Texas Now Has 27 Billionaires on Bloomberg List

By Irving Mejia-Hilario,
The Dallas Morning News (via TNS).

It’s not just average, everyday citizens who are moving to Texas. More of the ultra rich and powerful are beginning to call Texas home.

A total of 27 individuals including Dallas Mavericks minority owner Mark Cuban, Dallas philanthropists Margot Perot and family, Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk, Dallas oilman Ray Hunt, and many more are part of a long list of the most affluent people who claim the Lone Star State as their stomping grounds, according to the Bloomberg 2024 billionaire index tracking the world’s 500 richest individuals.

Musk, also the owner of social media platform X, formerly Twitter, remains atop all other Texans as the third richest individual on the list. He only trails Amazon executive chairman Jeff Bezos and Louis Vuitton CEO Bernard Arnault. Musk has an estimated net worth of $187 billion, according to Bloomberg.

The controversial Texas businessman and South Africa-native has close ties to Texas’ capital, Austin, as he’s made it the home of the Tesla Gigafactory. The factory produces approximately 375,000 electric vehicles every year.

Musk’s ties to Texas don’t end there, as the state plays host to a SpaceX launch site and has broken ground on 6,000 acres near Austin where he’s planning to build a “Texas utopia,” according to The Wall Street Journal. Musk has also moved his tunneling venture Boring Company and brain chip company Neuralink to Texas.

Though Musk has an affinity for Texas, he’s also dismissed Dallas as a city he finds to be ”too Texas” for his liking, according to Walter Isaacson’s book titled “Elon Musk.”

Sports fans may also be unsurprised as other prominent names like Mark Cuban, Jerry Jones, Tilman Fertitta and Stan Kroenke all made the list. Of those names, Fertitta is up the most from last year as he’s gained an additional $915 million to add to his $12 billion net worth. Cuban also made a splash in cash this year when he sold a majority stake in the Dallas Mavericks for $3.5 billion.

Since this point last year, Cuban has gained $425 million and has a net worth of approximately $7.29 billion, according to Bloomberg. He sold the majority stake to casino matriarch Miriam Adelson, who also sits at 43rd place on the list with an estimated net worth of approximately $35.5 billion.

Another Dallas billionaire, Jerry Jones, continues to grow his hoard of wealth as he added $60.7 million to his estimated $12.6 billion net worth, according to Bloomberg.

Despite recent controversies, such as a recently dismissed defamation suit in which a woman claimed she was his biological daughter as well as an uncovered photo that showed Jones as a bystander when six Black teenagers entered desegregated North Little Rock High School in North Little Rock, Ark., in 1957, Jones’ love for Texas doesn’t seem to be going anywhere any time soon.

He recently pumped $100 million into Comstock Resources Inc., a Frisco-based natural gas company of which he is listed as a majority shareholder.

Other Dallas-Fort Worth names like prominent Walmart stockholder Alice Walton, Koch Industries director Elaine Marshall, Hunt Consolidated chairman Ray Hunt, Energy Transfer Partners CEO Kelcy Warren, Rees-Jones Oil & Minerals owner Trevor Rees-Jones and philanthropists Margot Perot and family were all featured on the list.

Other big Texas cities didn’t miss out on some big names. In addition to Musk, University of Texas at Austin alumni and chief executive of Dell Technologies Michael Dell calls Austin home and Friedkin Group CEO Dan Friedkin, among others, look to Houston as their homes.

Other Texas billionaires on the list include:

—Autry Stephens ($23.4 billion), Endeavor Energy Resources founder

—Jeffery Hildebrand ($19.8 billion), Hilcorp Energy founder

—Charles Butt and family ($13.3 billion), H-E-B Grocery chairman

—Andy Beal ($13.1 billion), Beal Bank chairman

—Robert Smith ($11.4 billion), CEO of Vista Equity Partners

—Richard Kinder ($10 billion), Kinder Morgan chairman

—Randa Williams (9.67 billion), Enterprise Products Partners chairman

—Dannine Avara ($9.65 billion), Enterprise Products Partners stockholder

—Scott Duncan, ($9.65 billion), Enterprise Products Partners stockholder

—Milane Frantz ($9.65 billion), Enterprise Products Partners stockholder

—Ann Kroenke, ($8.18 billion), Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche owner

—Michael Smith, ($7.97 billion) Freeport LNG chief executive

—Tito Beveridge ($7.51 billion), Tito’s Vodka founder

—Thai Lee ($6.32 billion), SHI International Corporation CEO

To make the list, each individual had to have a minimum net worth of at least $5.79 billion.

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