SFist is shocked to see that we failed for the 31st year in a row to make the Forbes list of the top 400 richest people in America. Much like those US News and World Report stickers that show up on local editions of the America's Top Colleges magazines ("NORTHERN CALIFORNIA! Berkeley, Stanford, and Mills are represented in here!"), someone has thoughtfully compiled a compendium of California-based information for your perusal.
Woodside's own Larry Ellison continues to cling tenaciously like a barnacle to his position in the top 10, with $13.7 billion, dropping one position from last year's 9th because of the slide in Oracle stock value. The good-time Google boys share the 43rd spot at $4 billion apiece, and Gordon Moore of Intel has to get by with just $3.8 billion (down from $5 from last year) at 49. George Lucas is at $3 billion (no. 60) and Steve Jobs is at $2.6 (no. 74). The Bay Area has 44 people listed in the top 400, and California has 98 fat cats total. (FYI -- this is how many zeros are in a billion: 1,000,000,000. Nine!)
Some other stats of note: 51 women are represented, but their average wealth is at $2.8 billion, above the average of $2.5 billion. Teresa Heinz Kerry made it in this year; she's tied for last at $750 million. Five Waltons of Walmart fame are tied for number 4 with $18 bill apiece, and Bill Gates holds onto number 1 like a Now That's What I Call Music collection. And hey, who knew the founder of Ebay (no. 16) had moved to Nevada?
As Forbes editor Peter Newcomb says, "It was a banner year for billionaires." It seems to SFist that every year is going to be a banner year for billionaires.