Palm Beach experienced a slight decline in the number of billionaires over the past year, but most of those remaining saw significant increases in their wealth, according to a Palm Beach Daily News analysis of the latest Forbes list of the world’s richest individuals.
According to palmbeachpost, at least 65 billionaires still have strong residential ties to Palm Beach — and their combined wealth has hit about $649 billion, the analysis shows. The grand total topped last year’s $620 billion, even with five fewer billionaires in town.
President Donald Trump, the town’s most famous resident, was among those whose wealth climbed, from $5.1 billion on the 2025 list to $6.5 billion in the rankings released by Forbes on March 10. Since 2024, Trump’s wealth has increased by $4.2 billion, according to Forbes.
Among the other takeaways from the analysis? Julia Koch and her family no longer hold the top spot among Palm Beach’s wealthiest denizens. The widow of industrialist David Koch of Koch Industries and her immediate family had headed the list since her husband’s death in 2019 — and he, in turn, had held the top Palm Beach ranking for many years.
Instead, the richest billionaire in town is digital stock-trading pioneer Thomas Peterffy, whose fortune of $82.9 billion nudged out Koch and her family’s wealth, which Forbes recorded at $81.2 billion. The last year saw a financial boon for Peterffy, whose net worth skyrocketed from $57.3 billion on the 2025 list, when he was in the No. 2 spot among his Palm Beach neighbors.
The five billionaires who are no longer on the Palm Beach list include the late Leonard Lauder of the Estee Lauder cosmetics empire and the late SlimFast founder S. Daniel Abraham, both of whom died in 2025.
Another billionaire sold his home — Thomas Frist III, who is part of the Frist family, headed by patriarch and health-care mogul Thomas Frist Jr. The Daily News has been unable to confirm if Frist III bought another house in town.
And the latest Forbes rankings did not include two others who were on the Palm Beach list last year — investor Diane Goldman Kemper and real estate developer Charles Cohen.
The majority of the town’s billionaires — 44— saw their fortunes soar over the last year, the Forbes list showed.
But nine of the Palm Beach billionaires watched as their wealth dropped, while the fortunes of another 12 were unchanged from last year’s single-day snapshot.
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The Palm Beach billionaires were among the 3,428 people across the globe whose wealth, Forbes estimated, totaled at least $1 billion each. The latest list was the largest ever compiled by Forbes, with 400 more billionaires than last year.
“They are richer than ever, worth a record $20.1 trillion, up $4 trillion from last year,” Forbes said in its introduction to the list.
Forbes credited the eye-popping growth of the artificial intelligence industry along with red-hot markets and “favorable fiscal policies” for the explosion in the wealth of the world’s billionaires.
Billionaires landed on the Palm Beach Daily News list if they or entities linked to them own residential real estate in town, whether it’s a primary home, a vacation house, a condominium, vacant land or an investment property. There are likely even more than 65 billionaires who own real estate in Palm Beach, but if so, their identities may be cloaked behind the entities they used to buy their properties or they simply have not yet been identified by the Daily News.
Other under-the-radar billionaires on the island may not have met the criteria Forbes uses to determine eligibility, which figures in the value of their stock portfolios and other assets, including private companies, real estate and art collections.
Rounding out the latest top-five list of Palm Beach billionaires were hedge-fund and securities titan Ken Griffin, whose fortune jumped from $42.3 billion to $49.8; private-equity specialist Stephen Schwarzman, who saw his wealth decrease by $6.1 billion to $38.3 billion; and investments executive Abigail Johnson with $33.2 billion, up from $32.7 billion.
On the new global list, Tesla and SpaceX tycoon Elon Musk took the No. 1 spot with an estimated net worth of $839 billion, from his $342 billion on the 2025 list. Musk grabbed headlines during the first months of the second Trump administration for his federal jobs- and budget-slashing initiatives as head of the now-disbanded Department of Government Efficiency.
In the No. 2 spot, globally, with $257 billion was Larry Page, the former CEO of Alphabet, the parent company of Google. Larry Brin, former president of Alphabet, came in No. 3 with $237 billion. Both men are still controlling shareholders in the company.
Amazon’s Jeff Bezos ($224 billion) was ranked No. 4 on the global list, while Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg ($222 billion) took the No. 5 spot.
Trailing the Top 5 was Oracle Corp’s. Larry Ellison, ranked No. 6 with a fortune of $190 billion. Ellison is known in Palm Beach County as the owner of the Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa in Manalapan, the wealthy town south of Palm Beach. He also owns the largest residential estate in Manalapan.
Palm Beach’s wealthiest: Local billionaires on the 2026 Forbes ranking of the world’s richest
Here is the Daily News’ list of Palm Beach billionaires ranked by Forbes among the world’s richest people. All of the billionaires on this list are American unless otherwise noted. The list includes each billionaire’s rank on the global list, in descending order, and compares 2026 net-worth estimates to the ones Forbes published last year. At the end of the list is a note about the methodology Forbes used to compile its rankings.
Digital stock-trading pioneer Thomas Peterffy, 81, in 23rd place, with $82.9 billion, up from $57.3 billion.
Julia Koch, 63 (widow of industrialist David Koch), and family, in 24th place on the global list, with $81.2 billion, up from $74.2 billion in 2025.
Hedge-fund manager Kenneth C. Griffin, 57, tied in 37th place, with $49.8 billion, up from $42.3 billion.
Private equity titan Stephen Schwarzman, 79, in 52nd place, with $38.3 billion, down from $44.4 billion.
Private-equity mogul Stephen Schwarzman.
Investments/finance executive Abigail Johnson, 64, tied in 63rd place, with $33.2 billion, up from $32.7 billion.
Mortgage loan magnate and NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert, 64, tied in 90th place, with $27.9 billion, up from $27.8 billion.
Australian mining mogul Gina Rinehart, 72, tied in 101st place, with $25.5 billion, down from $29.3 billion.
Hedge-fund manager and the NFL’s Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper, 68, in 109th place, with $23.7 billion, up from $21.3 billion.
Logistics entrepreneur Bradley Jacobs, 69, tied in 166th place, with $17.1 billion, up from $12 billion.
Real estate developer and Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross, 85, tied in 169th place, with $17 billion, down from $18.4 billion.
Businessman and New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, 84, tied in 210th place, with $13.8 billion, up from $11.8 billion.
Discount brokerage pioneer Charles Schwab, 88, tied in 232nd place, with $13 billion, up from $10.8 billion.
Financier Henry Kravis, 82, tied in 275th place, with $11.5 billion, down from $13.3 billion.
Investments mogul Robert F. Smith, 63, tied in 341st place, with $10 billion, down from $10.8 billion.
Real estate investor Jeff Greene, 71, tied in 392nd place, with $9 billion, up from $7.9 billion.
Australia-born financier Michael Dorrell, 52, tied in 415th place, with $8.5 billion, unchanged from 2025 list.
Medical equipment heiress Ronda Stryker, 71, tied in 415th place, with $8.5 billion, down from $8.6 billion.
Real estate mogul Neil Bluhm, 88, tied in 422nd place, with $8.4 billion, up from $7.2 billion.
Hedge-fund manager Paul Tudor Jones II, 71, tied in 444th place, with $8.1 billion, unchanged from 2025.
Money manager Ron Baron, 82, tied in 461st place, with $7.9 billion, up from $6.5 billion.
Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie, 74, and family, tied in 498th place, with $7.6 billion, up from $5.3 billion.
Hedge-fund manager Chase Coleman III, 50, tied in 557th place, with $7.1 billion, up from $6 billion.
Media and automotive heiress Katharine “Kathy” Rayner, 81, tied in 595th place, with $6.8 billion, up from $4.4 billion.
Media and automotive heiress Margaretta Taylor, 82, tied in 595th place, with $6.8 billion, up from $4.4 billion.
Real estate investor and President Donald Trump, 79, tied in 645th place, with $6.5 billion, up from $5.1 billion.
Real estate mogul Mitchell Morgan, 71, and family, tied in 684th place, with $6.1 billion, up from $5.5 billion.
Money manager Charles B. Johnson, 93, tied in 730th place, with $5.7 billion, up from $4.8 billion.
Marvel Entertainment tycoon Isaac Perlmutter, 83, tied in 823rd place, with $5.2 billion, up from $4.9 billion.
Cosmetics executive Ronald Lauder, 82, tied in 869th place, with $4.9 billion, up from $4.7 billion.
S.C. Johnson heiress Winifred J. Marquart, 66, tied in 891th place, with $4.8 billion, up from $4.7 billion.
Investor C. Dean Metropolous, 79, tied in 984th place, with $4.3 billion, up from $3.4 billion.
Philadelphia Phillies co-owner and tobacco heir John Middleton, 71, tied in 984th place, with $4.3 billion, up from $4.1 billion.
Investments entrepreneur Byron Trott, 67, tied in 984th place, with $4.3 billion, up from $3.7 billion.
Private-equity specialist William Conway Jr., 76, tied in 1,011th place, with $4.2 billion, up from $3.9 billion.
Johnson & Johnson heir and New York Jets owner Robert Wood “Woody” Johnson IV and family, 78, tied in 1,011th place, with $4.2 billion, up from $3.5 billion.
Investments tycoon, inventor and optometrist Dr. Herbert Wertheim, 85, tied in 1044th place, with $4.1 billion, down from $4.7 billion.
Private investor Dr. Herbert Wertheim
Hedge-fund manager John Paulson, 70, tied in 1,074th place, with $4 billion, up from $3.8 billion.
Casino and resort mogul Steve Wynn, 84, tied in 1,108th place, with $3.9 billion, up from $3.7 billion.
Food and beverage distributor Duke Reyes, 69, tied in 1,376th place, with $3.1 billion, up from $2.4 billion.
Private-equity mogul Barry Sternlicht, 65, tied in 1,376th place, with $3.1 billion, down from $2.8 billion.
Hedge-fund manager Glenn Dubin, 68, tied in 1,440th place, with $2.9 billion, unchanged from 2025.
Insurance magnate and New York Giants co-owner Jonathan Tisch, 72, tied in 1,440th place, with $2.9 billion, up from $2.1 billion.
Canadian sports-franchise owner and businessman Larry Tanenbaum, 80, tied in 1,504th place, with $2.8 billion, unchanged from 2025.
Cosmetics executive Jane Lauder, 53, tied in 1,611th place, with $2.6 billion, up from $1.8 billion.
Canadian liquor magnate Charles Bronfman, 94, tied in 1,676th place, with $2.5 billion, unchanged from 2025.
Fashion designer Tom Ford, 64, tied in 1,676th place, with $2.5 billion, up from $2.2 billion.
Real estate magnate Dwight C. Schar, 84, tied in 1,676th place, with $2.5 billion, unchanged from 2025.
Hedge-fund manager James G. Dinan, 66, tied in 1,755th place, with $2.4 billion, up from $2.1 billion.
Homebuilder Paul Saville, 70, tied in 1,755th place, with $2.4 billion, up from $2.2 billion.
Money manager Mario Gabelli, 83, tied in 1,913th place, with $2.2 billion, up from $1.9 billion.
Private-equity specialist Doug Ostrover, 63, tied in 1,913th place, with $2.2 billion, down from $2.9 billion.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Manchester United co-owner Avram Glazer, 65, tied in 2,052nd place, with $2 billion, up from $1.7 billion.
Industrialist, investor and education entrepreneur William “Bill” Koch, 85, tied in 2,052nd place, with $2 billion, unchanged from 2025.
Car dealer Terry Taylor, 74, tied in 2,177th place, with $1.9 billion, unchanged from 2025.
Industrial equipment heir Mitchell Jacobson, 75, tied in 2,274th place, with $1.8 billion, up from $1.7 billion.
Fashion and retail entrepreneur Aerin Lauder, 55, tied in 2,274th place, with $1.8 billion, up from $1.3 billion.
Cosmetics executive William Lauder, 65, tied in 2,274th place, with $1.8 billion, up from $1.3 billion.
Technology investor Harvey Jones, 73, tied in 2,386th place, with $1.7 billion, up from $1.2 billion.
Investor Nelson Peltz, 83, tied in 2,481st place, with $1.6 billion, unchanged from 2025.
Canadian financier Gerald Schwartz, 84, tied in 2,481st place, with $1.6 billion, up from $1.5 billion.
Reebok founder Paul Fireman, 82, tied in 2,600th place, with $1.5 billion, up from $1.3 billion.
Private-equity specialist J. Christopher Flowers, 68, tied in 3,017th place, with $1.2 billion, unchanged from 2025
Real estate asset manager Jane Goldman, 70, tied in 3,185th place, with $1.1 billion, unchanged from 2025.
Real estate tycoon Richard Kurtz, 85, tied in 3,332nd place, with $1 billion, unchanged from 2025.
