Of the world's wealthiest people, the majority still hail from the world's top economic superpower — the United States. There are 29 US billionaires who rank among the 50 richest on earth, and they command a whopping $938 billion between them.
This comes from new data provided to Business Insider by Wealth-X, a company that conducts research on the super-wealthy, featured in our recent ranking of the world's richest people. Wealth-X maintains a database of dossiers on more than 110,000 ultra-high-net-worth people, using a proprietary valuation model that takes into account each person's assets, then adjusts estimated net worth to account for currency-exchange rates, local taxes, savings rates, investment performance, and other factors.
The two richest people in America are no surprise: Bill Gates and Warren Buffett maintain their lead at the top despite being the two most generous people on earth. But US tech moguls have begun to overtake the upper echelon, with heavyweights like Jeff Bezos of Amazon and Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook adding billions to their net worth each year as their powerful companies continue to grow in value and influence.
Not everyone is an entrepreneur though. Inherited wealth has kept a hefty portion of the country's cash in the hands of a few families, as the Koch brothers, the Waltons of Walmart, and the heirs to the Mars candy conglomerate each rank among the wealthiest.
Read on to learn more about the 29 Americans with the deepest pockets.
28. James Simons
Net worth:$14.3 billion
Age: 77
Country: US
Industry: Hedge funds
Source of wealth: Self-made; Renaissance Technologies
Before revolutionizing the hedge fund industry with his mathematics-based approach, "Quant King" James Simons worked as a code breaker for the US Department of Defense during the Vietnam War, but was fired after criticizing the war in the press. He chaired the math department at Stony Brook University for a decade until leaving in 1978 to start a quantitative-trading firm. That firm, now called Renaissance Technologies, has more than $65 billion in assets under management among its many funds.
Simons has always dreamed big. About 10 years ago, he announced that he was starting a fund that he claimed would be able to handle $100 billion, about 10% of all assets managed by hedge funds at the time. That fund, Renaissance Institutional Equities Fund, never quite reached his aspirations — it currently handles about $10.5 billion— but his flagship Medallion fund is among the best-performing ever: It has generated a nearly 80% annualized return before fees since its inception in 1988.
In October, Renaissance shut down a $1 billion fund — one of its smaller ones — "due to a lack of investor interest." The firm's other funds, however, have been up and climbing. Simons retired in 2009, but remains chairman of the company.
28. Laurene Powell Jobs
Net worth:$14.4 billion
Age: 52
Country: US
Industry: Media
Source of wealth: Inheritance; Disney
The widow of Apple cofounder Steve Jobs, Laurene Powell Jobs inherited his wealth and assets, which included 5.5 million shares of Apple stock and a 7.3% stake in The Walt Disney Co., upon his death. Jobs' stake in Disney — which has nearly tripled in value since her husband's death in 2011 and comprises more than $12 billion of her net worth — makes her the company's largest individual shareholder.
Though she's best recognized through her iconic husband, Jobs has had a career of her own. She worked on Wall Street for Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs before earning her MBA at Stanford in 1991, after which she married her late husband and started organic-foods company Terravera. But she's been primarily preoccupied with philanthropic ventures, with a particular focus on education. In 1997, she founded College Track, an after-school program that helps low-income students prepare for and enroll in college, and in September she committed $50 million to a new project called XQ: The Super School Project, which aims to revamp the high-school curriculum and experience.
Last October, Jobs spoke out against "Steve Jobs," Aaron Sorkin's movie about her late husband that portrays him in a harsh light, calling it "fiction." Jobs had been against the project from the get-go, reportedly calling Leonardo DiCaprio and Christian Bale to ask them to decline roles in the film.
27. Charlie Ergen
Net worth:$14.5 billion
Age: 62
Country: US
Industry: Media
Source of wealth: Self-made; Dish Network
After four years away from satellite TV provider Dish Network, the company he founded in 1980, Charlie Ergen returned to his position as CEO last spring. But Ergen's reunion came amid difficult times for Dish, as the company has been striving to stem its slipping number of subscribers.
But one of the network's newest services might be its saving grace. Last January, the company launched Sling TV, a streaming service that allows subscribers to watch their favorite channels, such as ESPN and Food Network, online for only $20 per month. Though Sling is a 180-degree pivot from Dish's signature product, it has caught on with customers, inspiring copycat services and potentially providing the struggling company with the leg up it needed.
Despite not offering wireless plans to subscribers, Ergen also bought up nearly $10 billion worth of wireless-spectrum licenses at an auction last year. But the purchase incited significant backlash against Dish, which through two controlled affiliates had secured a 25% small-business discount that was subsequently revoked by the FCC. The company was forced to pay penalties exceeding $500 million to the FCC and surrender some of the licenses. Controversy surrounding Ergen's leadership is nothing new, however. His reputation for cutthroat business tactics in the past led The Hollywood Reporter to dub him the "the most hated man in Hollywood."
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