2 Oregonians Make Forbes' List Of World Billionaires

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, two have Oregon 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 Oregon billionaires who made the Forbes list for 2018:

• Nike co-founder and former chairman Phil Knight, 80, with a net worth of $29.9 billion is ranked #28. A University of Oregon alum, Knight has made significant investments into the school's sports programs, not only providing a plethora of Nike-made uniforms but also helping support its infrastructure.
• Conversely, 68-year-old Columbia Sportswear CEO Timothy Boyle, who ranks #1,103 with a net worth of $2.2 billion, is a U of O dropout. According to Forbes, Boyle left the UO in 1970 to help his mother keep a then-fledgling Columbia Sportswear afloat.

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.

Top Photo: Phil Knight via Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Written by Feroze Dhanoa, Patch National Staff, with additional reporting from Oregon Editor Travis Loose