CARY – North Carolina’s richest residents – SAS cofounders Jim Goodnight and John Salls – are not getting wealthier like many other US billionaires, according to the latest Forbes 400 report.
They’re not really getting poorer either, says Forbes in its annual update on billionaires who call America home.
Goodnight’s fortune as reported earlier this week remains the same as Forbes reported a year ago: $8.9 billion, according to Forbes estimates.
Forbes
However, in real-time calculations made Thursday Goodnight’s net worth grew a bit to $9.1 billion.
Sall’s fortune came in at $4.4 billion – down $100,000 year-over-year.
But 2018 isn’t turning out to be that good a year for the SAS duo.
In a separate global report on billionaires earlier this year based on real-time calculations made by Forbes, Goodnight’s fortune stood at $9.7 billion and Sall’s at $4.9 billion.
How much have their fortunes changed over the years? Five years ago, Goodnight was worth $7.7 billion; Sall’s fortune stood at $3.7 billion.
North Carolina’s other billionaire, Quintiles founder Dennis Gillings, a recent addition to the world of billionaires, is worth $1.6 billion, Forbes says. But that’s not a high enough portfolio to crack the top 400.
Minimum needed this year: $2.1 billion.
Contrasted with Goodnight’s and Sall’s fortunes, the net worth of many other billionaires did increase over the last year. And at a record rate, Forbes reports.
“The group’s total net worth rose to $2.9 trillion, a record high and 7% more than in 2017,” Forbes says. “The average net worth of a list member: $7.2 billion, up from $6.7 billion last year.”
Richest of them all?
Amazon’s Jeff Bezos at $160 billion. His rise ended the 24-year run of Bill Gates as the richest.
