Trends in the Forbes 400

The figure shows the wealth of the top person on the list increased from $4 billion in 1982 to Bill Gates' $105 billion in 1999 (in 2007 inflation adjusted dollars). Gates' wealth had declined by half in 2004 and was $59 billion in 2007. Gates has donated a substantial portion of his wealth to charity, principally the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, but more was lost due to declining stock values. [graph]
[graph] The total wealth of the Forbes 400 reached $1.4 trillion in 2000 in real 2006$, when the 400 richest people in the United States had 5% of the $25 trillion total wealth. In 2002, the wealth of the Forbes 400 had dropped by 26%. The graph plots on a log scale the net worth of the Forbes 400 in real 2006 dollars.

Source: Forbes Magazine, October, Forbes 400 issues published annually since 1982.

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Updated:Tuesday, 25-Sep-2007 21:03:52 PDT
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