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Forbes Billionaires Include 12 in OC

Twelve members of the Business Journal’s annual OC’s Wealthiest list made this year’s Forbes ranking of the world’s billionaires.

The Business Journal list, which was published in August, had 45 entries, with a minimum net worth of $250 million. The Forbes list has 2,043 names.

The overlap—with some variation in wealth estimates—includes:

  • Donald Bren, Irvine Company chairman, with between $15.2 billion and $16.8 billion
  • David Sun and John Tu of Kingston Technology Corp., with between $4 billion and $5.3 billion
  • Igor Olenicoff, who made his fortune in real estate, with between $3.7 billion and $4 billion
  • Henry Samueli, co-founder of chipmaker Broadcom Corp., with between $3.6 billion and $4 billion
  • Henry Nicholas III, Broadcom co-founder, with $3 billion to $3.2 billion
  • James Jannard, founder of Red Hat Digital Camera Co. and sunglasses maker Oakley Inc., with $3.2 billion to $4 billion
  • Bill Gross, co-founder and former chief investment officer of Pacific Investment Management Co. in Newport Beach, with $2.5 billion to $2.6 billion
  • Rodney Sacks and Hilton Schlosberg, top executives at Monster Beverage Corp., with between $1.4 billion and $2.5 billion
  • Arturo Moreno, owner of the Los Angeles Angels, with $1.7 billion to $2.1 billion
  • George Argyros, a real estate developer and investor, with $2.2 billion to $2.35 billion

The Forbes list missed seven OC billionaires, whose wealth we estimated at between $1 billion and $1.6 billion:

  • Paul Merage, chairman of MIG Management Services LLC
  • Vinny Smith, Toba Capital founder and tech entrepreneur
  • Anne Catherine Getty Earhart and Caroline Getty, sisters, heiresses and philanthropists with OC ties
  • Lynsi Snyder, Owner of In-N-Out Burger Inc.
  • Gen. William Lyon, chairman emeritus of William Lyon Homes
  • William Wang, co-founder and chief executive of consumer electronics maker Vizio Inc.

This year’s OC’s Wealthiest list is scheduled for July 31.

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Peter J. Brennan
Peter J. Brennan
With four decades of experience in journalism, Peter J. Brennan has built a career that spans diverse news topics and global coverage. From reporting on wars, narcotics trafficking, and natural disasters to analyzing business and financial markets, Peter’s work reflects a commitment to impactful storytelling. Peter’s association with the Orange County Business Journal began in 1997, where he worked until 2000 before moving to Bloomberg News. During his 15 years at Bloomberg, his reporting often influenced financial markets, with headlines and articles moving the market caps of major companies by hundreds of millions of dollars. In 2017, Peter returned to the Orange County Business Journal as Financial Editor, bringing his heavy business industry expertise. Over the years, he advanced to Executive Editor and, in 2024, was named Editor-in-Chief. Peter’s work has been featured in prestigious publications such as The New York Times and The Washington Post, and he has appeared on CNN, CBC, BBC, and Bloomberg TV. A Kiplinger Fellowship recipient at The Ohio State University, he leads the Business Journal with a dedication to uncovering stories that matter and shaping the local business community and beyond.

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