Orange County’s wealthiest residents know how to throw a good anniversary party. And they don’t mind inviting a few out-of-town guests to the soirée, either.
For this week’s edition of OC’s Wealthiest—the 20th year we’ve highlighted the richest of the rich in Orange County—we’ve included 47 members, each with a net worth valued at $600 million or more. That’s $100 million more than last year’s baseline figure.
Despite the higher threshold for inclusion, this year’s list includes its most-ever entries, its most-ever entries valued at $1 billion or more (31), and its most-ever number of multi-billionaires (18).
The combined fortune of the 47 is more than $111 billion—another all-time high for the 20 editions of this annual listing. That figure is more than the annual GDP of Ecuador, the world’s 59th largest economy when ranked by country.
OC’s GDP, by comparison, is about $260 billion, according to the Federal Reserve.
Second Home Hub
Part of the increased ranks on the list is due to inclusion of a few notable business execs who have their primary residences out of town, but own notable properties along the coast of OC.
Members of what we call the “weekend wealthy” on this week’s list include Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, former UFC owner and current casino mogul Frank Fertitta, and drugmaker and media mogul Patrick Soon-Shiong, among the richest people in Los Angeles. All told, there are six such weekend wealthy entries this edition.
Our logic for their inclusion: If someone with enough wealth to make the list spends $25 million or more on a home along the coast of OC, it’s safe to say they spend a fair amount of time here, and didn’t buy the homes as rental investments.
Stock Surges
Another reason for the growing ranks of the super-wealthy on the list is the resilient stock market, which still is well above year-ago levels despite the pandemic.
The S&P 500 Index stands about 9% higher than a year ago, thanks to a comeback after its March swoon. We’ve adjusted our estimates for those known to have a large stock portfolio accordingly.
Others with their fortunes tied to specific stocks have seen notable boosts to their estimates. Masimo’s Joe Kiani (Nasdaq: MASI, up 55% year-over-year); Alteryx’s Dean Stoecker (NYSE: AYX, up 45%); Broadcom’s Henry Samueli (Nasdaq: AVGO, up 5%); and Edwards Lifesciences’ Mike Mussallem (NYSE: EW, up 20%) are among the big movers on the list this year.
Igor Olenicoff, No. 3 on the list with wealth estimated at $6.5 billion, also got a boost due to a stock portfolio that knowledgeable sources tell the Business Journal is very heavy on Amazon stock, see page 20 for more.
Young Guns
A pair of young execs at two up-and-coming private companies are also big winners, and are additions to the ranks of billionaires on the list.
We’ve given Anduril Industries’ Palmer Luckey a $1.3 billion estimate, after the 27-year-old founder of Oculus VR got his second Irvine-based venture up to a valuation approaching $2 billion earlier this month.
And we’ve placed a $1.5 billion estimate on 37-year-old RJ Scaringe, whose upstart EV truck and SUV maker Rivian, with growing operations in Irvine, nabbed another multi-billion funding round this month.
Real Estate Reckoning
Not all industries and valuations have risen amid the pandemic. We’ve lowered our estimates for several real estate owners—particularly those with large retail portfolios—and taken a few off the list altogether.
Our perennial No. 1 on the list, Irvine Co. chairman Donald Bren, remains in the top spot by a wide margin with a $16.7 billion estimate, but we’ve cut that figure by $1 billion from year-ago levels.
A case could be made the cut is too steep, or that even a boost was warranted; numerous sources believe our prior estimates of Bren drastically undervalued his real estate portfolio.
Criteria
Along with the new weekend wealthy entries, our listings include individuals that live here or those who derive most of their wealth from OC.
Our definition of “worth” includes stocks, real estate and other assets held by individuals after debt, along with other factors.
To come up with our list, we’ve spent months looking into individual holdings, company assets, public records and press reports, and talked with numerous sources.
Even so, our listing comes with caveats. Like Forbes, Bloomberg and other similar listings, our numbers are conservative, ballpark figures. We’ve done our best to catalog assets, but only the people on our listing know their true value.
Nor is our listing all-inclusive. We’ve done our best to track down who we believe are OC’s wealthiest people. We are sure to have missed people. We look forward to comments.
