10 Richest People in the US
Some of America's richest people made their fortunes as innovators, most becoming self-made billionaires. They transformed the world with technology, have improved the lives of others with their philanthropy, kept the shelves stocked during the pandemic and are working on ways to change tomorrow.
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You know the names, but just how much wealth do the richest Americans hold? Using data from Forbes' Real-Time Billionaire List, GOBankingRates identified the 10 richest people in America and ranked them in ascending order from least rich to richest. The list also includes their ages, net worths and the source of their fortunes.
Jim Walton
U.S. wealth rank: 10
Overall wealth rank: 16
Net worth: $57.4 billion
Age: 74
Source of income: Walmart
The youngest son of Walmart founder Sam Walton, Jim Walton turned his seat on the company's board over to his own son, Steuart, in 2016. Now, he serves as chairman of Arvest Bank, which - along with its $20 billion in assets - also belongs to his family. Sam Walton's heirs own about half of the Walmart stock.
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Michael Bloomberg
U.S. wealth rank: 9
Overall wealth rank: 12
Net worth: $76.8 billion
Age: 80
Source of income: Bloomberg LP, self-made
Michael Bloomberg built his enormous fortune from the ground up, starting his Wall Street career at the entry level before building a financial empire based on media and technology. His second act was a political career that included a long run as the mayor of New York. He remains the CEO of Bloomberg LP.
Steve Ballmer
U.S. wealth rank: 8
Overall wealth rank: 11
Net worth: $77.9 billion
Age: 66
Source of income: Microsoft, self-made
Stanford dropout Steve Ballmer joined Microsoft in 1980 as employee No. 30. As CEO from 2000-14, he shepherded the company through the dot-com bust, the rise of Google, and Apple's most transformative era of innovation. After his retirement from Microsoft, he found a new passion when he bought the Los Angeles Clippers of the NBA, spending $2 billion on the team.
Sergey Brin
U.S. wealth rank: 7
Overall wealth rank: 10
Net worth: $81.7 billion
Age: 49
Source of income: Google, self-made
Sergey Brin is no longer the president of Google's parent company Alphabet, but he remains a member of the board and a controlling shareholder. Along with Larry Page, he co-founded Google in 1998 while studying at Stanford. Forbes reported Brin is the richest immigrant to America; he and his family moved to the U.S. from Russia when Brin was 6.
Larry Page
U.S. wealth rank: 6
Overall wealth rank: 9
Net worth: $85.1 billion
Age: 49
Source of income: Google, self-made
Like Sergey Brin, Larry Page was pursuing an advanced computer science degree at Stanford when he co-founded Google in 1998. He was instrumental in developing the PageRank algorithm that made it possible to search the early internet. Although he stepped down as CEO of Alphabet, he remains a controlling shareholder.
Larry Ellison
U.S. wealth rank: 5
Overall wealth rank: 7
Net worth: $89.7 billion
Age: 78
Source of income: Oracle, self-made
Larry Ellison still owns more than one-third of Oracle, the software giant he co-founded. He sat on the board of Tesla from December 2018 to August 2022 but owns about 15 million shares of Elon Musk's company. He bought almost all of the Hawaiian island of Lanai in 2012 for $300 million and now lives there full-time.
Warren Buffett
U.S. wealth rank: 4
Overall wealth rank: 6
Net worth: $92.4 billion
Age: 92
Source of income: Berkshire Hathaway, self-made
Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway owns dozens of companies and brands, many of which, like Duracell and Geico, are household names. He also happens to be one of the most successful stock investors of all time. He bought his first stock at age 11. Buffett and Bill Gates teamed in 2010 to form the Giving Pledge, which asks billionaires to donate at least half of their assets to charity.
Bill Gates
U.S. wealth rank: 3
Overall wealth rank: 5
Net worth: $102.2 billion
Age: 66
Source of income: Microsoft, self-made
Bill Gates spent the first part of his life amassing one of the world's greatest fortunes and now seems intent on giving it away. Although he rose to power, prominence, and wealth as the founder of Microsoft, he is now best known for his philanthropic efforts through the world's largest charity, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. While they still co-lead the organization, the Gateses announced they would divorce in May 2021. Melinda Gates received $6 billion in shares of public companies in the divorce.
Jeff Bezos
U.S. wealth rank: 2
Overall wealth rank: 4
Net worth: $138.6 billion
Age: 58
Source of income: Amazon, self-made
Jeff Bezos amassed a fortune from Amazon, the e-commerce powerhouse he started out of his garage in 1994. Bezos stepped down as CEO in 2021 but still serves as executive chairman. Other ventures include The Washington Post and Blue Origin. He and his wife of 25 years, MacKenzie Scott, divorced in 2019, and she was granted a quarter of what he owned in Amazon stock at the time - about 16%. He still owns close to 10% of the company, per Forbes.
Elon Musk
U.S. wealth rank: 1
Overall wealth rank: 1
Net worth: $255.1 billion
Age: 51
Source of income: Tesla, SpaceX, self-made
Elon Musk, the cofounder and CEO of electric vehicle maker Tesla and CEO of SpaceX, recently renewed his on-again, off-again bid to buy Twitter for less than the $44 billion he initially agreed to pay. He currently owns a 9.1% stake in the social media company in addition to a 25% stake in Tesla. SpaceX, Musk's private space company, is worth $127 billion, according to Forbes.
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Daria Uhlig contributed to the reporting for this article.
Methodology: For this piece, GOBankingRates used Forbes "Real-Time Billionaire" data to find the 10 richest Americans as of Sept. 26, 2022, at the end of trading. For each American billionaire GOBankingRates found: (1) net worth as of Sept. 26, 2022, (2) age; (3) source of wealth; and (4) overall wealth rank in the world. All data was collected and is up to date as of Sept. 26, 2022.
This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 10 Richest People in the US
