00:00Today on Forbes, the 2024 Forbes 400 list of wealthiest Americans, facts and figures.
00:09It's a record-smashing year for America's 400 richest people.
00:14After adding nearly $1 trillion to their fortunes over the past 12 months, the Forbes 400 are
00:20worth a collective $5.4 trillion, by far the most ever.
00:26It now takes a record $3.3 billion to even make the annual list, which we released Tuesday,
00:32up from $2.9 billion in 2023.
00:36In general, the richer you were, the richer you got.
00:40Just 25 people, a dozen of them worth $100 billion or more, are responsible for $500
00:45billion of the gains.
00:48These top 25 now hold more than $2.5 trillion in wealth, nearly half the list's total net
00:54worth.
00:56Forbes calculated fortunes using stock prices from September 1st, 2024.
01:02The richest person in America for the third straight year is Elon Musk, who is worth an
01:06estimated $244 billion.
01:10Despite dropping $7 billion in wealth over the past year amid sputtering Tesla stock
01:15and an ongoing battle over his $56 billion stock options package, Musk remains some $47
01:22billion ahead of No. 2 Jeff Bezos, the Amazon founder, who is worth an estimated $197 billion.
01:31Mark Zuckerberg, whose estimated net worth is $181 billion, climbed from No. 8 last year
01:36to No. 3 in 2024 thanks to the huge rebound in shares of Meta, the parent company of Facebook,
01:43Instagram, and WhatsApp.
01:45Alice Walton continues her reign as the richest woman in the U.S., her ninth time in a decade,
01:52with shares of Walmart, which her father Sam Walton co-founded in 1962, up by 41% in the
01:57past year.
01:58She's worth an estimated $89.2 billion, good for No. 15 overall.
02:05Walton is one of just 67 women on the Forbes 400, up from 60 last year.
02:11As a group, the list's women are worth a combined $839 billion, compared to $621 billion
02:18in 2023.
02:20Diane Hendricks, who's worth $21.9 billion, remains the wealthiest self-made woman in
02:26America, one of a record 13 women on the list who built, rather than inherited, their fortune.
02:33Overall, 67% of the Forbes 400 is self-made, meaning they founded their own company or
02:39helped build one, though some traveled much longer and tougher paths to great wealth than
02:43others.
02:45Forbes once again assigned everyone on the list a self-made score, from 1 to 10, with
02:5010 being the true rags-to-riches stories.
02:53Those remain rare, just 25 out of the 400.
02:57Despite it requiring more money than ever to make the list, 23 billionaires were able
03:01to elbow their way into the ranks this year.
03:04Some of these newcomers include Todd Graves, who created the Raising Cane's fast food chain,
03:09and is worth $9.5 billion, Leonid Radvinsky, the owner of OnlyFans, who's worth $3.8 billion,
03:17and Alex Karp, the co-founder and CEO of data mining company Palantir, who's worth
03:22$3.6 billion.
03:25Another 11 people who fell off a previous Forbes 400 list returned to the ranks this
03:30year.
03:31The most notable?
03:32Donald Trump, now worth $4.3 billion.
03:36Trump has ridden the volatile stock price of truth social parent company Trump Media
03:40and Technology Group back onto the list, part of a broader ploy to wring billions in wealth
03:45out of his political career.
03:47These newcomers and returnees displaced several less fortunate billionaires who lost their
03:52spot among the nation's richest people.
03:54There were 30 drop-offs this year.
03:57They join a growing list of American billionaires who are simply too poor to make the cut.
04:02For the first time ever, there are more American billionaires not on the Forbes 400 than there
04:07are on it.
04:09415 and counting.
04:11That includes famous names like Oprah Winfrey, Jerry Seinfeld, and Taylor Swift.
04:17The youngest member of the ranks is Walmart heir Lucas Walton, who is 38 years old and
04:21worth an estimated $33.9 billion.
04:25Venture capitalist and real estate mogul Josh Kushner, who is worth $3.8 billion and is
04:3039 years old, is the only other listee under the age of 40.
04:35On average, the members of the 2024 Forbes 400 are 70 years old.
04:40The eldest is Dole Food Company's David Murdoch, who is worth $3.7 billion and is
04:46101 years old.
04:49For full coverage, and to see the whole list, as well as see our more in-depth Forbes 400
04:54videos on the top 5, the billionaires not rich enough to make it, and the newcomers,
04:58check out Chase Peterson Whithorn's piece on Forbes.com.
05:03This is Kieran Meadows from Forbes.
05:06Thanks for tuning in.
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