Forbes 400 Richest Americans Led by Bill Gates for 21st Time

Forbes 400 richest Americans list was topped for the 21st time by Bill Gates, who as the co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has a listed net worth of $81.2 billion, but the magazine reported this was one of the most difficult years to make the exclusive club.

The list, released on Monday by Forbes magazine, had only familiar names in its top 10 – with Warren Buffet of Berkshire Hathaway at No. 2 with $67 billion; Oracle's Larry Ellison at No. 3 with $50 billion, and Charles and David Koch of Koch Industries tied at No. 4 with $42 billion each.

The Wal-Mart family dominated most of the other top 10 positions, with Christy Walton and family at No. 6 with $38 billion, Jim Walton with $36 billion, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg at No. 8 with $35 billion, Alice Walton at No. 9 with 34.9 billion and S. Robson Walton at No. 10 with $34.8 billion.

Gates, the former chief executive officer of Microsoft, has dedicated himself to educational health global health care issues through his nonprofit foundation. Politico reported that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation gave $50 million to battle the Ebola epidemic in West Africa through emergency medical care, supplies and long-term research.

Politico said the donation is the largest single private donation to the cause so far. Gates told Politico in an interview published Monday that he was pleased with the U.S. response to the Ebola outbreak but does not think the disease is on the downturn yet.

"The U.S. is a leader in being able to move into areas," Gates told Politico.

Forbes Kerry Dolan wrote that being a millionaire no longer gets you on the Forbes 400 list and even being a billionaire does not make you a shoo-in either.

"The price of entry to The Forbes 400 this year is $1.55 billion, the highest it's been since Forbes started tracking American wealth in 1982," Dolan reported. "Last year it took $1.3 billion to score a spot. Because the bar is so high, 113 U.S. billionaires didn’t make the cut."

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