400 Wealthiest Americans Are Worth a Record $2.02 Trillion, Forbes says

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Bill Gates has reclaimed the title of richest man in the world, even though he has given away billions of dollars to charity. He’s been the richest American for two decades straight, according to the newly updated Forbes 400.

The magazine’s list of the wealthiest 400 Americans features a lot of the same old faces; there are only 20 new people on the list. An equal number are younger than 45. Still, there’s plenty that’s interesting about people with gobs of money:

  • Bill Gates is worth $72 billion, more than 10 times the fortune of Batman.
  • Milane Frantz is the youngest woman on the list at age 44. She’s worth $5.5 billion thanks to her inheritance of an oil and gas fortune, which places her at No. 77. The 400 list includes 47 other women.
  • Jennifer (formerly James) Pritzker is the first transgender billionaire. She’s worth $1.7 billion, which comes from a mix of inheritance and her wealth management company, Tawani Enterprises.
  • “The 400 wealthiest Americans are worth a record $2.02 trillion, roughly equivalent to the GDP of Russia,” Forbes says. That’s up $300 billion from a year ago, and a complete regaining of everything lost in the financial crisis.
  • The minimum net worth to make the list was $1.3 billion, which meant 61 American billionaires weren’t quite rich enough to make the cut. Maybe next year.
  • Only 30 people from last year’s list got poorer. (I wonder if they noticed.)

Who do you think is the most interesting person on the Forbes 400? Why? Let us know on Facebook.

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