7 Long Islanders Make Forbes 2017 List of Wealthiest Americans

On Tuesday, Forbes released its list of the 400 richest people in America, and once again, seven Long Islanders made the list.

Bill Gates, with a net worth of $89 billion, tops the prestigious list. He is followed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who's worth a modest $81.5 billion.

Dozens of New Yorkers — nearly all from New York City — made the list. However, there were only a handful of Long Islanders. The richest man in New York is David Koch, who, with a net worth of $48.5 billion, is also the sixth wealthiest man in America (tied with his brother, Charles).

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The price of admission to Forbes' annual ranking jumped nearly 18 percent to $2 billion, the magazine noted. There were 22 newcomers making the list for the first time and 26 billionaires on the 2016 list who didn't make the cut. One of the big losers from New York was President Donald Trump, whose fortune fell by more than $600 million to $3.1 billion, slipping to No. 248 from No. 156.

Here are the Long Island billionaires, including information from Forbes:

No. 25: James Simons, East Setauket — $18.5 billion

The quantitative trading genius behind Renaissance Technologies retired from his $32 billion (assets) hedge fund firm in 2010, but continues to benefit from its strong performance. The firm's biggest fund, Renaissance Institutional Equities, was up 14 percent in the first half of 2016.

No. 59: Katharine Rayner and Margaretta Taylor, East Hampton — $8 billion

Katharine Rayner, Margaretta Taylor and their sibling, James Cox Chambers are heirs to the Cox family fortune. Their grandfather, James M. Cox, founded what has become Cox Enterprises, an automotive and media conglomerate. The three siblings split the 50 percent stake they inherited from their mother, Anne Cox Chambers, 96, in an asset shuffling that became public in 2015.

No. 118: Charles Dolan, Oyster Bay — $5 billion

Charles Dolan sold Cablevision in June 2016 for $17.7 billion in cash to Altice, a company controlled by French billionaire Patrick Drahi, and other investors. It was the crowning achievement for Dolan, who got his start cutting sports highlight reels for TV stations around his native Cleveland.

No. 167: Julian Robertson Jr., Locust Valley — $4.1 billion

Julian Robertson joined Kidder Peabody as a stockbroker in 1957 after serving in the Navy. He founded Tiger Management in 1980, pioneering the then-budding hedge fund industry. Since he returned money to investors in 2000, he has been managing his own book and seeding several hedge funds started by his disciples, dubbed Tiger Cubs.

No. 248: Kenneth Langone, Sands Point — $3.1 billion

Investment banker Kenneth Langone was an early investor in Home Depot in 1978 with fellow billionaires Arthur Blank and Bernard Marcus and as a result is mentioned as a co-founder of the home improvement chain. He still has a stake in Home Depot but now invests in tech companies and industrial giants. After digging ditches for the Long Island Expressway as a teenager, Langone went to Bucknell and graduated with a degree in economics.

No. 264: Don Vultaggio, Oyster Bay — $3 billion

The co-founder of Arizona Beverages, Vultaggio made his fortune selling 99 cent cans of iced tea. He got his start selling beer and soda out of the back of a van in the neighborhoods of Brooklyn where no one else wanted to go. He launched Arizona in 1992, which now sells about 3 billion containers of product a year.

To rank the 400 richest Americans, Forbes started with a list of about 600 people considered strong candidates. Its journalists then used public records, news reports and interviews with the people to determine their net worth. All types of assets were taken into account and Forbes also factored in debt.

To see the full list of the wealthiest Americans, click here.

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