How many billionaires are really self-made?
Published on: October 24, 2021 / Update from: October 24, 2021 - Author: Konrad Wolfenstein
Self-made billionaire George Soros – Image: Alexandros Michailidis|Shutterstock.com
The Forbes 400 is a ranking of the wealthiest Americans. In order to get a place on the list, you now have to have a net worth of around 2.9 billion US dollars - last year you had to have 2.1 billion. This year's ranking contains 44 new names and said goodbye to some well-known ones, such as Donald Trump. The collective wealth of these 400 people increased by a whopping 40 percent last year. What hasn't increased, however, is philanthropy. The number of list members who donate more than 20 percent of their wealth to charity has fallen from ten to eight - that's two percent of all 400 billionaires.
Among the world's elite, many people proudly describe themselves as self-made billionaires. But how many of them can rightly say this about themselves? Forbes analyzed the careers of all 400 entries on the list and divided them into one of ten categories.
The first six categories are occupied by people who have inherited some or all of their wealth. A distinction is also made as to whether these people continue to work or to what extent they have contributed to increasing their wealth. Around 29.5 percent of the list belongs to this category. Examples of this would be Walmart heir Jim Walton and Dolby heiress Dagmar Dolby.
Category number six is reserved for the 3.3 percent of billionaires who made their fortune as employees of a large company, such as former Microsoft CEO and Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer.
The last four categories are those of self-made billionaires and are probably the most interesting. Overall, around 67.3 percent of the Forbes 400 fall into this category. But self-made is not the same as self-made. As the graphic below shows, around a tenth of these 269 people grew up with rich parents, another 59.5 percent come from the middle class - including the currently four richest people in the USA; Bezos, Musk, Zuckerberg and Gates.
The working class has produced around 18.6 percent of self-made super-rich. Only about 28 people (10.4 percent) among the Forbes 400 live the proverbial American dream. Examples include hedge fund tycoon George Soros and talk show icon Oprah Winfrey.
Self-made billionaires: how many are there really? – Image: Statista
Top Ten Billionaires in the USA
Jeff Bezos – Top Ten Billionaire – Image: Mo-padri|Shutterstock.com
Status: 2018 – updated here
- Jeff Bezos, Net Worth – $112 Billion
- Bill Gates, net worth – 90 billion US dollars
- Warren Buffett, net worth – $84 billion
- Mark Zuckerberg, net worth – $71 billion
- Amancio Ortega, net worth – $70 billion
- Carlos Slim Helú, net worth – $67.1 billion
- Lawrence Ellison, Net Worth – $58.8 Billion
- Michael Bloomberg, Net Worth – $50 Billion
- Larry Page, Net Worth – $48.8 Billion
- Sergey Brin, net worth – $47.5 billion
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Xpert.Digital – Konrad Wolfenstein
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