Massachusetts' Billionaires: The Richest Bay Staters In 2017

Together, these eight Massachusetts residents are worth nearly $50 billion. Yes, that's with a "b." Forbes released its Forbes 400 list on Tuesday, and the Bay State can count eight of its locals among the wealthiest folks in the country.

They've made their fortunes from varied fields, but they aren't very well spread across the state. Four are billed by Forbes as being from Boston, one from Newton, two from Brookline and one from Milton. The top two are from the same company.

To no one's surprise, Bill Gates leads the pack as the richest American in 2017, followed closely by another Seattle-area billionaire, Jeff Bezos. Though the Amazon CEO came in at second place on the Forbes 400 list, Bezos did for a brief few hours have the distinction of being richer than Gates over the summer thanks to a surge in Amazon stock.

Forbes noted that the price of admission to the list jumped nearly 18 percent to $2 billion. There were 26 billionaires on the 2016 list who fell off and 22 newcomers made the list for the first time. One of the notable names that fell off the list is Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank.

To come up with the rankings of the 400 richest Americans, Forbes’ journalists started with a list of about 600 people considered strong candidates. Forbes looked at public records, news stories and when possible interviewed the candidates in person or via phone. All types of assets were taken into account and Forbes also factored in debt.

One of the notable losers on the list was President Donald Trump, Forbes says. According to Forbes, Trump’s fortune fell $600 million to $3.1 billion. Trump’s Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross fell off the list altogether when he filed disclosure forms showing he had a net worth of less than $1 billion.

According to Forbes, these are the richest Massachusetts residents in 2017:

No. 29 – Abigail Johnson, Milton, worth $13.1 billion, is CEO and president of mutual fund behemoth Fidelity. She graduated from Hobart and William Smith and Harvard.

No. 62 – Edward Johnson III, of Boston, worth $7.1 billion, is the chairman of Fidelity. He graduated from Harvard.

No. 83 – Robert Kraft, of Brookline, worth $5.1 billion, is the chairman and CEO of the Kraft Group and, of course, owner of the New England Patriots and New England Revolution. He bought the Patriots in 1994 for $172 million. The team is now worth more than $3 billion. He holds degrees from Columbia and Harvard.

No. 122 – Jim Davis, of Newton, worth $5.2 billion, owns shoe and athletic apparel company New Balance. He graduated from Middlebury College.

No. 206 (tie) – Edward Johnson IV and Elizabeth Johnson, of Boston, worth $3.6 billion. Both are grandchildren of Fidelity founder Edward Johnson II and siblings of current Fidelity CEO and president Abigail Johnson. Edward IV is president of Pembroke Real Estate, which is owned by FMR, Fidelity's parent company. He graduated from Northeastern University and owns a 5.56 percent stake in FMR. Elizabeth founded Louisburg Farms, a stable of show-jumping horses based in Wellington, Fla. and owns a 5.56 percent stake in FMR.

No. 226 – Amos Hostetter Jr., of Boston, worth $3.1 billion, "made a fortune in the 1990s as cable TV pioneer." He has degrees from Amherst and Harvard.

No. 340 – Alan Trefler, of Boston, worth $2.4 billion, founded Pegasystems, a software company that focuses on streamlining business and enhancing customer engagement. It went public in 1996.

>>>Click here for the full Forbes 400 list<<<

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