These Illinois Billionaires Are Among Richest In U.S.: Forbes

ILLINOIS — The coronavirus has wreaked havoc on the U.S. economy, yet billionaires in Illinois, across the country and around the world 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.

Illinois' richest person, hedge fund manager Ken Griffin, is worth about $16 billion, up about $4 billion from a year ago. To put that into context, Griffin's 2020 income was about 192,000 times what someone working a minimum wage job would have earned last year — if they were lucky enough to keep their jobs through the pandemic.

While many Illinoisans were waiting on $1,200 stimulus checks last year to make ends meet, Griffin could have personally written each Illinoisan a check for that amount and still had nearly a $1 billion left in the bank. And he's just one of Illinois' 22 billionaires.

Four of those 22 billionaires have the same last name: Pritzker. One of the country's wealthiest families, the Pritzker dynasty includes Hyatt Hotels magnate Thomas Pritzker, his cousin — the governor — J.B. Pritzker, the governor's sister, Penny Pritzker, and another of the governor's cousins, Jennifer Pritzker. Altogether, the four Pritzkers on Forbes' list control more than $13 billion of wealth.

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."

It's hard for the numbers not to spark something, especially when you consider that $1 billion is enough for a person to live comfortably at the state's median wage — about $65,000 per year — for more than 1,500 years. Maybe a little less for millennials, known to splurge on avocado toast.

Nonetheless, Lane continues, “the underlying trends offer a road map to greater prosperity for all. Like anything else salvaged from a once-a-century plague, we just need to be brave enough to harness it.”

He doesn't explain how to do that.

Here's Forbes' full list of Illinois billionaires:

• Ken Griffin — $16 billion
• Neil Bluhm —$5.7 billion
• Sam Zell — $5.3 billion
• Joe Mansueto — $5.2 billion
• Mark Walter — $4.7 billion
• Thomas Pritzker — $4.5 billion
• Eric Lefkofsky — $4.3 billion
• Ty Warner — $3.6 billion
• J.B. Pritzker $3.5 billion
• Patrick Ryan — $3.5 billion
• Penny Pritzker — $3.1 billion
• Justin Ishbia — $3 billion
• Steven Sarowitz — $2.6 billion
• Joseph Grendys — $2.3 billion
• Jennifer Pritzker — $2 billion
• Jerry Reinsdorf — $1.7 billion
• Michael Polsky — $1.5 billion
• Matthew Roszak — $1.5 billion
• Michael Krasny — $1.3 billion
• Jack Schuler — $1.3 billion
• Carl Thoma — $1.1 billion
• Hartley Rogers — $1 billion

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’d fallen off in the past 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.