Forbes magazine has released its tenth annual list of the richest women who built their own fortunes. Their accumulated wealth has risen to a record $154 billion, an increase of nearly 25% compared to last year.
The billionaire Diane Hendricks maintains the top spot for the seventh consecutive year, with a record fortune of $20.9 billion, up from $15 billion last year. She is the owner of the building materials and roofing distributor ABC Supply, which she founded with her husband Ken (who passed away in 2007) in 1982. Hendricks has presided over the company since 2007; under her leadership, revenue has grown from $2.6 billion to $20.4 billion.
Hendricks is the biggest dollar gainer this year, with an increase of $5.9 billion compared to the previous year. In percentage terms, the biggest gainer is Elizabeth Uihlein, whose fortune increased by 81%, to about $6.7 billion. Uihlein and her husband Richard founded the packaging supplies company Uline in 1980.
Eleven new faces appear on the ranking. The most notable newcomer is singer Katy Perry, who is worth about $350 million, mainly due to the sale of her music catalog in September 2023. Fawn Weaver, owner of the fastest-growing whiskey brand in American history, Uncle Nearest, makes her debut, as does financial manager Joan Payden, who launched her company Payden & Rygel in 1983 and remains CEO at 92 years old.
There is a record 31 billionaires on the list, up from 24 last year, including three newcomers.
Barbara Banke, co-founder with her late husband Jess Jackson of Jackson Family Wines – known for its Kendall-Jackson and La Crema wines – is worth about $2.6 billion.
Entrepreneur and semiconductor investor Susan Ocampo has an estimated fortune of $2 billion.
The other four who have risen to the 10-digit category include Taylor Swift, who became a billionaire in October 2023 thanks to earnings from her Eras tour and the value of her music catalog; Sheila Johnson, who co-founded the cable TV network BET Networks in 1979 with her ex-husband Robert Johnson, and is now a billionaire partly due to the rising value of her investments in the NBA’s Washington Wizards and the NHL’s Washington Capitals; Lisa Su, CEO of semiconductor company Advanced Micro Devices, which has grown amid excitement over generative AI; and Michelle Zatlyn, co-founder of cybersecurity company Cloudflare, another company whose stock rose last year.
Source: Forbes