These Billionaires Tied To Wisconsin Are Among World’s Richest: Forbes

WISCONSIN — Many who made it to the latest world’s billionaires list are not as flush as they were a year ago, including some from Wisconsin, but they were still collectively worth $12.2 trillion, Forbes said with the release of its annual list.

Their collective wealth is down from last year, when it stood at $12.7 trillion. Nearly half of the list is less wealthy than a year ago, including Elon Musk, who lost his No.1 spot after shares in Tesla fell when he bought Twitter. Musk is now No.2 on the list and was worth $192.8 billion Wednesday morning after having made about $12.8 billion since Tuesday. Some repeated names from Wisconsin, however, managed to increase their already massive wealth.

Twenty-eight people fell off the list altogether, with the number of people with 10-figure fortunes now at 2,640. The United States has the most billionaires of any country — 735 people collectively worth $4.5 trillion. Overall, Forbes attributed the loss of wealth to falling stock markets, especially in the technology sector, and rising interest rates.

To calculate net worth, Forbes used stock prices and exchange rates from March 10 to determine the ranking, but updates wealth in real time. Below are some of the billionaires with ties to Wisconsin who made the list:

• John Menard Jr, home improvement stores, $17.4 billion.
• Diane Hendricks, building supplies, $13.7 billion.
• Judy Faulkner, medical-record software, $7.1 billion.
• James Cargill II, food and beverage, $3.9 billion.
• H. Fisk Johnson, cleaning products, $4.8 billion.
• S. Curtis Johnson, cleaning products, $4.8 billion.
• Helen Johnson-Leipold, cleaning products, $4.8 billion.

Notably, Herbert Kohler dropped off the list of Wisconsin billionaires this year after he died in 2022.

With Musk’s slip from the No. 1 position, Bernard Arnault, who heads luxury goods giant LVMH, tops the list as the richest person in the world. It’s the first time a citizen of France has led the ranking, whose top 10 includes seven U.S. billionaires. Besides Musk, they are (net worth is reflected as of Wednesday and may not align exactly with their placement on the list):

• Jeff Bezos, Amazon, worth $126.9 billion;
• Larry Ellison, Oracle, worth $118.9 billion;
• Bill Gates, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, worth $109.9 billion;
• Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway, worth $107.4 billion;
• Michael Bloomberg, Bloomberg Inc., worth $95.4 billion; and
• Steve Balmer, Microsoft, worth $90.1 billion.