Forbes' richest Americans list welcomes crop of new faces

The 18-person group of newcomers included Elisabeth DeLuca, Josh Kushner and more

A handful of individuals reportedly became new additions to Forbes’ list of the wealthiest Americans that also continued to feature many familiar faces at the top. 

The collective value of those on the 400-member ranking saw a roughly 12.5% increase compared to the prior year, with it coming in at $4.5 trillion for 2023, Forbes reported Tuesday. The list comes out on a yearly basis in the fall.

Top 5 richest Americans

The men holding the two highest positions on the ranking — Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, at No. 1, and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, at No. 2 — were the same year-over-year, according to Forbes. 

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The top-five richest Americans as determined by Forbes were:

  • Musk, $251 billion
  • Bezos, $161 billion
  • Larry Ellison, $158 billion
  • Warren Buffett, $121 billion
  • Larry Page, $114 billion

Ellison, the co-founder of Oracle, and Buffett, the longtime CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, each reportedly saw a one-spot gain from where they were in 2022. The outlet attributed the former’s movement on the list to Oracle and artificial intelligence (AI), noting no other members saw a dollar increase to their net worth as big as his. 

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos

Billionaire American businessman Jeff Bezos arrives for his meeting with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson at the U.K. diplomatic residence in New York City on Sept. 20, 2021. (Michael M. Santiago/Pool via REUTERS / Reuters Photos)

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Google co-founder Page was among the five richest Americans after holding the No. 6 spot in 2022. 

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GOOGL ALPHABET INC. 166.90 -9.08 -5.16%
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Top 5 richest new additions

For inclusion, wealthy Americans need to be worth at least $2.9 billion, the threshold for 2023’s list, according to Forbes.  

The top-five richest new additions as per the outlet were:

Elisabeth DeLuca

Elisabeth DeLuca’s first-time appearance on the annual ranking with a net worth of $8.2 billion comes over a month after Subway, the foot-long sandwich chain created in the 1960s by her late husband Fred DeLuca and physicist Peter Buck, revealed Roark Capital Group as its new owner through a proposed acquisition by the private equity firm’s affiliates. The sandwich chain’s U.S. restaurants saw deli slicers for freshly sliced meats introduced over the summer. It also recently said it had generated an increase of 9.8% same-store sales year-over-year over the first six months of 2023. 

Subway sandwich on top of a Subway napkin with a logo

A sandwich is seen on a table at a Subway restaurant in Austin, Texas, on Jan. 12, 2023. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images / Getty Images)

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Annette Lerner

At $6.5 billion, Annette Lerner and her family appear to be the second wealthiest of those entering the Forbes 400 in 2023. Her husband, real estate company Lerner Enterprises founder and Washington Nationals owner Ted Lerner, died in February.

William Goldring

Forbes reported Wiiliam Goldring and his family’s fortune stood around $6 billion. Their wealth stems from Sazerac Company and its large portfolio of alcoholic spirits brands.

William Goldring

Bill Goldring, chairman of the Sazerac Company, attends Emeril Lagasse's Boudin, Bourbon & Beer at Champions Square in New Orleans on Nov. 7, 2014. (Erika Goldring/Getty Images / Getty Images)

Sanjit Biswas 

Sanjit Biswas has a personal fortune of $3.6 billion. Samsara, the tech company he started with fellow Forbes 400 newcomer John Bicket about eight years ago, has a market capitalization of $12.98 billion as of Tuesday afternoon. It became publicly traded in late 2021. 

Josh Kushner

The estimated $3.6 billion net worth of Josh Kushner, whose brother Jared married Ivanka Trump, makes him among the five richest of those new to the Forbes 400 and tied for No. 314 with 11 others on the overall list, per Forbes. His venture capital firm Thrive Capital reportedly manages $16 billion worth of assets. 

Josh Kushner

Josh Kushner attends the 2023 Met Gala Celebrating "Karl Lagerfeld: A Line Of Beauty" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City on May 1, 2023. (Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images / Getty Images)

Including those five individuals, a total of 18 made their debuts on the list, according to the outlet. NBA legend Michael Jordan and his reported $3 billion fortune were also in the group.

Jordan's lucrative partnership with Nike, which partly helped contribute to his personal fortune, was recently the subject of a Ben Affleck-directed movie called "Air." The original Nike-Jordan deal took place in 1984.