Southwest Florida still home to four of the world's richest billionaires

Four Southwest Florida residents are among the 400 richest Americans.

The Forbes 400 — described as the Definitive Ranking of the Wealthiest Americans — includes familiar names in the region.

The richest guy in Southwest Florida? That hasn't changed: Shahid Khan, 69, a Naples resident, who weighs in at No. 61.

Khan's net worth is currently estimated at $7.9 billion.

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According to Forbes: An engineer by trade, Khan owns auto parts supplier Flex-N-Gate, the National Football League's Jacksonville Jaguars and the United Kingdom's Fulham football club. He took delivery of his 300-foot super yacht Kismet, which took six years to build, at the end of 2014.

The basis for Khan's success: A one-piece truck bumper.

The second-richest businessman in Southwest Florida? That hasn't changed either: Reinhold Schmieding, 64, ranks at No. 91 on the Fortune 400 list year, with a current net worth of $6.2 billion. 

See the full list:Forbes 400: Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett remain the richest people in the US

In 1981, Schmieding, a Naples resident and Michigan native, founded Arthrex, an orthopedic surgical tools company, in Munich, Germany. His company, now headquartered in North Naples, has developed thousands of products used in shoulder, hip and other joint surgeries. 

Arthrex has made a name for itself in the field of arthroscopy internationally, designing, developing and manufacturing devices for minimally invasive orthopedic surgery, with more than 1,500 patents or patents pending.

No surprise, the list of the richest of the rich Americans, dropped by Forbes on Oct. 2, also includes these well-known locals:

• Tom Golisano, 77, ranks at No. 195, with a current net worth of $3.8 billion. He founded payroll firm Paychex, a publicly-traded company, "with just $3,000 and a credit card." He served as CEO until 2004 and remains chairman. A former New York resident, he sold the Buffalo Sabres in March 2011 for $189 million, rejecting a higher bid to keep the team from moving out of town.
• Richard Schulze, 78, isn't far behind Golisano. He sits at No. 207, with a net worth of $3.7 billion. The Bonita Springs resident founded Sound of Music in 1966, which eventually became the chain of superstores known as Best Buy. He served as Best Buy's CEO from 1983 to 2002 and stepped down as chairman in 2012. He rejoined the company as chairman emeritus in 2013 after his attempts to take over the electronics retailer and make it private failed.

What might be surprising about the list: Naples billionaire William Stone, who started SS&C Technologies in 1986, didn't make the cut. Sitting at No. 1,227 on the list of the world's richest people, he has a current net worth of $1.8 billion.

The minimum net worth needed to make this year's Fortune 400 list was $2.1 billion — the same threshold as last year.

Another billionaire that didn't make the Fortune 400 list? Catherine Lozick, 74, formerly of Naples, who now lives in Fort Lauderdale.

Lozick currently ranks at No. 1,349 on the Forbes list of the richest people in the world, with a net worth of $2 billion. She dropped off the Forbes 400 list in 2015.

Still the only woman to make the Forbes list of billionaires in Southwest Florida, Lozick inherited an estimated 65 percent stake in Swagelok, a valve-making business her father co-founded in 1947 with a $500 loan, according to Forbes. 

More than a dozen Florida residents made it on the 2019 list including Micky Arison, chairman of the world's largest cruise ship operator, Carnival Corp. — who weighed in at No. 59.

Based on this year's list the 400 richest Americans are worth "a record-breaking $2.96 trillion, up 2.2% from 2018."

Who tops this year's list? Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos still holds the No. 1 spot, "despite parting with a quarter of his Amazon stake in a record-setting divorce settlement earlier this year," according to Forbes.

Who wants to be a billionaire?:Forbes' list of top billionaires is out. Here's a look at it.

His net worth? It now stands at $107 billion, down from $160 billion a year ago. His ex-wife, Mackenzie Bezos, debuted on the Fortune 400 list this year. She's at No. 15, with a $36.1 billion fortune.

The second richest American? Bill Gates held the same rank in 2018. However, the gap between him at Bezos has narrowed significantly since last year, with his net worth climbing to more than $104 billion, according to Forbes.

MacKenzie Bezos isn't the only newcomer on this year's list. There are 18 others, including Tim Sweeney, whose company Epic Games is behind the wildly popular Fortnite.

With such a high threshold, more than 220 billionaires in America didn't make it on the 2019 list, from Michael Jordan to Kylie Jenner.

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