The Forbes 400: 15 Massachusetts Billionaires Made The Cut

MASSACHUSETTS — America's billionaires are richer than they've ever been, Forbes said with Tuesday's release of The Forbes 400, its annual list of the 400 richest U.S. billionaires. 15 people from Massachusetts made the cut.

In Massachusetts, The Forbes 400 billionaires are:

• Abigail Johnson, CEO of Fidelity Investments ranked 27, and has a net worth of $25.2 billion.
• Edward Johnson, III. ranked 60, also works in money management at Fidelity and has a net worth of $11.5 billion.
• Robert Kraft ranked 102 as the owner of the New England Patriots with a net worth of $8.3 billion.
• Edward Johnson, IV., the grandson of Edward Johnson II, who founded Fidelity Investments ranked 124, with a net worth of $7.2 billion.
• Jim Davis & family ranked 134 as the owners of New Balance, bringing them a net worth of $6.9 billion.
• Elizabeth Johnson, granddaughter of Edward Johnson II who founded Fidelity Investments ranked 168, with a net worth of $6.1 billion
• Timothy Springer ranked 176 as an immunologist and professor of biological chemistry and molecular pharmacology at Harvard Medical School with a net worth of $5.9 billion.
• Alan Trefler, the son of a holocaust survivor, ranked 188 by starting Pegasystems software in 1983 giving him a net worth of $5.7 billion.
• Noubar Afeyan ranked 212 as the founder and CEO of Flagship Pioneering, a biotech firm out of Cambridge with a net worth of $5 billion.
• Robert Langer is a scientist and professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, ranking 222 on the list, with a net worth of $4.9 billion.
• Amos Hostetter Jr., a 1990s cable TV pioneer ranked 289, giving him a net worth of $3.9 billion.
• Steve Conine, is one of three tied for spot 340, as co-founder of Wayfair with a net worth of $3.4 billion.
• Frank Laukien is also tied for 340, as the chairman and CEO of Bruker Corp. with a net worth of $3.4 billion.
• And Niraj Shah is also at 340 as co-founder and CEO of Wayfair with a net worth of $3.4 billion.
• Robert Hale is at 363 as the founder and CEO of wholesale telecommunications provider Granite Telecommunications with a net worth of $3.2 billion.

Jeff Bezos, the founder of the e-commerce giant Amazon, again topped The Forbes 400 list. His net worth was $189.8 billion, according to Forbes' real-time wealth tracker. Bezos has topped the list for four consecutive years.

Rounding out the top five and the size of their fortunes at the end of trading Monday are Tesla founder Elon Musk ($190.5 billion), Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg ($134.5 billion), Microsoft founder Bill Gates ($134 billion), and Google executive Larry Page ($123 billion).

Forbes said that though the pandemic made 2020 a terrible year for many, the wealthiest Americans continued to enjoy good economic times. Collectively, the personal fortunes of the 400 richest billionaires increased 40 percent over the past year to $4.5 trillion, up from $3.2 trillion the year prior.

Nearly all are richer than they were a year ago, Forbes said, and the top 20 are worth $1.8 trillion.

Forbes calculated the net worth of those on the list using stock prices at Wall Street’s closing bell on Sept. 3, which was close to a record high close for U.S. stock indices such as the S&P 500.

Among the 44 people who fell off the list was former President Donald Trump, who had been among the 400 richest Americans for 25 years. He continues to be a billionaire. He is as wealthy as he was a year ago, when he ranked 339, but he's lost $600 million since the start of the pandemic, Forbes noted. Big-city properties, which make up the bulk of the real estate mogul's holdings, have languished during the pandemic

Newcomers to The Forbes 400 include cryptocurrency entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried, who at 29 is the youngest person on the list. He's worth $22.5 billion, ranks 32nd, and is among seven cryptocurrency entrepreneurs on the list.

There are 56 women on the list, the same number as a year ago. Oprah Winfrey and Gap cofounder Doris Fisher fell off the list, but new to the list are Melinda French Gates, following her divorce from Bill Gates; and Miriam Adelson, heir to her late husband Sheldon Adelson's stake in the Los Vegas Sands casino empire.

Alice Walton remains the richest woman in America for the seventh year. The Walmart heir is worth $67.9 billion.

In all, 282 people on the list are self-made billionaires.

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