CNN/Money 
graphic
News
graphic
America's rich get richer
After two years of declines, the Forbes 400 wealthiest Americans see their nest eggs grow.
September 19, 2003: 1:17 PM EDT

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - America's rich must be breathing a sigh of relief.

The top 10
The usual suspects top the list
Name Wealth Source 
Bill Gates $46 billion Microsoft 
Warren Buffett $36 billion Berkshire Hathaway 
Paul Allen $22 billion Microsoft 
Alice Walton $20.5 billion Wal-Mart 
Helen Walton $20.5 billion Wal-Mart 
Jim Walton $20.5 billion Wal-Mart 
John Walton $20.5 billion Wal-Mart 
Robson Walton $20.5 billion Wal-Mart 
Larry Ellison $18 billion Oracle 
Michael Dell $13 billion Dell Computer 
 Source:  Forbes

After two years of declining wealth, the aggregate net worth of the wealthiest 400 U.S. citizens climbed 10 percent in the past year to $955 billion, thanks largely to a recovering stock market, according to the annual list released by Forbes magazine.

Topping this year's list are the usual suspects: Bill Gates, worth $46 billion, Warren Buffett at $36 billion, and Paul Allen at $22 billion.

With the rally in tech stocks, Internet players made the biggest moves on the list. Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos added more than $3 billion to his net worth, Yahoo! executives David Filo and Jerry Yang nearly tripled their wealth.

eBay execs Meg Whitman and Pierre Omidyar saw their net worth jump nearly 50 percent.

Steve Jobs jumped 44 places to $2.3 billion with the help of his Pixar film "Finding Nemo."

Bill Gates, right, and Warren Buffett have a total wealth of $82 billion.  
Bill Gates, right, and Warren Buffett have a total wealth of $82 billion.

The wealth also runs in tight circles. Among the top 25 richest, 12 are related, with members of the Walton family of Wal-Mart fame taking spots 4 through 8.

Some recent newsmakers also appeared on the list. Kenneth Langone, a director of the New York Stock Exchange who adamantly defended now-resigned Richard Grasso, appeared on the list at 314 with $820 million.

Notable dropouts from the list include World Wrestling Entertainment's Vince McMahon and Global Crossing's Gary Winnick.

Those taking their spots included Wall Street high-rollers Steve Cohen, who runs the SAC Capital hedge fund, and Ken Griffin, who runs the Citadel Investment Group hedge fund.

YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS
Wealthiest Americans
Warren Buffett
Bill Gates

Incidentally, Griffin is the second-youngest member on the list at 34 years old and a value of $650 million.

The youngest is Daniel Morton Ziff, at age 31, with an inheritance of $1.2 billion from the Ziff-Davis publishing fortune.  Top of page




  More on NEWS
JPMorgan dramatically slashes Tesla's stock price forecast
Greece is finally done with its epic bailout binge
Europe is preparing another crackdown on Big Tech
  TODAY'S TOP STORIES
7 things to know before the bell
SoftBank and Toyota want driverless cars to change the world
Aston Martin falls 5% in its London IPO




graphic graphic

Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.

Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.