The 25 Richest People in the US
Bill Gates, co-chair and trustee of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, made his fortune in technology as a co-founded of Microsoft.
*Rankings data from Statista for 2015.
© Lucas Jackson / Reuters
Warren Buffett, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, is considered the most successful investor in the world. He and Bill Gates have traded the No. 1 and 2 positions in the wealth rankings over the years. At 85, he's had many years to amass his fortune.
© Kevin Lamarque / Reuters
Larry Ellison is the founder and former CEO of Oracle Corporation, and currently serves as the company’s executive chairman and chief technology officer. He is involved in America’s Cup yacht racing, and is shown here watching a race at the America's Cup World Series sailing competition in Bermuda in October 2015.
© Mike Segar / Reuters
David Koch, one of two Koch brothers who are reviled and pilloried by the left, is the executive vice president of Koch Industries and a supporter of libertarian causes.
© Brendan McDermid / Reuters
The "other" Koch brother, Charles is also a philanthropist and political supporter of Republican and libertarian causes.
USA Today
The family of Sam Walton, the founder of Walmart, is one of the wealthiest in the world. Three of his children -- (L to R) Jim, Rob and Alice -- speak onstage at the Walmart annual meeting in Fayetteville, Arkansas, on June 5, 2015. A fourth sibling, John, died in an aircraft accident in 2005; his fortune is controlled by his wife, Christy.
© Rick Wilking / Reuters
Michael Bloomberg founded his eponymous media company in 1981, and Bloomberg data services have become an essential tool on Wall Street. He was mayor of New York for 12 years, and is considering a run for president.
© Lucas Jackson / Reuters
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has built the largest retail empire on the Internet in the U.S. His Amazon "Prime" customers pay an annual fee and get free shipping and some special services and free access to media.
© Shannon Stapleton / Reuters
Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg tries a Gear VR virtual reality headset during the awards ceremony of the newly established Axel Springer Award in Berlin, Germany, February 25, 2016. At 31, Zuckerberg, who recently became a father, is the youngest billionaire of the group.
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Sheldon Adelson made his fortune in Las Vegas casinos -- he's the chairman and CEO of the Las Vegas Sands Corporation. He also dabbles in politics, favoring candidates who support Israel.
© Tyrone Siu / Reuters
Larry Page, 42, is the CEO and co-founder of Alphabet, the parent company of Google. Page invented PageRank, the search algorithm that turned Google into an Internet giant.
© Elijah Nouvelage / Reuters
Sergey Brin, 42, co-founded Google in 1998. Brin was born in the Soviet Union and moved to the U.S. at age 6. He met his Google co-founder, Larry Page, in the PhD program at Stanford University.
© Elijah Nouvelage / Reuters
She's one of three heirs to the Mars candy fortune, each worth $26.6 billion. The next time you bite into a Milky Way or Snickers, you'll be adding a few pennies to the family fortune.
Daily News
Billionaire hedge fund manager George Soros funds liberal causes in the U.S. and Europe. He famously earned $1 billion by shorting the British pound in 1992.
© Brendan McDermid / Reuters
Carl Icahn, 79, is an activist investor and the founder of Icahn & Co. Donald Trump claims that if he is elected president, Icahn would be brought into his administration to make deals with foreign trade partners.
© Chip East / Reuters
Phil Knight, 78, made his fortune running on air -- he's the co-founder of Nike as well as a philanthropist.
© Steve Dipaola / Reuters
Steve Ballmer was the CEO of Microsoft for 14 years, from 2000 to 2014. After his departure, he bought the Los Angeles Clippers. The photo here was taken in the second half of game seven of the first round of the 2015 NBA Playoffs against the San Antonio Spurs. The Clippers won 111-109.
© USA Today Sports / Reuters
Leonard "Len" Blavatnik is a USSR-born businessman, investor, and philanthropist. He made his fortune through diversified investments in myriad companies through his conglomerate company, Access Industries, whose holdings include Warner Music Group.
(CREDIT: Rick Maiman/Bloomberg)
Dish Network Chairman Charles Ergen is a frequent contributor to the Democratic Party. A complaint filed with the Federal Election Committee alleged that Ergen intimidated employees into making contributions to specific candidates, almost all of whom were Democrats. According to the complaint, Ergen told Dish Network's Chief Operating Officer Bernard Han that if he did not donate to a particular Democratic candidate in 2010, he would still have a job but would suffer consequences. Other employees were allegedly treated in a similar fashion.
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Laurene Powell Jobs is the widow of the late Apple founder Steve Jobs. She is the founder and chair of Emerson Collective, which focuses on education, immigration and the environment. She is the largest shareholder in the Walt Disney Company, owning 130-140 million shares.
© GUS RUELAS / Reuters
Michael Dell founded his eponymous computer company as a freshman at the University of Texas in 1984. He took the company private in 2013 and still serves as its CEO.
© Jana Asenbrennerova / Reuters
Paul G. Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft, invested some of his money like other billionaires -- he bought sports franchises. He owns two professional sports teams, the Seattle Seahawks and the Portland Trail Blazers. He is also part-owner of the Seattle Sounders FC, which joined Major League Soccer in 2009. Allen is also the founder and chairman of Vulcan Inc., which manages his various business and philanthropic efforts, as well as the founder of the Allen Institute for Brain Science, the Institute for Artificial Intelligence, the Institute for Cell Science and Vulcan Aerospace.
Wikipedia
Anne Cox Chambers, 96, is the oldest in our group of billionaires. She is a principle owner of Cox Enterprises, a privately held media empire that includes newspapers, television, radio, cable television and other businesses.
Ray Dalio is the chairman and chief investment officer of Bridgewater Associates, a hedge fund in Westport, Connecticut. Dalio has taken the Bill Gates and Warren Buffett Giving Pledge, vowing to donate more than half his fortune to charitable causes during his lifetime.
© Ruben Sprich / Reuters
Donald Bren, chairman of the Irvine Company, is a real estate mogul known for his extensive work in southern California.
Santa Rosa's Press Gazette