America's superrich are getting poorer. For only the fifth time since 1982, the collective net worth of The Forbes 400, our annual tally of the nation's richest people, has declined, falling $300 billion in the past 12 months, from $1.57 trillion to $1.27 trillion.
Faltering capital markets and real-estate prices, along with divorce and fraud, pushed down the fortunes of 314 members and drove 32 plutocrats off the rankings.
Warren Buffett
Beating out Buffett for the 16th straight year as America's richest man is Microsoft (MSFT, news, msgs) co-founder Bill Gates. Sluggish Microsoft shares and declining outside investments pushed the software visionary's net worth down $7 billion in 12 months. (Microsoft is the publisher of MSN Money.)
Rounding out the top 10 on The Forbes 400: Oracle (ORCL, news, msgs) founder Larry Ellison ($27 billion); Wal-Mart Stores (WMT, news, msgs) heirs Christy Walton ($21.5 billion), Jim C. Walton ($19.6 billion), Alice Walton ($19.3 billion) and S. Robson Walton ($19 billion); media maven Michael Bloomberg ($17.5 billion); and energy titans Charles and David Koch ($16 billion each).
Price of entry falls below $1 billion
The 10 richest Americans lost a combined $39.2 billion in the past 12 months, a 14% decline.
Kirk Kerkorian
Also hitting the brakes: Enterprise Rent-A-Car founder Jack C. Taylor. His fortune is down $7 billion in a year as the travel industry has slowed and private-company valuations have fallen.
More from MSN Money and Forbes.com
Andrew Beal
Membership on the list was made easier as the price of admission dropped $350 million, from $1.3 billion last year to $950 million this year, paving the way for 19 newcomers and 19 returnees.
Newcomers to the list include Marvel Entertainment (MVL, news, msgs) chief Isaac Perlmutter, whose net worth soared to $1.55 billion after Walt Disney (DIS, news, msgs) agreed to buy the superhero outfit in August for $4 billion in cash and stock.
Other new members include Bloomberg co-founder Charles Zegar ($1 billion), mapping-software magnate Jack Dangermond ($2 billion) and trading titan Steven Schonfeld ($1 billion).
- Slide show: The Forbes 400
New member with Madoff ties
Former New York lawyer and accountant Jeffry Picower makes his debut on The Forbes 400 with a net worth of $1 billion. A longtime investor with Bernard Madoff, Picower is likely worth billions more. (He is alleged to have extracted billions of dollars from Madoff's fund before it collapsed.)
Video: Battle of the billionaires
Picower and his foundation are identified in a lawsuit by the liquidator for Madoff's investment business, who is seeking to recover funds allegedly obtained through "fraudulent activity." Picower says that if he'd known Madoff was a fraud he would not have transferred money into Madoff accounts.
In December, the Picower Foundation shut down after losing its $1 billion endowment in Madoff's Ponzi scheme. The charity had given millions to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Human Rights First and the New York Public Library. Picower made his first fortune selling medical-device maker Alaris in 2004.
Comebacks, comedowns and deaths
Among those returning is venture capitalist Michael Moritz, who rode Amazon.com's (AMZN, news, msgs) purchase of online shoe retailer Zappos and surging Google (GOOG, news, msgs) stock back onto the list.Divorce forced Google exec Omid Kordestani from the rankings, while R. Allen Stanford lost his billionaire status when the feds froze his assets after charging him with allegedly running an $8 billion Ponzi scheme.
Several Forbes 400 mainstays also fell off the list, including former Citigroup (C, news, msgs) czar Sanford Weill, mall developer Matthew Bucksbaum and condo kingpin Jorge Perez.
Six members died, including glass giant William Davidson and newspaper maven Frank Batten Sr.
The Forbes 400 is a snapshot of wealth on Sept. 10, 2009. Gap co-founder Donald Fisher, who ranks No. 296 on the list, died Sept. 27 at his home in San Francisco at age 81.
The 5 richest:
| Rank | Name | Net worth | Age | Residence | Source | Bing and learn more about |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | $50 billion | 53 | Medina, Wash. | |||
2 | $40 billion | 79 | Omaha, Neb. | |||
3 | $27 billion | 65 | Redwood City, Calif. | |||
4 | $21.5 billion | 54 | Jackson, Wyo. | |||
5 | $19.6 billion | 61 | Bentonville, Ark. | |||
5 energy titans:
| Rank | Name | Net worth | Age | Residence | Source | Bing and learn more about |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
9 | $16 billion | 73 | Wichita, Kan. | Manufacturing, energy | ||
9 | $16 billion | 69 | New York | Manufacturing, energy | ||
24 | $9.5 billion | 67 | Tulsa, Okla. | Oil and gas, banking | ||
30 | $8 billion | 76 | Houston | Energy | ||
39 | $5.8 billion | 63 | Oklahoma City | |||
No longer billionaires:
| Name | Age | Source | Bing and learn more about | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
76 | New York | Citigroup | ||
47 and 40 | Las Vegas | Casinos, Ultimate Fighting Championship | ||
60 | Miami | Real estate | ||
41 | New York | Clarium Capital | ||
59 | Houston | Banking | ||
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burn in hell with your ill gotten gains. 