These LI Billionaires Are Among Richest In World: Forbes

LONG ISLAND, NY — The coronavirus has wreaked havoc on the U.S. economy, yet billionaires on Long Island 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.

Long Island's wealthiest person, Jim Simons, has a net worth of $24.6 billion, an increase of $3 billion from a year ago.

Simons, of East Setauket, founded Renaissance Technologies, a hedge fund firm that manages about $55 billion. Simons is the former chairman of Stony Brook University's Department of Mathematics. In 2011, the Simons Foundation presented Stony Brook with a gift of $150 million, which remains the largest gift ever given to a SUNY school.

The $3 billion Simons made over the past year comes out to $8.3 million a day. Assuming a 40-hour work week, that's $1.4 million an hour. It takes the average Long Islander more than 20 years to earn what Simons made every hour last year.

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."

Here are the 11 Long Islanders on the list:

• No. 68- Jim Simons, East Setauket; net worth: $24.6 billion
• No. 432-Margaretta Taylor, Southampton, and Katharine Rayner, East Hampton; net worth: 6.2 billion
• No. 440- Charles Dolan and family, Oyster Bay; net worth: $5.6 billion
• No. 608- Ken Langone, Sands Point; net worth: $4.7 billion
• No. 638- Julian Robertson, Jr., Locust Valley. net worth: $4.5 billion.
• No. 775-Don Vultaggio & family, Port Washington; net worth: $3.8 billion
• No. 1,064- Pablo Legorreta, Sag Harbor; net worth: $2.9 billion
• No. 2,141- Louis Bacon, Oyster Bay; net worth: $1.4 billion
• No. 2,524- Mitchell Jacobson, Locust Valley; net worth: $1.1 billion
• No. 2,674- Axel Stawski, Sagaponack; net worth: $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.