The richest women in America

THERE are only 56 women on this year’s Forbes 400 list of the richest people in America—the same number as last year. But as a group, they’re richer than ever, worth a combined $452 billion (up from $430 billion last year). Two of these 56 women—Judy Love and Lynda Resnick—cofounded companies with their husbands and are on the Forbes list as part of a couple.

The good fortune has not been distributed evenly. Nearly all of the $22.5 billion gain went to two women: MacKenzie Scott and Alice Walton. Scott, who changed her last name from Bezos to her middle name in July, received a 4% stake in Amazon following her 2019 divorce from Jeff Bezos; she is more than $20 billion richer than  a year ago following a 64% jump in the e-commerce giant’s stock. Walton (net worth: $62.3 billion), an heir to the Walmart fortune, saw her net worth climb nearly $11 billion since the 2019 Forbes 400 due to an uptick in Walmart stock after the company pivoted to online shopping for groceries and home goods during the pandemic.

More than 60% of the women on the list are worth less this year than last year. While e-commerce and video game stocks have risen during the pandemic, other sectors, including hospitality and oil and gas, took a hit. Elaine Wynn (net worth: $1.7 billion), the largest shareholder of casino giant Wynn Resorts, fell off the list as tourism came to a standstill and the stock fell 33% since the 2019 list.

The only female newcomer is Alice Schwartz (net worth: $2.2 billion), who cofounded life science research and diagnostics manufacturer Bio-Rad Laboratories with her husband in 1952. Shares of the company, which has a product used in Covid-19 testing as well as a test of its own, have soared during the pandemic. At age 94 she is the oldest newcomer this year.

Only 11 of the 56 women on The Forbes 400 are self-made, meaning they built their fortunes on their own or with their spouse. Construction mogul Diane Hendricks (net worth: $7 billion) is the richest among them. The other 45 inherited their wealth from their families or late spouses — or like MacKenzie Scott, obtained her fortune as part of her divorce settlement with Jeff Bezos. The ten richest women on the list all inherited their fortunes.

America’s racial wealth gap—white people hold nearly 85% of the country’s wealth despite making up just over 60% of the population, according to the Federal Reserve and U.S. Census Bureau—is even more pronounced among the nation’s richest women. Only two on the list Oprah Winfrey and Thai Lee, the woman behind IT provider SHI International, are women of color.

Forbes calculated net worths for this year’s Forbes 400 list using stock prices from August 24, 2020.

Alice Walton

Net worth: $62.3 billion: The only daughter of Walmart founder Sam Walton, Alice Walton has focused her career on the art world. She was awarded the Getty Medal in February for her contributions to the field. In 2011, she opened the $1.2 billion Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas, also home to Walmart’s corporate headquarters. The museum brought works by the likes of Georgia O’Keeffe and Andy Warhol to the city of 51,000.

Mackenzie Scott

Net worth: $57 billion: Scott, who changed her name from Bezos in July, is carving a philanthropic path for herself that is distinct from her ex-husband’s. In May 2019, she signed the Giving Pledge, promising to give at least half of her fortune to charitable causes. (Jeff Bezos has not signed the pledge). In June, she announced that she had donated nearly $1.7 billion to non-profits tackling issues like racial and gender inequality, including Morehouse College and the National Women’s Law Center.

Julia Koch

Net worth: $45 billion: Koch first appeared on The Forbes 400 last year after she and her children inherited a 42% stake in manufacturing and fossil fuel conglomerate Koch Industries following the death of her husband, David Koch. The richest woman in New York City, Koch has reportedly been hunkering down in her $27 million Southampton estate during the pandemic.

Jacqueline Mars

Net worth: $29 billion: Mars owns an estimated one-third of Mars Inc., the private confectionary giant that makes candy staples like M&Ms, Snickers and Twix and is also a big seller of pet food, with 50 brands including Pedigree and Whiskas. Her net worth has dipped an estimated $700 million since last year. The pandemic could cancel trick-or-treating this year, a significant source of revenue.

Laurene Powell Jobs

Net worth: $16 billion: Powell Jobs—who inherited billions in Apple and Disney shares from her late husband Steve Jobs—runs the Emerson Collective, a social change organization that makes both donations and investments. She faced a backlash online when The Atlantic, where Emerson Collective is majority owner, laid off 20% of its staff in May after ad sales dropped because of the pandemic.

Abigail Johnson

Net worth: $15 billion: Johnson is the chairman and CEO of Fidelity Investments, the mutual fund giant founded by her grandfather in 1946. She owns nearly a quarter of the firm, which in October 2019 followed Schwab and TDAmeritrade and stopped charging commissions on U.S. stock trades.

Ann Walton Kroenke

Net worth: $8.4 billion: Walton Kroenke, the oldest daughter of Bud Walton (brother of Walmart founder Sam Walton) inherited her stake in the mega-retailer when her father died in 1995.  She is married to her real estate mogul Stanley Kroenke (who is separately worth $8.3 billion). Ann is not involved in running Walmart and has never worked at the giant retailer.

Blair Parry-Okeden

Net worth: $8.2 billion: When their mother, Barbara Cox Kennedy, died in 2007, Parry-Okeden and her brother Jim Kennedy each inherited a 25% stake in Cox Enterprises. The media conglomerate is the parent company of cable and internet provider Cox Communications and Cox Automotive, which includes a suite of auto companies like Kelley Blue Book and Autotrader. Cox Automotive has laid off or furloughed more than 5,400 of its U.S. employees since the pandemic hit.

Nancy Walton Laurie

Net worth: $7.5 billion: The late Bud Walton’s youngest daughter, Walton Laurie and her husband, Bill Laurie, own Providence Bank of Missouri. She also inherited a chunk of Walmart stock. The couple primarily reside in Henderson, Nevada, a suburb of Las Vegas, and own homes in the Bel Air neighbourhood of Los Angeles and in Columbia, Missouri. Like her aunt Alice and sister Ann, Walton Laurie also saw her fortune grow in the past year as online shopping drove up Walmart’s stock during the pandemic. – forbes.com