While it’s not a bad thing to be a billionaire, it was a rough year for many of those in the ten-figure club.
Due to the fallout from the pandemic, higher interest rates and a shaky stock market, nearly half of all the world’s billionaires are less wealthy than they were just a year ago, according to Forbes, which released its list of the richest people on the planet.
U.S. real estate, as always, was well-represented, and many of the industry’s biggest names ended up adding to their fortunes this year. Donald Bren, chair of Southern California-based Irvine Company, is the wealthiest American real estate titan, just cracking the top 100 (#97) with a $17.4 billion fortune, an increase of $1.2 billion from last year.
Also making the cut is Related Companies founder Stephen Ross (#147), whose net worth shot up to $11.6 billion from $8.2 billion, and retail mogul Jeff Sutton (#1217), who Forbes pegged to be worth $2.5 billion, down from $3.1 billion.
And despite the WeWork debacle, the company’s audacious co-founder made out like a bandit. Adam Neumann maintained a spot on the list (#1368) with a net worth of $2.2 billion, up considerably from $1.4 billion last year.
Other industry household names on the list include Leonard Stern ($7.6 billion), Igor Olenicoff ($6.9 billion), Neil Bluhm ($6 billion), Sam Zell ($5.2 billion), Jay Paul ($4.3 billion), Donald Sterling ($4.1 billion), Charles Cohen ($3.7 billion), Jerry Speyer ($3.6 billion), Herb Simon ($3.4 billion), Donald R. Horton ($2.9 billion), Ben Ashkenazy ($2.6 billion), and David Walentas ($2.4 billion).
It wasn’t just the usual suspects on the list. Newcomers to the billionaire club include Annette Lerner ($6.4 billion), Greystar co-founder Bob Faith ($5.2 billion), L.A.-based apartment developer and landlord Geoffrey Palmer ($3.2 billion), New York real estate scion Stefan Soloviev ($2.3 billion), Carroll Companies founder Roy Carroll II ($2.9 billion), and Richard Kurtz ($1 billion).
And, of course, former president Donald Trump, (#1,217) who saw his fortune decrease to $2.5 billion from $3 billion.
FAQs
Other notable names include Jeff Greene ($7.5 billion), Ty Warner ($5.7 billion), Rick Caruso ($5.3 billion), Donald Horton and family ($4.6 billion), Donald Sterling ($4 billion) and Jay Paul ($3.7 billion).
Who is on the Forbes billionaires list? ›
THE REAL-TIME BILLIONAIRES LIST
| rank | name | Net Worth |
|---|
| 1 | Elon Musk Tesla, SpaceX | $244.7 B $2.9 B | 1.18% |
| 2 | Jeff Bezos Amazon | $192.5 B $2.1 B | 1.13% |
| 3 | Larry Ellison Oracle | $174.9 B $268 M | -0.15% |
| 4 | Mark Zuckerberg Facebook | $174.6 B $1.2 B | 0.72% |
24 more rowsRichest Billionaires in Real Estate Industry, 2024
| RANK | NAME | NET WORTH |
|---|
| 1 | Lee Shau Kee | $28.2 billion |
| 2 | Donald Bren | $18.9 billion |
| 3 | Kushal Pal Singh | $18.7 billion |
| 4 | Stephen Ross | $17.0 billion |
21 more rowsMar 12, 2024
Here are just a few of the world's most successful real estate moguls:
- Wang Jianlin. Top of the real estate rich list and 18th on the overall global rich list, Wang Jianlin has a net worth of US$28.7 billion. ...
- Lee Shau Kee. ...
- Michael Otto. ...
- Donald Bren. ...
- Stephen Ross. ...
- David Lichtenstein.
This article ranks the top 10 richest people in America in 2024, based on their net worth and wealth sources. Elon Musk tops the list with a net worth of $258.2 billion, followed by Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, and other notable billionaires.
Who is the top 15 billionaires? ›
The world's leading billionaires as of July 2024, based on net worth (in billion U.S. dollars)
| Characteristic | Wealth in billion U.S. dollars |
|---|
| Elon Musk (United States) | 242.6 |
| Jeff Bezos (United States) | 211.6 |
| Bernard Arnault & family (France) | 198.9 |
| Larry Ellison (United States) | 176.3 |
9 more rowsJul 12, 2024
2022
| No. | Name | Primary source(s) of wealth |
|---|
| 1 | Elon Musk | Tesla, SpaceX |
| 2 | Jeff Bezos | Amazon |
| 3 | Bernard Arnault & family | LVMH |
| 4 | Bill Gates | Microsoft |
6 more rowsThere are 25 billionaires on the 2023 Forbes 400 list who primarily owe their fortunes to real estate. These property tycoons are worth a collective $139 billion—about $5 billion more than the 24 in real estate were worth on the 2022 ranking.
What family owns the most real estate? ›
Who Is the Largest Landowner in the U.S.? The largest landowners in the United States are the Emmerson family, with 2,330,000 acres of land. Red Emmerson, the patriarch of the family, founded Sierra Pacific Industries in Anderson, CA.
Who is the #1 real estate franchise in the world? ›
LAGUNA NIGUEL, Calif., Jan. 18, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Realty ONE Group, a modern, purpose-driven lifestyle brand and ONE of the fastest-growing franchisors in the world, is the #1 real estate brand for the third year in a row on Entrepreneur's highly competitive 2024 Franchise 500® ranking.
Not Yet, But We'll See One Soon. A trillion dollars is a phenomenal sum of money, equivalent to 1,000 billion dollars.
Who is the youngest billionaire? ›
The world's youngest billionaire is 19-year-old Livia Voigt, who is still in university.
Who is the richest female in the USA? ›
Diane Hendricks was the wealthiest female self-made billionaire in the United States as of May 2024. The founder of ABC Supply was worth 20.9 billion U.S. dollars. The second-richest self-made woman in the U.S. was Judy Love and her family, reaching a net worth of 11.6 billion U.S. dollars that year.
What does it mean to be on the Forbes list? ›
Forbes List can refer to one of the lists published annually by the American magazine Forbes, including: the Forbes 400 list of the wealthiest people in the United States. The World's Billionaires, a list of all the people with a net worth over US$1 billion.
Who is the no. 1 richest person in the world? ›
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, is the richest person and the richest man in the world with a net worth of $239 billion. After Musk is Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon. Other billionaires with some of the largest net worths include LVMH's Arnault, Microsoft's Bill Gates, and Oracle's Larry Ellison.
Has Taylor Swift made the Forbes billionaires list? ›
Taylor Swift joins Oprah, Rihanna on Forbes billionaires list. See who else made the list. It's been a long time coming, but... Taylor Swift has now joined Forbes' Worlds' Billionaire List.
