutive years.

Rounding out the top five and the size of their fortunes at the end of trading Monday are Tesla founder Elon Musk ($190.5 billion), Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg ($134.5 billion), Microsoft founder Bill Gates ($134 billion) and Google executive Larry Page ($123 billion).

Forbes said that though the pandemic made 2020 a terrible year for many, the wealthiest Americans continued to enjoy good economic times. Collectively, the personal fortunes of the 400 richest billionaires increased 40 percent over the past year to $4.5 trillion, up from $3.2 trillion the year prior.

Nearly all are richer than they were a year ago, Forbes said, and the top 20 are worth $1.8 trillion.

Forbes calculated the net worth of those on the list using stock prices at Wall Street’s closing bell on Sept. 3, which was close to a record high close for U.S. stock indices such as the S&P 500.

Among the 44 people who fell off the list was former President Donald Trump, who had been among the 400 richest Americans for 25 years. He continues to be a billionaire. He is as wealthy as he was a year ago, when he ranked 339, but he’s lost $600 million since the start of the pandemic, Forbes noted. Big-city properties, which make up the bulk of the real estate mogul’s holdings, have languished during the pandemic

Newcomers to The Forbes 400 include cryptocurrency entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried, who at 29 is the youngest person on the list. He’s worth $22.5 billion, ranks 32nd and is among seven cryptocurrency entrepreneurs on the list.

There are 56 women on the list, the same number as a year ago. Oprah Winfrey and Gap cofounder Doris Fisher fell off the list, but new to the list are Melinda French Gates, following her divorce from Bill Gates; and Miriam Adelson, heir to her late husband Sheldon Adelson’s stake in the Los Vegas Sands casino empire.

Alice Walton remains the richest woman in America for the seventh year. The Walmart heir is worth $67.9 billion.

In all, 282 people on the list are classified as "self-made" billionaires.