The Richest People in Massachusetts Are Still Wicked Rich

Associated Press

It’s the beginning of March, and that means it’s time for Forbes to reiterate that the richest people in the world are still, in fact, the richest people in the world.

Forbes’s 29th annual “World’s Billionaires” list includes 1,826 of the globe’s richest people, all together with a net worth of $7.05 trillion. And this year, several recognizable Massachusetts names are included among the wealthiest of the wealthy.

Fidelity Investments’ Abigail Johnson comes in at the top of billionaires from Massachusetts at No. 84 with a net worth of $13.4 billion. Johnson’s father, former Fidelity CEO Edward Johnson III, has a net worth of $7.4 billion, ranking at No. 179.

The one and only Bob Kraft of the Kraft Group is also a key Mass. ranker at No. 381 with a net worth of $4.3 billion. Also on the list are New Balance Chairman Jim Davis, Continental Cablevision founder Amos Hostetter Jr., InterSystems founder Phillip Ragon, IPG Photonics founder Valentin Gapontsev, investor Seth Klarman, the Globe and Red Sox owner John Henry, Boston Beer Co.’s Jim Koch, and Reebok’s Paul Fireman.

Taking the top spot for 16 out of the past 21 years is Bill Gates for Microsoft. At the top of the totem pole, Gates is worth $79.2 billion. At just the age of 30, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg also undoubtedly topped the list at number 16. The youngest billionaire is 24 year-old Evan Speigel, founder of Snapchat.

This also sheds light on the good news for young people and startups, many of which are growing from the ground up around Boston and Cambridge. Entrepreneurship is thriving, according to Forbes, as 1,191 of the people on this list are self-made. A record of 46 people on this year’s list are under the age of 40.

Previously:

Forbes Ranks Boston as America’s Smartest City
The Richest People in Massachusetts, 2014