7 With MoCo Ties Make the 2022 Forbes ‘World’s Billionaires List’

Forbes has released its 36th annual ranking of the world’s richest people with the 2022 ‘World’s Billionaire List.’

2,668 people made it on the list, 87 fewer than a year ago. They’re worth a collective $12.7 trillion—$400 billion less than in 2021.

Seven who are either current residents or were born/raised in Montgomery County also made the list. They can be seen below (information courtesy of Forbes):

Mitchell Rales (Potomac), $6.2 Billion

Chairman, Danaher’s executive committee 

• 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 $22.3 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.

Ted Lerner and family (Chevy Chase), $4.4 Billion

Owner, Washington Nationals

• In 1952, a 26-year-old Ted Lerner borrowed $250 from his wife to start a real estate company, selling homes for developers.
• He sold 22,000, then decided to become a builder. Today his Lerner Enterprises is among the largest owners of real estate in the Washington, D.C area.
• Since 2006 Lerner 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.
• During law school, Lerner sold real estate on weekends to help support his widowed mother and younger siblings.

Ted Rubenstein (Bethesda), $4.1 Billion

Co-Chief Executive Officer And Co-Founder, Carlyle Group

• David Rubenstein is one of three billionaire founders of private equity firm Carlyle Group, which has $260 billion in assets under management.
• 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.

Dan Snyder (Potomac), $4 Billion (Snyder has recently sold his Potomac home and purchased a new home in Virginia)

Owner, Washington Commanders

• 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 $4.2 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.

Bernard Saul, II (Chevy Chase), $3.8 Billion

Chairman And CEO, Saul Centers Inc.

• 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.

Theodore Leonsis (Bethesda), $1.6 Billion

Owner, Washington Wizards

• 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.

Kevin Plank (Born/raised in Kensington), $1.2 Billion

Chairman/CEO, Under Armour

• 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.