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These are the Mass. billionaires who made the new Forbes list of richest Americans
Nine Bay Staters made it onto the Forbes 400 list this year, with the Johnson family, whose members founded and run Fidelity Investments, remaining on top.
Forbes magazine’s annual list of the 400 wealthiest people in the country, including nine from Massachusetts, is out this week.
All nine Bay Staters who made the 2024 list increased their wealth in the past year.
The Massachusetts richest — who fall between No. 30 and No. 388 on the Forbes list — are following in the footsteps of the rest of the country’s wealthiest residents, the top 25 of whom includes Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Nvidia’s Jenson Huang, and Walmart heir Lukas Walton, who collectively are $471 billion richer than in 2023.
Even though Elon Musk’s fortune dropped by $7 billion, Forbes reports that he remains the richest person in America at a net worth of $244 billion.
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In Massachusetts, Abigail Johnson, the CEO of Boston’s Fidelity Investments, remains the wealthiest person in the state, coming in at No. 30 on the Forbes list. While most of the other members at the top are the same from 2023, there are two newcomers this year: brothers Bill and Ted Alfond, who made their fortune through their family’s sale of the now-defunct Maine-based Dexter Shoe Company.
Forbes determines a person’s net worth through all assets, including stakes in public and private companies, real estate, high-value possessions, stocks, and more.
1. Abigail Johnson, age 62, $31.1 billion
Johnson is the 30th richest person in America on the Forbes list. Her wealth increased from $21.6 billion in 2023 to $31.1 billion today. She has served as CEO of Fidelity Investments since 2014, when she took over for her father, and has served as chairman since 2016.
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Johnson’s grandfather, Edward Johnson II, founded the Boston-based mutual fund giant in 1946.
Forbes estimates that Johnson owns an estimated 28.5% stake in the firm, which manages discretionary assets totaling $5.5 trillion as of June.
The company has embraced cryptocurrency. In 2018, Fidelity launched a platform that allows institutional investors to trade bitcoin and ether.
Johnson worked summers at Fidelity through college and joined full-time as an analyst in 1988 after receiving a Harvard MBA.
2. Edward Johnson, IV, age 59, $12.6 billion
Johnson, the grandson of Fidelity’s founder and brother of the current CEO, is the 70th richest person in America on the Forbes list. Johnson’s wealth increased from $6.8 billion in 2023 to $12.6 billion today.
He is the president of Pembroke Real Estate, which Fidelity’s parent company, FMR, owns. According to Forbes, he owns an estimated 10% stake in FMR.
His family has donated to nonprofits in Boston, including Harvard, Historic New England, and the Institute of Contemporary Art.
Johnson received a bachelor’s degree from Northeastern University.
3. Robert Kraft, age 83, $11.8 billion
According to Forbes, Kraft, who owns the New England Patriots, is the 81st richest person in the country. His wealth increased from $10.6 billion in 2023 to $11.8 billion today.
Kraft is best known for buying the New England Patriots for $172 million in 1994. Forbes reports that the team is now worth about $6 billion, after winning six Super Bowls.
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Forbes reported that Kraft sold newspapers outside the old Braves Stadium in Boston as a child. He later made an early fortune in paper and packaging.
He now owns the New England Revolution MLS club and started a professional video gaming team in Boston, part of the Overwatch esports league, in 2017.
Kraft earned a bachelor’s from Columbia University and an MBA from Harvard.
In 2011, his first wife, Myra Hiatt Kraft, died from ovarian cancer. Ten years later, he married Dana Blumberg, an opthalmologist, at a star-studded wedding in New York City.
4. Elizabeth Johnson, age 61, $10.6 billion
Johnson, the granddaughter of the founder of Fidelity Investments and sister of the CEO, is the 91st richest person in America, according to the Forbes list. Her wealth jumped from $5.3 billion in 2023 to $10.6 billion today.
In 2013, Johnson founded Louisburg Farm in Wellington, Florida, featuring show jumping horses.
According to Forbes, Johnson owns an estimated 10% stake in FMR.
She earned a bachelor’s degree from Franklin Pierce University.
5. Jim Davis & family, age 81, $6.5 billion
Davis, the chairman of New Balance, is the 198th richest person in America on the Forbes list. His wealth went from $4.9 billion in 2023 to $6.5 billion today.
His claim to wealth began in 1972 when he bought a small Boston shoemaker and turned it into New Balance Athletics.
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Davis is the company’s chairman, while his wife, Anna, who joined the company in 1977, is the vice chairman. According to Forbes, he and his family own an estimated 95% of the private company.
New Balance makes running shoes, footwear, clothing, and equipment for various sports and lifestyle fashions.
Forbes reports that he began his career working for his father’s restaurant as a “lumper,” carrying trays. While studying biology and chemistry at Middlebury College, a professor suggested his talent might be in sales.
In 2015, New Balance moved into a $500 million development in Brighton that houses practice arenas for the Boston Bruins and Celtics.
6. Robert Hale, Jr., age 58, $5.8 billion
Hale, the founder and CEO of Granite Telecommunications, is ranked as the 225th richest person in America on the Forbes list. His wealth increased by $8 million from last year.
Forbes reports that Hale founded Granite in 2002, less than six months after his prior company, Network Plus, filed for bankruptcy.
Granite Telecommunications provides voice, data, and communication services to business and government agencies in the U.S. and Canada.
Forbes reports that the company generated over $1.8 billion in sales last year, and over two-thirds of the largest 100 U.S. companies are clients.
Hale has donated over $350 million to cancer research, educational institutions, and other charitable causes.
Forbes says that Hale owns a minority stake in the Boston Celtics. When he’s not traveling, he joins the 6:30 a.m. group workouts with Granite employees at the company gym in Quincy.
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He earned his bachelor’s degree from Connecticut College.
7. Amos Hostetter, Jr., age 87, $3.8 billion
Hostetter, a TV pioneer and now philanthropist, is the 347th richest person in America on the Forbes list. He gained $4 million since last year.
Hostetter made his fortune in the 1990s as a cable TV pioneer. In the 1960s, after earning an MBA from Harvard, he took $1,500 and invested it into a cable TV company that eventually became Continental Cablevision. In 1996, he sold the company to US West for $11 billion.
Forbes reports that his family’s Barr Foundation donates tens of millions yearly to support the arts and education and fight climate change.
Hostetter also runs Pilot House Ventures, an early-stage investment firm.
8. Bill Alfond, age 76, $3.4 billion & Ted Alfond, age 80, $3.4 billion
On the Forbes list, brothers Bill and Ted Alfond tied for the 388th richest person in the country. The duo are two of three living heirs to their family’s fortune, thanks to Warren Buffett’s purchase of the Dexter Shoe Company.
Their sister Susan Alfond, who didn’t make the list, is worth $3.3 billion.
Forbes reports that their father, Harold Alfond, bought an old mill in Maine in 1958 and turned it into a shoemaker that sold millions of boots and casual shoes a year.
In 1993, the company was sold to Buffett for about $420 million in Berkshire Hathaway stock, which Forbes says is now worth billions due to the rising share price.
Business Insider reported that Buffett’s “most gruesome mistake” was buying the shoe company, which turned out to be a $9 billion error. After Buffett bought the company, it quickly became worthless after cheap competition from imported goods soared.
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The youngest sibling, Peter, died in 2017 at age 65 from malaria, which he contracted during a trip to Africa.
The brothers are minority investors in Fenway Sports Group, which owns the Boston Red Sox, Liverpool FC, and the Pittsburg Penguins.
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