Forbes has released its annual “World’s Billionaires List” and ten Marylanders (including many from Montgomery County) have made the list. According to Forbes, “there are now more billionaires than ever: 2,781 in all, 141 more than last year and 26 more than the record set in 2021. They’re richer than ever, worth $14.2 trillion in aggregate, up by $2 trillion from 2023 and $1.1 trillion above the previous record, also set in 2021. Two-thirds of the list’s members are worth more than a year ago; only one fourth are poorer.” Below are the ten Maryland billionaires who made the list:
World Rank #432: Annette Lerner and family (Chevy Chase)
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- Industry: Real estate, Washington Nationals
- Net worth: $6.4 billion
Per Forbes:
- In 1952, Annette lent $250 to her 26-year-old husband, Ted Lerner, to start a real estate company, selling homes for developers.
- Today, Lerner Enterprises is among the largest owners of real estate in the Washington, D.C area.
- Since 2006 the Lerner family has owned the Washington Nationals baseball team. In June 2018, Ted passed control of the team to son Mark.
- The family donates to charities including Children’s National Hospital in DC, George Washington University and Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
- In February 2023, Ted Lerner died, leaving Annette and her children as the heirs of his estate.
World Rank #624: Mitchell Rales (Potomac)
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- Industry: Manufacturing, investments
- Net worth: $4.9 billion
Per Forbes:
- Mitchell Rales and his brother Steven acquired a real estate investment trust in 1983 and merged it into the firm Danaher.
- Over the years they acquired more than three dozen companies and turned Danaher into an industrial firm with $29.45 billion in revenues.
- In July 2016, Danaher spun off its industrial technologies, measurement and petroleum businesses into Fortive Corporation.
- Mitchell Rales retired from his position at Fortive Corp. in 2021 but he is still chairman of Danaher’s executive committee.
- In June, he and his brother each transferred Danaher shares worth more than $1.5 billion to their charitable foundations.
World Rank #712: Jim Davis (Cockeysville)
- Industry: Manufacturing, investments
- Net worth: $4.9 billion
Per Forbes:
- Jim Davis cofounded Allegis Group, the largest staffing firm in the U.S.
- Davis launched Allegis (then called Aerotek) in 1983 with his cousin Steve Bisciotti, who is also a billionaire.
- Allegis now has offices on four continents and boasts an annual revenues of more than $15 billion.
- Through Redwood Capital, the cousins also invest in everything from retirement communities to propane distribution.
World Rank #712: Dan Snyder (Potomac)
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- Industry: Washington Commanders
- Net worth: $4.9 billion
Per Forbes:
- Dan Snyder initially made his fortune with a marketing business, Snyder Communications, that he started as a college dropout.
- After taking the company public in 1996, Snyder sold it to French firm Havas for $2.1 billion in stock in 2000.
- In 1999, he bought the NFL’s Washington Commanders for $750 million, borrowing $350 million to do so; it’s now worth $5.6 billion.
- After years of controversy over the Native American origins of the team’s former name, the Redskins, Snyder renamed the team the Commanders in 2022.
- In 2019, Snyder made waves with his new $192 million yacht Lady S, which has an IMAX theater.
- Snyder cleaned and mopped the floors at the cafeteria inside the National Institute for Health as a high school student.
World Rank #809: David Rubenstein (Bethesda)
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- Industry: Private equity
- Net worth: $3.9 billion
Per Forbes:
- David Rubenstein is one of three billionaire founders of private equity firm Carlyle Group, which is approaching $400 billion in assets under management.
- He is the new owner of the Baltimore Orioles
- He cofounded Carlyle in 1987 with William Conway Jr. and Daniel D’Aniello. He now serves as non-executive co-chairman.
- Rubenstein got his start as a Carter Administration official and later became an attorney.
- In the early days Rubenstein raised the money and managed Carlyle’s stable of advisers, which included George H.W. Bush.
- He donated $18.5 million in 2016 to restore the Lincoln Memorial and expand exhibits and research there.
World Rank #1062: Theodore Leonsis (Bethesda)
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- Industry: Sports teams
- Net worth: $3.1 billion
Per Forbes:
- Theodore ‘Ted’ Leonsis is founder, majority owner and CEO of Monumental Sports, which owns several teams and arenas in Washington, D.C.
- Subsidiaries include the NBA’s Wizards, the NHL’s Capitals, the WNBA’s Washington Mystics and Capital One Arena.
- The grandson of Greek immigrants, Leonsis initially built his fortune as a senior executive at AOL, where he worked for nearly 14 years.
- He is a cofounder and partner at Revolution Growth, a venture capital firm helmed by AOL cofounder Steve Case.
World Rank #1,286: Bernard Saul II (Chevy Chase)
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- Industry: Banking, real estate
- Net worth: $2.6 billion
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Per Forbes:
- B. Francis Saul II inherited his grandfather’s property management firm, B.F. Saul Company, and turned it into a real estate empire.
- B.F. Saul Company owns 9.8 million square feet of retail and office space across the country along with 19 hotels.
- He also owns The Hay-Adams, a 5-star hotel across the road from the White House that brands itself as “discreetly luxurious.”
- He sold Chevy Chase Federal Savings Bank to Capital One in 2009 for $476 million.
- The majority of his real estate portfolio is managed through Saul Centers, a publicly traded REIT.
World Rank #1,694: Keith Dunleavy (Annapolis)
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- Industry: Banking, real estate
- Net worth: $1.9 billion
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Per Forbes:
- Keith Dunleavy is the founder of Inovalon, a cloud-based software and healthcare analytics firm.
- Dunleavy came up with the idea for Inovalon in 1998 while doing his medical residency at The Johns Hopkins Hospital.
- He owns an estimated 11% of Inovalon, which he took public on the Nasdaq in 2015 and sold to a consortium of private equity firms in 2021.
- Dunleavy graduated from Harvard Medical School and practiced as a board-certified internal medicine physician prior to building Inovalon full-time.
World Rank #1,945: Anthony Casalena (Monkton)
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- Industry: Banking, real estate
- Net worth: $1.6 billion
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Per Forbes:
- Anthony Casalena founded website building startup Squarespace in his University of Maryland dorm room in 2003.
- Casalena founded Squarespace with a $30,000 loan from his parents.
- Squarespace sells monthly or annual plans that range from a simple domain name and website to more advanced options for e-commerce.
- With traditional retailers flocking online during the pandemic, Casalena took Squarespace public in May 2021.
- Casalena owns around 30% of Squarespace.
World Rank #2,545: Kevin Plank (Lutherville/Timonium)
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- Industry: Banking, real estate
- Net worth: $1.1 billion
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Per Forbes:
- Under Armour founder Kevin Plank built a popular sportswear brand as the underdog competitor to Nike.
- Noticing his football teammates’ sweat-soaked shirts, Plank came up with a lightweight, sweat-wicking shirt using fabrics from women’s undergarments.
- In the mid-1990s he sold his first shirts from his grandmother’s basement, exaggerating to early customers to make the company sound bigger.
- Plank, who stepped down as Under Armour’s CEO in 2019 and is now chairman, took the company public 2005; he owns a nearly 16% stake.
- He is building a 4 million-square-foot headquarters for Under Armour in Baltimore as part of a larger development called Port Covington.
The full Forbes list can be seen here. Featured photo shows Glenstone Museum, owned by Mitchell Rales, courtesy of Glenstone Museum