Lukas Walton, grandson of the founder of Walmart, is the richest person in Illinois by a landslide.
With a net worth of $39.8 billion, Walton’s wealth is nearly four times greater than the second richest person in Illinois, Patrick Ryan, founder and executive chairman of Chicago-based wholesale brokerage and specialty insurance firm Ryan Specialty Holdings.
Their rankings come from a recently released list by Forbes of The 400 Richest People In America. Every person on the list is of billionaire status, including 16 Illinoisians.
To put Walton’s wealth into perspective, he ranks at No. 24 on the overall list of the country’s richest.
The richest person in the world is Elon Musk, with a net worth of $428 billion. Musk is followed by Larry Ellison at No. 2 with a net worth of $276 billion, Mark Zuckerberg at No. 3 with a net worth of $253 billion, Jeff Bezos at No. 4 with a net worth of $241 billion, and Larry Page at No. 5 with a net worth of $179 billion.
38-year-old Walton is also the third youngest person on the list, behind 38-year-old Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev and 37-year-old artificial intelligence app creator Edwin Chen.
Here’s the full list of the 16 people in Illinois who made the list and their net worth:
- Lukas Walton — $39.8 billion
- Patrick Ryan — $10 billion
- Neil Bluhm — $8.7 billion
- Mark Walter — $7.3 billion
- Ty Warner — $6.5 billion
- Steve Lavin & family — $6.3 billion
- Justin Ishbia — $6.2 billion
- Elizabeth Uihlein — $6.2 billion
- Richard Uihlein — $6.2 billion
- Eric Lefkosky — $6 billion
- Joe Mansueto — $6 billion
- Thomas Pritzker — $5.9 billion
- Joseph Grendys — $5.3 billion
- Byron Trott — $4.3 billion
- Penny Pritzker — $4.2 billion
- J.B. Pritzker — $3.9 billion
Crains Chicago also identified a number of people on the list who are not Illinoisians by address but still have strong ties to the state or Chicago area.
Ken Griffin, a name recently tacked onto the title of Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry, is not on the list of Illinois’ richest as he is a Florida resident. Despite his residency status, the founder and CEO of major hedge-fund Citadel has close links to the Chicago area.
Griffin’s net worth is $50.4 billion, landing him in the spot of 21st richest American, according to Forbes.
The Ricketts family, who own the Chicago Cubs, technically reside in Wyoming. Their net worth of $8.4 billion earns them a ranking of No. 163 on the overall list.
Former Chicago Bulls player Michael Jordan is also on the list, with a net worth of $3.8 billion and an overall ranking at No. 389.
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