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As the rich become richer, close to 30 people with ties to the Bay State are worth over a billion dollars.
Forbes released its annual World’s Billionaires List this week, and it’s the biggest one yet. The ranking now includes a record 3,428 entrepreneurs, investors, and heirs who together hold an unprecedented $20.1 trillion in wealth, up $4 trillion from last year.
The United States leads the pack with 989 billionaires, and nearly 30 of them have ties to Massachusetts.
The list offers a snapshot of global wealth as of March 1, 2026, based on stock prices and currency exchange rates at that moment in time.
This year’s class of newbies includes two iconic musicians, Beyoncé Knowles-Carter and Dr. Dre, the famous filmmaker James Cameron, and a tennis legend, Roger Federer.
While Elon Musk remains the richest man in the world, he is followed by Larry Page and Sergey Brin of Google, Jeff Bezos of Amazon, and Mark Zuckerberg of Meta.
Here in Massachusetts, there were a few newcomers as well.
William “Bill” Chisholm joined the list after he led a group of investors to purchase the Boston Celtics in August for $6.1 billion. Although he has worked in Silicon Valley for decades, he grew up near Boston and is a lifelong Celtics fan.
Larry Culp, who moved to the Boston area after taking over as CEO of GE Aerospace in 2018, also recently joined the ranks of billionaires. He built his fortune to $1.8 billion, beginning his career at Danaher before playing an integral role in breaking up GE into three separate public companies.
Another recent addition was Andrew Bialecki, the co-founder and CEO of Klaviyo, a marketing automation software company. Worth $1.5 billion, he first launched his Boston company in 2012, becoming a billionaire for the first time in 2024.
Below is a list of Massachusetts billionaires, in descending order of net worth:
Abigail Johnson, CEO of Fidelity Investments: $33.2 billion
Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots: $13.8 billion
Edward Johnson IV, brother of Fidelity CEO and president of Pembroke Real Estate: $13.6 billion
Elizabeth Johnson, sister of Fidelity CEO: $11.6 billion
Jim Davis, chairman of New Balance: $6.3 billion
Robert Hale Jr., CEO of Granite Telecommunications: $6.0 billion
John Henry, owner of the Boston Red Sox and The Boston Globe. Forbes often lists him as a resident of Florida despite strong local ties: $5.7 billion.
Patrizio Vinciarelli, Vicor CEO: $4.3 billion
Amos Hostetter Jr., known for the family’s Barr Foundation charitable giving, runs Pilot House Ventures: $3.9 billion.
John Fish, CEO of Suffolk Construction: $3.6 billion
Ted Alfond, heir of Dexter Shoe Company fortune: $3.5 billion
Bill Alfond, heir of Dexter Shoe Company fortune: $3.5 billion
Alan Trefler, CEO of Pegasystems: $3.5 billion
William “Bill” Chisholm, Boston Celtics owner: $3.2 billion
Phillip T. (Terry) Ragon, founder of InterSystems: $3.2 billion
Herb Chambers, a former New England auto retailer magnate: $2.8 billion
Liesel Pritzker Simmons, Hyatt Hotel heiress: $2.1 billion
Noubar Afeyan, chairman and co-founder of Moderna: $1.9 billion
Larry Culp, GE Aerospace chairman and CEO: $1.8 billion
Frank Laukien, CEO of Bruker Corp.: $1.5 billion
Andrew Bialecki, co-founder and CEO of Klaviyo, headquartered in Boston: $1.5 billion
Seth Klarman, CEO and president of Baupost Group: $1.5 billion
Paul Fireman, former chairman of Reebok: $1.5 billion
Jim Koch, chairman of the Boston Beer Company, maker of Samuel Adams beer: $1.4 billion
Timothy Springer, an immunologist and professor of biological chemistry and molecular pharmacology at Harvard Medical School and founding investor of Moderna: $1.1 billion
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