51 Florida Billionaires Make Forbes’ 2018 List

Jeff Bezos is at the top of Forbes’ billionaires list for 2018, dethroning fellow Seattle-area billionaire Bill Gates, who has lost the top spot for only the sixth time since 1995. Among the elite club of billionaires on the 32nd annual list, 51 of them have Florida ties.

The 2018 list has 2,208 members from 72 countries. With 585 Americans on the list, the United States leads the way with the most number of billionaires in the world, followed by China with 373 billionaires. The U.S. also had 18 newcomers featured on the 2018 list.

According to Forbes, Bezos is the first centi-billionaire at the top of the list, meaning he has a fortune of over a $100 billion. Forbes explains just how much wealth these billionaires have, being worth a combined $9.1 trillion. The top 20 people on the list alone are worth $1.2 trillion, 13 percent of the total fortune of all billionaires worldwide.

Here are the top 10 Florida billionaires who made the Forbes list for 2018:

• Thomas Peterffy, 73, is worth $22.7 billion and is ranked 47th on the list. He is CEO of Interactive Brokers, which markets its specialized trading platform to sophisticated investors.
• David Tepper, 60, is worth $11 billion and is ranked 138th on the list. He manages his Appaloosa Management hedge fund firm and is based in Miami Beach.
• Micky Arison, 68, is worth $9.7 billion and is ranked 154th on the list. He is chairman of the world's largest cruise ship operator, Carnival Corp.
• Shahid Khan, 67, is worth $7.2 billion and is ranked 217th on the list. He bought auto parts supplier Flex-N-Gate from his former employer in 1980.
• Charles Johnson, 85, is worth $7.2 billion and is ranked 321st on the list. He is the largest shareholder in Franklin Resources, a global investment management firm also called Franklin Templeton Investments.
• Robert Rich, Jr., 77, is worth $5.2 billion and is ranked 372nd on the list. He is a frozen food mogul and leads Rich Products, founded by his father, Robert Rich Sr. (who died 2006) in 1945.
• Reinhold Schmieding, 63, is worth $4.9 billion and is ranked 404th on the list. He is started Arthrex, an orthopedic surgical tools company, in 1981 in Munich, Germany. The company is now headquartered in Naples.
• Dirk Ziff, 53, is worth $4.8 billion and is ranked 422nd on the list. He and his brothers Robert and Daniel inherited a fortune launched in 1927 when their grandfather cofounded publishing company Ziff Davis.
• J. Christopher Reyes, 64, is worth $4.7 billion and is ranked 441st on the list. He and his brother Jude co-chair Reyes Holdings, a $27.8 billion (sales) food and beverage distribution company.
• Jude Reyes, 62, is worth $4.7 billion and is ranked 441st (tie) on the list. He and his brother Chris run Reyes Holdings, a $27.8 billion (sales) food and beverage distribution company.

Tampa Bay residents on the list include: Edward DeBartolo Jr., Kenneth Feld, Thomas James, Ronald Wanek, Robert Duggan and Todd Christopher.

• DeBartolo, 71, is worth $2.8 billion and is ranked 887th on the list. While most of his wealth comes from real estate, the shopping mall magnate is best known as one of the most successful NFL owners.
• Feld, 69, is worth $2.5 billion and is ranked 965th on the list. He owns live entertainment company Feld Entertainment, the parent company of Disney on Ice, Monster Jam and other shows.
• Christopher, 55, is worth $2.1 billion and is ranked 1,157th on the list. He founded his hair care products company Vogue International in 1987.
• Wanek, 76, is worth $2.1 billion and is ranked 1,157th (tie) on the list. He owns America's largest home furniture manufacturer and retailer, Ashley Furniture.
• Duggan, 73, is worth $2 billion and is ranked 1,215th on the list. He is a serial entrepreneur who sold his biotech firm Pharmacyclics to AbbVie in 2015, netting $3.5 billion in pretax cash and stock.
• James, 75, is worth $1.2 billion and is ranked 1,867th on the list. He made his fortune through financial services business Raymond James, which was started by his father, Robert, in 1962.

Other Florida billionaires include:

• John Henry, 68, is worth $2.5 billion and is ranked 965th on the list. Henry and his partner Tom Werner bought the Boston Red Sox in 2002 for $380 million and delivered the Sox' first World Series win in 86 years in 2004. Their Fenway Sports Group holds the majority stake in New England Sports Network, Nascar's Roush Fenway Racing and British soccer club Liverpool FC.

• Michael Jordan, 55, is worth $1.6 billion and is ranked 1,477th on the list. Jordan bought a majority stake in the Charlotte Hornets in 2010 for a grossed-up value of $175 million. The Hornets are now worth $1.05 billion with Jordan owning 90 percent of the team. Jordan is considered the greatest basketball player to ever play in the NBA.

The top 10 billionaires on the list are:

• Jeff Bezos, 54, worth $112 billion
• Bill Gates, 62, worth $90 billion
• Warren Buffett, 87, worth $84 billion
• Bernard Arnault, 69, worth $72 billion
• Mark Zuckerberg, 33, worth $71 billion
• Amancio Ortega, 81, worth $70 billion
• Carlos Slim Helu, 78, worth $67.1 billion
• Charles Koch, 82, worth $60 billion
• David Koch, 77, worth $60 billion
• Larry Ellison, 73, worth $58.5 billion

The Forbes billionaires list provides a look at wealth using stock prices and exchange rates from Feb. 9, 2018. Forbes values assets like private companies, art, real estate and more. Read more about Forbes methodology here.

See the full list of billionaires here.

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