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32 Floridians make the cut for Forbes 400 wealthiest Americans

 
Published Sept. 20, 2012


Thirty-two Florida billionaires made this year's Forbes 400 list of the richest of the rich, up from 29 spots on last year's list.


Carnival Cruise's Micky Arison, who tied with investor Dirk Ziff for wealthiest Floridian a year ago, is comfortably anchored back in the state's top spot with a net worth of $5 billion.


As with past years', the billionaire roster is heavily tilted toward South Florida, with Palm Beach and North Palm Beach alone accounting for a dozen of the entries.


The sole Tampa Bay resident represented is shopping center magnate Edward DeBartolo Jr. With $2.7 billion, DeBartolo is tied with a couple of dozen others around the country, including such well-known mainstays as Oprah Winfrey, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and David Rockefeller Sr.


There is only one woman among the Floridians on the list: Charlotte Colket Weber, granddaughter of condensed soup inventor and Campbell Soup founder John T. Dorrance. Jeff Harrington, Times staff writer


Forbes said the rich mainly got richer in 2012, with net worth rising for 241 members of its list and shrinking for only 66. Rising stock prices, a rebound in real estate values and rare art prices helped.


• Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, inset, was the biggest dollar loser still ranked on the list. A huge drop in market value cut the value of his shareholdings almost in half, costing him $8.1 billion in net worth. His net worth totals an estimated $9.4 billion.


• There are 45 women on the list, up from 42 a year ago.


• Ty Warner is worth $2.4 billion, mostly for inventing Beanie Babies.


• Twenty newcomers joined the list, including 59-year-old Manoj Bhargava, who lived as a monk in India for 12 years before returning to the United States and concocting the formula for 5-Hour Energy, a 2-ounce elixir of caffeine, B-vitamins and taurine. He's worth $1.5 billion, No. 311 on the list.