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

WASHINGTON — The coronavirus has wreaked havoc on the U.S. economy, yet billionaires in Washington 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.

That of course includes Amazon's Jeff Bezos, whose wealth has skyrocketed from $113 billion in 2020's list, to an estimated net worth of $177 billion in 2021. To put that in perspective: the average Amazon Prime user spends $1,400 each year on Amazon, according to BigCommerce.com, meaning Bezos could have bought as much stuff as 45.7 million Amazon Prime users with just the money he made 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 essay titled “Operation Wealth Speed."

A total of 21 billionaires on this year’s list hail from Washington. Bezos of course takes the top spot, but not far behind is Microsoft's Bill Gates, who ranked 4th in the world with $124 billion in the bank. With their combined $301 billion, those two tech giants could buy out all of Washington's other billionaires. In fact, they could almost do it twice since the other 19 billionaires are worth a combined 162.6 billion.

Other Evergreen State billionaires on the list include:

• Steve Ballmer, Microsoft, $68.7B
• Mackenzie Scott, Amazon, $53B
• Ken Fisher, Investment Analyst, $5.5B
• Charles Simonyi, Microsoft, $5B
• Howard Schultz, Starbucks, $4.9B
• Gave Newell, Valve, $4.1B
• James Jannard, Oakley, $2.7B
• Richard Barton, Zillow, $2.2B
• Orion Hindawi, Tanium , $2B
• Craig McCaw, McCaw Cellular, $2B
• David Hindawi, Tanium, $1.8B
• Glenn Sanford, eXp World Holdings, $1.8B
• Lloyd Frink, Zillow, $1.4B
• Martin Selig, Real Estate, $1.4B
• Chuck Bundrant, Trident Seafoods, $1.3B
• Bob Muglia, Snowflake, $1.3B
• Penny Sanford, Real Estate, $1.3B
• Anne Gittinger, Nordstrom, $1.1B
• Bruce Nordstrom, Nordstrom, $1.1B

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, 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.