Orange County’s share of the Forbes 400 listing of the richest Americans got a lot bigger this year, thanks to surging real estate fortunes.
The biggest change: a surge in the magazine’s estimated wealth for Donald Bren. Forbes pegs Bren at $8.5 billion, up from $5.7 billion a year earlier.
The move closes a long running gap with the Business Journal’s own conservative estimate of Bren’s wealth, which we pegged at $8.7 billion in August.
Roland Arnall, U.S. ambassador to the Netherlands and owner of Orange-based ACC Capital Holdings Corp., checks in at $3 billion on Forbes’ list.
Arnall is No. 2 on the Business Journal’s list at an estimated $1.8 billion, a figure we felt captures the recent downturn at ACC’s Ameriquest and its sister companies.
Broadcom Corp. cofounders Henry Nicholas and Henry Samueli are estimated at $2 billion each by Forbes.
In August,a low point for Broadcom shares,the Business Journal estimated Nicholas and Samueli at $1.6 billion each.
Forbes trumped us on its estimate for businessman George Argyros, putting him at $1.6 billion vs. our $1.3 billion.
Same for real estate owner Igor Olenicoff, which Forbes put at $1.6 billion, versus our $1 billion.
Jim Jannard, chairman and majority owner of Oakley Inc., checked in at $1.4 billion.
The Business Journal pegged Jannard at $900 million in August, reflecting a downturn in Oakley’s shares.
William Gross, the bond guru of Pacific Investment Management Co., comes in at $1.2 billion on Forbes’ list, on par with the Business Journal’s $1.1 billion estimate.
Forbes’ list, which includes only billionaires and up this year, is missing one billionaire by our count: William Lyon, who ranked No. 7 on the Business Journal’s list at $1 billion.
One other notable from Forbes’ list: Arte Moreno.
The owner of the Los Angeles of Anaheim came in at $1.1 billion. Moreno doesn’t make the Business Journal’s yearly list since he doesn’t live here and only a small part of his wealth comes from here.
