Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, and Larry Ellison remain the wealthiest people in the United States – but for the rest of the billionaire set that fill the Forbes 400 list of the richest Americans, there’s been some churning.
Fueled by the rapid rise in Amazon’s share prices, Jeff Bezos has become the fourth-richest man in the country. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has entered the top 10 at number seven, after the Koch brothers but ahead of Michael Bloomberg. Lower down on the list, tech execs from Uber, Airbnb, and Snapchat all ranked.
In Massachusetts, the circle of the 400 richest stayed the same size, but welcomed one new entrant: Herb Chambers, whose auto sales empire jumped in value after a similar dealership group was sold in California. Other names are repeats: Fidelity’s Edward and Abigail Johnson, New Balance head Jim Davis, Patriots owner Robert Kraft, and former cable magnate Amos Hostetter.
Pity poor Phillip “Terry” Ragon: the owner of Cambridge’s InterSystems, maintained his net worth of approximately $1.5 billion, but since the rich got richer, he no longer makes the cut.
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Related: Want to join Forbes 400? It’s $1.7b minimum
#31: Abigail Johnson
Rank last year: 36
Net worth: $14.2 billion
Residence: Milton
Age: 53
Abigail Johnson, who succeeded her father at the helm of Fidelity Investments last October, has long been at the top of the Massachusetts billionaires list. She was also the sixth-wealthiest woman in the US, as ranked by Forbes.
#59: Edward Johnson III
Rank last year: 65
Net worth: $7.8 billion
Residence: Boston
Age: 85
The Fidelity chairman has always kept a low profile, but has been especially quiet since yielding his chief executive post to daughter Abigail nearly a year ago.
#108: Robert Kraft
Rank last year: 122
Net worth: $4.8 billion
Residence: Brookline
Age: 74
The Patriots may be the most widely loathed NFL team across much of the country, but after knocking down the Deflategate scandal and marking up another 3-0 start to the season, owner Robert Kraft has another feather to put in his cap: His net worth increased $800 million over the past year, according to Forbes.
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#124: Jim Davis & family
Rank last year: 167
Net worth: $4.4 billion
Residence: Newton
Age: 72
It’s gotta be the shoes. Actually, though: the New Balance owner’s fortunes have risen since last year, thanks to a hefty 21 percent growth in sales from 2013 to 2014. The billionaire also has plans to build a hotel in Gloucester and is building a massive new headquarters complex in Brighton that will include a practice facility for the Boston Bruins.
#209: Amos Hostetter
Rank last year: 183
Net worth: $3.1 billion
Residence: Boston
Age: 78
The former head of Continental Cablevision is now best known in Boston for his family’s support of the Barr Foundation. He also runs Pilot House Ventures, an early-stage investor. Recently, a media company he backed called GlobalPost was acquired by WGBH.
#392: Herb Chambers
Rank last year: Unranked
Net worth: $1.7 billion
Residence: Boston
Age: 73
In contrast to many other Boston billionaires, Herb’s one to seek the spotlight. If he didn’t, you might not shop at one of his dozens of auto dealerships across Greater Boston. He’s a new entrant on the list, thanks to a high purchase price for a similar private auto dealership group in California that led beancounters at Bloomberg and Forbes to mark up the value of his company.
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Jack Newsham can be reached at jack.newsham@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @TheNewsHam.
An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated Amos Hostetter’s previous company. It was Continental Cablevision.
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