# New Forbes list: richest families
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-forbes-list-richest-families/692981
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [July 13, 2014, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-forbes-list-richest-families/692981 "2014-07-13T05:51:17Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2014, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-forbes-list-richest-families/692981/1 "2014-07-13T05:51:17Z")
Forbes has for the first time published a list of the American families who are collectively worth $1 billion or more. There’s 185 of them.
1. Waltons–$152 billion
2. Koch brothers–$89 billion
3. Mars family–$60 billion
> **[America's Richest Families: 185 Clans With Billion Dollar Fortunes](https://www.forbes.com/sites/luisakroll/2014/07/08/americas-richest-families-185-clans-with-billion-dollar-fortunes/)**
>
> Forbes has compiled the first comprehensive ranking of the richest families in America, pinning down 185 billion-dollar dynasties collectively worth $1.2 trillion.
Some interesting tidbits–
the Hearsts (of William Randolph fame) have $35 billion. The Hunts have $15 billion (I guess they’ve recovered from the silver debacle). The Du Ponts–probably the oldest fortune in the nation–rank #13 with $15 billion. The Rockefellers come in at #24 with a relatively paltry $10 billion. The Mellons are at #19 with $12 billion.
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### Author:  [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2014, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-forbes-list-richest-families/692981/2 "2014-07-14T03:46:16Z")
Even the 0.01% has their own 0.01%. The 185 families are worth 1.2 trillion. Of them, the 3 richest (Walton, Koch, Mars) are worth 1/4 of that figure at about $300 billion which I assume is more than the bottom 60-80% of combined families on that list.
I’m surprised only about 20 families are worth more than $10 billion.
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### Author:  [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2014, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-forbes-list-richest-families/692981/3 "2014-07-14T14:40:46Z")
I don’t really understand their criterion for including some self-made billionaires but not others.
The separate article about the Stroh family blowing $9 billion is fascinating.
The Mellons named their son “Force”? Poor little rich kid.
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### Author:  [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2014, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-forbes-list-richest-families/692981/4 "2014-07-15T01:15:27Z")
I once asked my boss how he, his dad, and grandad stayed off the List, though they qualified. “When Forbes calls you don’t answer the phone.”
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### Author:  [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2014, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-forbes-list-richest-families/692981/5 "2014-07-15T07:17:11Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#):
>
> The separate article about the Stroh family blowing $9 billion is fascinating.
Seriously, that article was fascinating. Thanks for mentioning it. Everyone should read it.
[Here is a direct link.](http://www.forbes.com/sites/kerryadolan/2014/07/08/how-the-stroh-family-lost-the-largest-private-beer-fortune-in-the-u-s/)
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### Author:  [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2014, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-forbes-list-richest-families/692981/6 "2014-07-15T07:47:42Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#):
>
> The Mellons named their son “Force”? Poor little rich kid.
Try telling that to his sister, Casaba.
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### Author:  [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2014, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-forbes-list-richest-families/692981/7 "2014-07-18T18:56:47Z")
I suspect this article was inspired to some extent by the Piketty book, which has tried to argue that lists like the Forbes 400 tend to overstate the amount of wealth controlled by current entrepreneurs (Bill Gates, Michael Dell, Larry Ellison, Jeff Bezos) and understates the wealth controlled by “old money” families (the duPonts, the Rockefellers, et al).