Only billionaires need apply
Five Colorado billionaires cracked this year’s Forbes 400 list of richest Americans, led again by Charlie Ergen. The DISH Network chairman and founder’s estimated net worth of $17.2 billion placed him 26th in the ranking. Other Coloradans on the list, released in advance of Forbes’ October issue:
No. 40: Philip Anschutz, investor in energy, real estate and entertainment ($11.1 billion);
No. 60: John Malone, Cable TV magnate ($7.6 billion);
No. 90: James Leprino of the Leprino Foods cheese empire ($3 billion);
No. 324: Pat Stryker, from the Stryker Corp. medical equipment maker, and the only Colorado woman on the list ($2 billion).
Microsoft’s Bill Gates topped the Forbes ranking for the 21st straight year with estimated wealth of $81 billion, followed by Berkshire Hathaway’s Warren Buffet at $67 billion. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, No. 11, showed the biggest wealth increase, as his net worth rose $15 billion over last year, to $34 billion.
A “self-made” score introduced by Forbes this year indicated more than two-thirds of this year’s 400 billionaires are self-made, whereas fewer than half on the list were self-made 20 years ago, Forbes research concluded.
