A Look At The Minnesotans On Forbes' Billionaires List
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) - It's one of the most prestigious lists of the year. The Forbes World Billionaires List is a ranking of the wealthiest of the wealthy, and some familiar Minnesota names were represented.
We took a look at where each of the five locals land and how they made their fortunes.
"They are some of the oldest families that have been a part of the business landscape for, in many cases, decades and, in some cases, centuries," said Paul Vaaler, professor of law and business at the University of Minnesota Law School and Carlson School of Management.
Cargill part-owner Whitney MacMillan was the richest Minnesotan on Forbes' Billionaires List, at the 341st spot with a net worth of $4.7 billion.
"In his tenure in the 1970s, he tripled the size of the company," Vaaler said. "So he both inherited a great opportunity and used that great opportunity to build even more."
Moving down the list, at spot 949, was radio and television magnate Stanley Hubbard, worth $2 billion.
Carlson Inc. sisters Barbara Carlson Gage and Marilyn Carlson Nelson landed at 1,638th on the list, worth $1.1 billion each. Their fortune was built in travel and hotels, like Radisson.
Then there's self-made billionaire Glen Taylor, who's worth $2.4 billion and sits at No. 782.
"Maybe Mankato State University's most famous graduate," Vaaler said.
While many know him as the owner of the Timberwolves, Lynx and the Star Tribune, he got his start during college while working at a print shop.
When his boss wanted to retire, he offered to buy the company and pay it off over the course of ten years.
He struck the deal and went on to own a number of small businesses.
"Here's the interesting thing about Glen Taylor: He's a politician as well," Vaaler said. "A former state senator and a former minority leader in the Senate in the 1980s. He knows not just how the levers of business work, but how the levers of politics and government work as well."
One thing these billionaires all have in common: landing on the list isn't luck.
"It's something more than just the luck of their birth," Vaaler said. "They do have great opportunities in almost all those cases -- with the possible exception of Glen Taylor -- but it's something about the combination of what they inherit, in terms of the opportunities, and how they've exploited them."
Other notable entries on the list include Florida's Richard Schulze, the chairman of Best Buy, who has a net worth of $2.9 billion and is 629th on the list.
The 142nd richest person alive is John Menard Jr., owner of Menard's, who is worth a massive 9.2 billion dollars. He lives in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.