Greenwich Billionaires Among Richest In U.S.: Forbes

GREENWICH, CT — The coronavirus has wreaked havoc on the United States economy, yet billionaires in Connecticut and across the globe are significantly wealthier than they were a year ago, according to this year's recently released Forbes World's Billionaires List.

The number of billionaires on Forbes' 35th annual list jumped to an unprecedented 2,755 people, 660 more than a year ago. Altogether, they are worth $13.1 trillion, up from $8 trillion in 2020.

Among those on the list, 86 percent are richer today than they were a year ago.

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The numbers will likely spark outrage, writes Forbes Chief Content Officer Randall Lane. "There's no getting around a collective $5 trillion wealth surge during a pandemic, when most of the world felt scared, sick, besieged," he wrote in a comprehensive essay titled "Operation Wealth Speed."

However, "the underlying trends offer a road map to greater prosperity for all," he continued. "Like anything else salvaged from a once-a-century plague, we just need to be brave enough to harness it."

Fourteen billionaires on this year's list hail from Connecticut. Greenwich hedge fund magnate Ray Dalio, 71, founder and co-chief investment officer of Bridgewater Associates, is at the top, and worth a cool $20.3 billion, up $2.3 billion from last year.

Although not worth enough to solve the world hunger crisis, Dalio could buy a large white clam pizza from Pepe's in New Haven for everyone in Connecticut, every day, for about six months.

Other Connecticut billionaires on the list include:

• Steve Cohen, 64, another hedge fund icon, founder of Point72 Asset Management and current majority owner of the New York Mets, and worth $16 billion, $2.1 billion more than he was a year ago.
• Alexandre Behring, 54, made $7 billion from his investments this past year. He's up $2.7 billion from the previous year.
• Darien's Andreas Halvorsen, 59, is the founding partner and chief executive officer of Viking Global Investors, and worth $6.3 billion, $1.5 billion more than the previous year.
• Karen Pritzker, 63, from Branford, is one of 11 billionaire Pritzker heirs. Her grandfather, A.N. Pritzker, built industrial conglomerate Marmon and the Hyatt hotels. She broke even this past year, maintaining her wealth of $4.9 billion.
• Hedge fund manager, Stephen Mandel Jr., 65, is worth $3.9 billion, up from $2.8 billion.
• Fashion and retail heir Christian Haub, 56, also broke even, maintaining his wealth of $3 billion.
• 64-year-old Bradley Jacobs made his $2.9 billion in logistics, and he's up $1.4 billion on the year.
• Wrestling mogul Vincent McMahon, 75, is worth $2.1 billion, or $300 million more than last year.
• Money manger Mario Gabelli, 79, is worth $1.8 billion. He's also worth $300 million more than he was on last year's list.
• The co-founder of Subway sandwich shops, Danbury's Peter Buck, is worth $1.7 billion. Last year he weighed in at just $1.4 billion.
• Cargill heiresses Alexandra Daitch, 58, from Old Lyme, and Lucy Stitzer, 61, are both worth $1.7 billion, up from $1.3 billion the year before.
• Finally, money manager Clifford Asness lost money. His worth dropped from $2.6 billion to $1.4 billion.

Unless stated otherwise, all of Connecticut's billionaires live in Greenwich.

To compile this year's list, Forbes used a snapshot of its real-time billionaires rankings by analyzing stock prices and exchange rates for March 5.

A record 493 people made their debut on this year's list. Another 250 who fell off the list made a reappearance, according to Forbes. This year's list includes a record 328 female billionaires, up from 241 in 2020.

Soon-to-be-former Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos retained the top spot on this year's list for the fourth consecutive year. Bezos, who founded the e-commerce giant out of his garage in Seattle, Washington, will step down as CEO at the end of this year.

Meanwhile, Elon Musk soared to the No. 2 spot, up from No. 31 on last year's ranking. Bernard Arnault of LVMH remains at No. 3, followed by Bill Gates at No. 4. Rounding out this year's top five is Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg.

See the full 2021 Forbes Billionaires List.

Written by Rich Kirby, Patch Staff