North Carolina is home to 8 billionaires, and 6 live in the Triangle. Who they are
There are eight billionaires living in North Carolina, and six live in the Triangle, according to a recent Forbes list of the richest people in the world.
There’s only one female billionaire in North Carolina, the report says. She lives in Raleigh.
You can search the list of the world’s billionaires at forbes.com/billionaires.
Here’s who they are.
James Goodnight
Net worth: $10.1 billion
Rankings: #1 in North Carolina and #221 in the world
Age: 81
Residence: Cary
About: James Goodnight co-founded SAS, the analytics software firm that was developed to analyze agricultural data, in 1976 with fellow NC State postgraduate student John Sall. They have since both founded the private school Cary Academy and co-own the Umstead Hotel and Spa. The 164-acre Ann and Jim Goodnight Museum Park at the NC Museum of Art in Raleigh was renamed in 2016 to honor the married couple for their “unparalleled contributions” to the museum and park for decades. Together, they have three children.
Tim Sweeney
Net worth: $5.7 billion
Rankings: #522 in the world
Age: 53
Residence: Cary
About: Tim Sweeney is the co-founder and CEO of Cary-based game developer Epic Games (which created Fortnite, the online global sensation). Sweeney is also a land conservationist in the state, and he’s purchased around 60,000 acres of forest land to prevent development.
John Sall
Net worth: $5 billion
Rankings: #612 in the world
Age: 76
Residence: Cary
About: John Sall co-founded SAS (learn more above) with James Goodnight, the richest person in North Carolina. Together, they founded the Cary Academy and co-own the Umstead Hotel and Spa. Sall and his wife Ginger, who have four children together, have given over $130 million to their Sall Family Foundation, which invests in the environment, public health and science.
Roy Carroll II
Net worth: $2.6 billion
Rankings: #1,286 in the world
Age: 61
Residence: Greensboro
About: Roy Carroll II is the founder and CEO of Carroll Companies, a Greensboro-based real estate developer. He co-founded the company at 21 years old with his father. It was originally a small, custom home building company. In 1990, he bought his father’s stake and expanded into building subdivisions and later apartment complexes. Carroll Companies now owns more than 13,000 apartments and 29 self-storage facilities. He also owns the Rhino Times, a local online publication, and a large collection of Ferraris.
Dennis Gillings
Net worth: $2.4 billion
Rankings: #1,380 in the world
Age: 80
Residence: Durham
About: Dennis Gillings is the founder and former CEO and chairman of IQVIA, a clinical research firm that was named Quintiles Transnational until 2017. He launched Quintiles in 1982, wanting to make clinical trials for drugs faster and more efficient. Quintiles reached annual revenues of $5.7 billion before merging with healthcare data firm IMS Health in 2016.
Frank Holding
Net worth: $1.2 billion
Rankings: #2,410 in the world
Age: 62
Residence: Raleigh
About: Frank Holding is the chairman and CEO of First Citizens Bank, a Raleigh-based commercial banking chain. His grandfather, Robert Powell Holding, became an employee of the bank in 1918 and its president in 1935, then later passed it down to Holding’s father, Lewis Holding. First Citizens Bank began as the Bank of Smithfield, Johnston County’s first bank, in 1898. Holding and his four siblings collectively own about 20% of the bank. He also serves as a board member at Wake Forest University.
Carson Brice
Net worth: $1.1 billion
Rankings: #2,545 in the world
Age: 56
Residence: Raleigh
About: Carson Brice is one of four sisters of Frank Holding, the chairman and CEO of First Citizens Bank, a Raleigh-based commercial banking chain. Brice and her four siblings collectively own about 20% of the bank.
Ric Elias
Net worth: $1 billion
Rankings: #2,692 in the world
Age: 56
Residence: Charlotte
About: Ric Elias is the co-founder and CEO of Red Ventures, the digital media company that owns brands like CNET, Lonely Planet, Best Colleges and The Points Guy. The company bought Bankrate, the personal finance site, for $1.4 billion in 2017 and paid $500 million for product reviewer CNET in 2020. Elias is from Puerto Rico and began multiple foundations, including Golden Door Scholars which provides scholarships to undocumented students.
How many billionaires live in North Carolina?
There are eight billionaires in North Carolina, Forbes says.
Forbes sent The News & Observer a list of the billionaires on the 2024 list with North Carolina listed as their main residence, a detail that is included in each billionaire’s personal profile.
The 2024 billionaires list reflects net worth at the time of publication, while individual profiles fluctuate based on a real-time data. The net worth figures mentioned in this story are taken from the official 2024 billionaires list, which was published last month.
For example, James Goodnight’s net worth is listed as $10.1 billion on the list but $9.9 billion on his personal profile as of May 9. Our story says $10.1 billion.
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