16 Connecticut Billionaires Make Forbes’ 2018 List

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,16 of them have Connecticut 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 Connecticut billionaires who made the Forbes list for 2018:

• Ray Dalio, 68, is worth $17.7 billion and is ranked 67th on the list. He is the founder of the hedge fund firm Bridgewater Associates based in Westport.
• Steve Cohen, 61, is worth $14 billion and is ranked 102 on the list. He is the founder of Point72 Asset Management in Stamford.
• Karen Pritzker, 60, is worth $5 billion and is ranked 388 on the list. Along with her husband, Pritzker has invested in private and public firms and her father built the Hyatt hotel chain.
• Paul Tudor Jones, II, 63, is worth $4.5 billion and is ranked 466 on the list. He is the founder of Tudor Investment Corporation based in Greenwich.
• Andreas Halvorsen, 56, is worth $3.7 billion and is ranked 606 on the list. A Norwegian national, Halvorsen runs the hedge fund Viking Global Investors, which is based in Connecticut.
• Clifford Asness, 51, is worth $3 billion and is ranked 791 on the list. Assness is the co-founder of AQR Capital, which is based in Greenwich.
• Stephen Mandel Jr., 61, is worth $2.6 billion and is ranked 924 on the list. Mandel is the founder of the hedge fund firm Lone Pine Capital, which is based in Greenwich.
• Peter Buck, 87, is worth $2.4 billion and is ranked 1020 on the list. Buck’s fortune hails from the Subway restaurant chain.
• Bradley Jacobs, 61, is worth $2.3 billion and is ranked 1070 on the list. Jacobs created XPO Logistics, a commercial transportation company that is based in Greenwich.
• Alexandra Daitch, 55, is worth $2 billion and is ranked 1215 on the list. Daitch owns an estimated 3 percent stake in Cargill and is a Connecticut resident.
• Lucy Stitzer, 58, is worth $2 billion and is ranked 1215 on the list. Stitzer also owns an estimated 3 percent stake in Cargill and chairs in the investment company Waycross. Stitzer also resides in Connecticut.
• Vincent McMahon, 72, is worth $1.7 billion and is ranked 1394 on the list. McMahon is the CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).
• William Berkley, 71, is worth $1.6 billion and is ranked 1477 on the list. Berkley founded the insurance firm W.R. Berkley, which is based in Greenwich.
• William Macaulay, 72, is worth $1.1 billion and is ranked 1999 on the list. Macaulay co-founded the private equity form First Reserve, which is based in Greenwich.
• David Kabiller, 54, is worth $1 billion and is ranked 2124 on the list. Kabiller is one of the founder of Greenwich-based hedge fund firm AQR.
• John Liew, 50, is worth $1 billion and is ranked 2124 on the list. Liew is also a founder of AQR.

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.

By Feroze Dhanoa, Patch National Staff

Image via Shutterstock