GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — West Michigan is home to five of the wealthiest people in America, according to Forbes’ new rankings released this week.
Of the eight Michigan billionaires to grace this year’s list, five of them worth $20.3 billion altogether call West Michigan home.
Brothers Hank and Doug Meijer came in at the top of Michigan’s list of billionaires, with a net worth of $7 billion, according to Forbes. The heirs and leaders of the Meijer grocery chain were No. 73 overall among Forbes’ list of 400 wealthiest people in the world.
With a net worth of $5.4 billion, Amway co-founder Richard DeVos ranked third among Michigan’s richest, behind Quicken Loans co-founder Daniel Gilbert, who is worth $5.8 billion, according to Forbes.
Stryker Corp. heir and director Ronda Stryker and former Stryker chair John Brown ranked 6th and 7th among Michigan’s richest, with $4.8 billion and $3.1 billion respectively. They came in behind Little Caesar’s co-founder and Red Wings owner Marian Ilitch, whose net worth is $5.2 billion. The widow of Mike Ilitch also owns Motor City Casino.
Ypsilanti resident William Young, who co-founded Plastipak with his father, came in at No. 359 overall with a net worth of $2.2 billion.
For the 24th year in a row, Microsoft founder Bill Gates topped this year’s list of billionaires, with a net worth of $89 billion. Amazon owner Jeff Bezos, investor Warren Buffet, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, and Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison rounded out the top five wealthiest Americans, respectively.
Notably lower on the list is President Donald Trump. According to Forbes, Trump’s fortune fell by $600 million to $3.1 billion over the past year. He now ranks 248th, down 92 spots.