Sorry, $2 billion is not enough to make the list

This may be the year of the woman, but when it comes to Pennsylvania, the two women who have again made this year’s Forbes’ Top 400 wealthiest list have dropped in rank as the wealth of most of the repeating men has gone up.

Forbes named six Pennsylvanians to the list, one more than last year. To make the cut, however, those named needed a net worth of $2.1 billion, or $100 million more than last year.

Victoria Mars of Newtown Square, Bucks County, heiress to the Mars candy bar fortune, still tops the list of Pennsylvanians, although her net worth declined $300 million to $6 billion. Nationally among the top 400, she dropped from 79th to 98th this year.

Mary Alice Dorrance Malone of Coatesville, Campbell Soup Co.’s largest shareholder and last year’s runner-up, dropped to third place with $3.1 billion, or $200 million less than a year ago. She went from 226th to 259th.

John Middleton of Bryn Mawr, who made his fortune from the sale of Altria, the one-time parent company of Philip Morris cigarettes and who was third last year, moved up to second as his net worth increased $200 million to $3.2 billion. He climbed the list from 264th to 251st.

Michael Rubin, also of Bryn Mawr, CEO and majority owner of Kynetic, remained in fourth place among Pennsylvanians with a gain of $100 million to $3 billion. He moved up seven places, to 271st.

Thomas Hagen of Erie, chairman and former CEO of Erie Indemnity, is a newcomer to the list, with his net worth estimated at $2.3 billion. He entered the top 400 at 354th. Hagen is a former state Secretary of Commerce and Secretary of Community and Economic Development.

Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie of Wynnewood rounds out the six Pennsylvanians in the elite 400 at $2.1 billion, an increase of $100 million over last year. Lurie moved up five spots to 383rd.

The only person from our area who is near the magic $2.1 billion mark is Yuengling owner Dick Yuengling of Pottsville, whose wealth last year was estimated at $1.8 billion by Forbes.

I don’t mean to make light of Yuengling’s impressive wealth, but that amount is like pocket change to the world’s richest person, Jeff Bezos, CEO of amazon.com, whose wealth is estimated at $160 billion.

During the past year, Bezos moved from number 2 on the list to the top spot as his wealth just about doubled. Last fall, Forbes estimated his net worth at $81.5 billion.

To give you an idea of how big of a number this is: If you placed dollar bills end to end, 160 billion of them would stretch from the earth to the moon and back again more than 32 times.

Microsoft founder Bill Gates dropped from the top spot to number 2, but don’t feel too sorry for him. His wealth increased by $8 billion in a year to $97 billion.

Rounding out the top five are: Berkshire-Hathaway’s Warren Buffett, third, with $88.3 billion, an increase of $10 billion; Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, fourth, $61 billion, a drop of $10 billion; and software wizard Larry Ellison, fifth, $58.4 billion, down $600 million from last year. They all held the same positions on the top 400 last year. President Donald Trump dropped 11 spots on the list compared to 2017, coming in at number 259.

Professional wrestling mogul Vince McMahon, founder of World Wrestling Entertainment, returned to the list for the first time since 2002 because of a $1.6 billion increase to his net worth last year to $3.3 billion thanks to a surge in the company’s stock price.

While the fortunes of the Pennsylvania women on the list are lower than last year, this is not the case nationally. Fifty-seven women made the top 400 this year, and, overall, they are getting wealthier.

The wealthiest is Walmart heiress Alice Walton, with a $44.9 billion fortune, good for 12th place on the top 400.

Now, where the heck did I put that dollar-off coupon for the grocery store?

By Bruce Frassinelli | tneditor@tnonline.com