NEW YORK, Sept. 24 (UPI) -- The members of this year's Forbes 400 richest Americans are richer than ever with 78 percent of the list worth at least a billion dollars.
The top of the list compiled annually by Forbes Magazine has changed very little with Bill Gates ($48 billion) and Warren Buffett ($41 billion) once more in the number one and two spots. The rest of the Top 10 includes Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, six members of the Walton family of Wal-Mart fame, computer king Michael Dell and Larry Ellison of Oracle Corp.
This year, the poorest of the rich was worth $725 million. This year, $750 million was required to make the cut.
This year's newcomers include the co-founders of Google and the company's CEO as well as T. Boone Pickens. The 75-year-old oilman is near the bottom of the list at 389.
And a grand total of 11 members of the Pritzker family joined the list thanks to the redistribution of their Hyatt hotel fortune.
There were also some notable disappearances from the list, including Walt Disney Co. CEO Michael Eisner. The company's sluggish stock price was simply not enough for Eisner to keep up with the Pickenses and Pritzkers.
