Business & Tech
7 MA Billionaires On Forbes 400 List, But Most Rated Poorly For Philanthropic Efforts
The 2023 Forbes 400 list released Tuesday is billed as the "definitive ranking" of wealth in the U.S. See who from Massachusetts made it.
![Of course Patriots owner Robert Kraft made the Forbes 400. Kraft is No. 2 in Massachusetts, and the 62nd richest person overall in the U.S.](https://patch.com/img/cdn20/users/22906546/20231003/010642/styles/patch_image/public/patch-ed-new-england-patriots-ri-nunes-21-1___03130513848.jpg)
BOSTON, MA — If you've ever purchased a pair of running shoes, invested your savings or have heard of a team called the New England Patriots, then you probably know who the richest people in Massachusetts are.
The Forbes 400, an annual ranking of America’s super rich released Tuesday, estimates the net worth of the 400 richest Americas at $4.5 trillion. Seven Massachusetts residents are on the list, and all are slightly richer than their appearance on the list last year thanks to rebounding stock markets and an AI-driven tech boom, according to Forbes.
Billionaires had to have a net worth at least $2.9 billion to be included on the prestigious list, up from $2.7 billion a year ago. Forbes said its net worth calculations use stock prices from Sept. 8. Here are the elite from Massachusetts on the list (rankings are overall among the top 400):
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- 29) Abigail Johnson, Fidelity Investments, $25.5 billion
- 62) Robert Kraft, New England Patriots owner, $11.1 billion
- 64) Edward Johnson, IV, Fidelity Investments, $10.6 billion
- 99) Elizabeth Johnson, Fidelity Investments, $8.7 billion
- 203) Robert Hale, Jr., founder of Granite Telecommunications, $5.4 billion
- 215) Jim Davis & family, New Balance owners, $5.1 billion
- 326) Amos Hostetter Jr., CEO of Continental Cablevision: $3.5 billion
Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk, owner of the social media platform X, tops the list for a second year with an estimated net worth of $251 billion — $90 billion richer than Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, and No. 2 on the list, and $93 billion ahead of Oracle software development company founder Larry Ellison.
Forbes also tracked the charitable giving of every member of The Forbes 400, and scored each person on a scale of 1 (those who have given less than 1 percent of their wealth away so far) to 5 (those who have given at least 20 percent). The richest people in America are, so far, not all that generous. Two-thirds of them have given less than 5 percent of their wealth away so far; only 11 have donated 20 percent or more.
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The Massachusetts billionaires are among the least generous. Only Hostetter earned the high score of 5, with Kraft and Hale following with scores of 3. The state's richest person, Abigail Johnson, earned the lowest philanthropy rating, according to the magazine.
Read more about Forbes’ methodology.
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