
In the midst of distressing recent financial news, at least 400 people can take heart that things aren’t as bad as their people tell them it is.![]()
Last year was the first time everyone in the Forbes 400 found a number with nine zeros behind it on their bank statement. To be last on this year's list, you had to show $1.3 billion in wealth.
While Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) still tops the list, the Apogee Weblog noted that five of the 2007 Forbes 400 derived their wealth from Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG):
5. Sergey Brin
5. Larry Page
48. Eric Schmidt
204. Omid Kordestani271. Kavitark Shriram
While founders of tech companies Microsoft, Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ:ORCL), Google and Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL) were in the top 10, according to Forbes, it was private equity firms and hedge funds that made the most headway.
“Wall Street led the charge, despite this summer's market jitters. Nearly half of the 45 new members made their fortunes in hedge funds and private equity. Money manager John Paulson joins the list after pocketing more than $1 billion short-selling subprime credit this summer.”It was not all Wall Street however. Owning energy and oil/gas stock was not a bad place to be. Harold Hamm took Continental Resources, Inc. (NYSE:CLR), his oil and gas operation public in May and found himself on the list. John Arnold, a 33-year-old former Enron trader now runs hedge fund Centaurus Energy and amassed $1.5 billion fortune from the market. Brothers Charles and David Koch, owners of the nation's largest privately held company, Koch Industries, added $5 billion apiece to their fortunes this year on surging energy and commodities prices and moved into the top 10. There were 25 billionaires listed that obtained their wealth from oil and gas. A mini lesson right there in capitalism for you. A guy makes a $5 billion while millions of people can’t afford gas for their cars – all in based on the same market. Thanks for reading.A mini lesson right there in capitalism for you. A guy makes a billion while thousands lose their homes – all in based on the same market. Thanks for reading.
Then there are the gamers. Brothers Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta, founders of Station Casinos, Inc. (NYSE:STN) made the list at 380th joining Sheldon Adelson (3rd), creator of the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino and the
“Fifty people couldn't keep up. They include online gambling titans Ruth Parasol and J. Russell DeLeon, whose PartyGaming Internet poker company's stock has fallen 75% in the past 12 months. Also dropping off the list is caffeine king Howard Schultz, whose Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ: SBUX) stock has languished over the past year, and Campbell Soup (NYSE: CPB) heir Dorrance Hill Hamilton, who had appeared on every Forbes 400 list since 1982.”“Seven members of last year's list have died, including media mogul Barbara Cox Anthony; she is replaced by her two children, James Kennedy and Blair Parry-Okeden. Other notable deaths include Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) scion Helen Walton, real estate mogul Leona Helmsley and Cargill grain heir W. Duncan MacMillan.”
One thing is certain, I am not going to make it next year if all I can muster is this blogging gig.
cartoon by Chris Gash for Forbes








Posted by: Kevin Price | September 21, 2007 7:08 PM | Permalink to Comment