NEW YORK --Forbes magazine’s The World’s Billionaires List for 2016 contains the usual suspects: Bill Gates at No. 1, at $75 billion, and Warren Buffett at No. 3, with $60.8 billion.
Jeff Bezos (No. 5, $45.2 billion), Mark Zuckerberg (No. 6, $44.6 billion), Larry Ellison (No. 7, $43.6 billion), Michael Bloomberg (No. 8, $40 billion) and the Koch Brothers (tied for No. 9, $39.6 billion) are also among the top 10.
Businessman and presidential candidate Donald Trump (tied for No. 324, $4.5 billion) and TV personality Oprah Winfrey (tied for No. 569, $3 billion) are also snuggly on the list. And members of the Walton family are still scattered throughout the list thanks to the legacy of retail giant Wal-Mart.
But billionaires in the convenience-store and truckstop industry were most definitely represented among the world’s wealthiest people.
- Tom and Judy Love lead the industry ranking at No. 205, with $6.1 billion. Love's Travel Stops & Country Stores is a national chain with more than 300 locations in 39 states. Located along interstates, they offer gas stations, convenience stores, fast food restaurants, showers and trucking supplies. Tom Love is chairman and CEO, and three of the couple's four children work for the company.
- John Catsimatidis takes the No. 477 spot, at $3.4 billion. Catsimatidis owns oil refinery United Refining; the company also has 375 gas stations and convenience stores under the Kwik Fill and Country Fair brands.
- Alain Bouchard has the No. 638 slot, with $3.2 billion. Bouchard founded convenience-store giant Alimentation Couche-Tard in 1980. He served as president and CEO until Sep. 2014, growing the business by snatching up chains including Circle K, Statoil, The Pantry and Topaz.
- Jimmy Haslam ranked at No. 771, at $2.3 billion. Pilot Flying J has close to 700 truckstops in the United States and Canada. His brother, Tennessee governor Bill Haslam, takes the No. 1121 spot on the billionaires’ list.
Other notable individuals include members of the Mars and Wrigley candy families, Starbucks’ Howard Schultz, beer and snack investor C. Dean Metropoulos and retail industry entrepreneur Drayton McLane Jr., among others.
It’s an active list--221 people fell off, while 198 newcomers joined the ranks; another 29 people from 2015 died while 29 who had previously fallen off climbed back on. Of those who were billionaires both years, 892 are poorer while 501 added to their fortunes.
The United States has 540 billionaires, more than any other country in the world. It is followed by mainland China with 251 (Hong Kong has another 69) and Germany with 120. Russia has 77, 11 fewer than last year, while Brazil is down 23 to 31.
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