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There aren’t many things $1 billion won’t get you, but a spot on The Forbes 400 list of the richest Americans is one of them. Not even $3 billion will do it. This year, the 400 wealthiest people in the U.S. are all worth at least $3.3 billion—a new record, and $400 million more than last year.

The Forbes 400 is our annual ranking of the richest Americans. Our estimates are a snapshot of each members wealth as of September 1, 2024.

Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jemimamcevoy/2024/10/01/taylor-swift-magic-johnson-sam-altman-the-american-billionaires-too-poor-to-make-the-2024-forbes-400-list/

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Transcript
00:00With the minimum required net worth for the Forbes 400 climbing another 14% this year
00:05to a record $3.3 billion, there are now more American billionaires who don't make the
00:10list than do.
00:12415 billionaires and counting aren't rich enough.
00:16There have been 34 drop-offs since last year's list.
00:20Despite being richer, 10 billionaires from last year's list couldn't keep up with
00:24the minimum net worth of $3.3 billion, and another 18 fell off the list as their net
00:29worths dropped.
00:31Four others died.
00:33Oprah Winfrey, the original influencer, lent her celebrity to Kamala Harris in August,
00:38endorsing the vice president in a surprise speech at the Democratic National Convention.
00:42Five decades of television and film have made Oprah the wealthiest black woman in America,
00:47but she's shy of the Forbes 400 for the fourth straight year.
00:51In March, she moved slightly farther from the list when she donated $3.5 million of
00:57Weight Washers stock to the National Museum of African American History and Culture, where
01:02she's on the council.
01:04WWE billionaire Vince McMahon has been plagued by scandal as of late, with allegations of
01:09sexual assault reportedly triggering a Department of Justice probe.
01:13Amid the controversy, which McMahon has denied, he resigned as executive chairman of WWE parent
01:19company TKO in January, and in April, filed to sell his last 8 million shares.
01:26Real estate developer Charles Cohen saw his fortune tumble by 30 percent over the past
01:31year largely due to lower values for his office buildings in Manhattan.
01:35Cohen is also battling a $534 million foreclosure from Fortress Credit Corp against some of
01:42his properties in the U.S. and the United Kingdom.
01:45Globetrotting pop star Taylor Swift's Heiress tour, which is slated to end in December,
01:50has already grossed well beyond $1 billion, making it the first such tour to clear the
01:5610-digit mark.
01:58Its success has made her one of 84 new American billionaires since last year's list.
02:04The headline commanding Swift may take over the Forbes 400 one day, too.
02:08She released a new album in April and is reportedly working on another one and might even hit
02:13the road again in 2026.
02:16W. Herbert Hunt was one of legendary oil wildcatter H.L. Hunt's 15 children.
02:22Hunt grew up in the Texas fields before amassing some 195 million ounces of silver in the late
02:281970s in a failed attempt to corner the world's silver market.
02:33He owned a Louisiana refinery and oil company, Petro Hunt, when he died in April at age 95.
02:46He is believed to be the first American billionaire to have sold his company in the U.S.
02:50and the U.K.
02:51He is also believed to be the first American billionaire to have sold his company in the
02:55U.S. and the U.K.
02:57He is believed to be the first American billionaire to have sold his company in the U.S.
03:01and the U.K.
03:02He is believed to be the first American billionaire to have sold his company in the U.S.
03:06and the U.K.
03:07He is believed to be the first American billionaire to have sold his company in the U.S.

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