LOCAL

6 Southwest Florida residents among world's billionaires

Laura Layden

laura.layden@naplesnews.com; 239-263-4818

Southwest Florida is home to six of the richest people on the planet.

The 2017 Forbes list of billionaires includes five Naples residents — and another up the road in Bonita Springs.

Some of the locals on the list are easily recognized, while others have taken a lower profile. All of the billionaires hailing from Southwest Florida have appeared on the list before, including a secretive heiress.

Here's a closer look at the region's billionaires:

» Shahid Khan, 66, once again ranks as the richest man in Southwest Florida. At No. 158 on the Forbes list, his net worth is valued at $8.2 billion. He's climbed up from No. 205 in 2016, when he had a value of $5.9 billion. A Naples resident, he owns Flex-N-Gate — an auto parts maker that posted nearly $6 billion in sales in 2016 — and the Jacksonville Jaguars. His "300-foot super yacht, six years in the making" was delivered in late 2014, according to Forbes.

» Reinhold Schmieding, 62, weighing in at No. 385, is Southwest Florida's second-richest businessman. Though he's dropped in the rankings, his net worth has climbed from $4.1 billion to $4.4 billion. (He was at No. 369 in 2016.) Schmieding owns 95 percent of Arthrex, according to Forbes. His North Naples-based company has developed more than 10,000 products and procedures used by surgeons to repair and replace shoulders, knees and other joints.

» Richard Schulze, 76, has jumped up to No. 603, with a net worth of $3.2 billion. Last year Schulze, Best Buy's chairman emeritus who lives in Bonita Springs, weighed in at No. 722 with a worth of $2.4 billion. He's one of Best Buy's biggest individual shareholders, and he "aims to give away $1 billion of his fortune in his lifetime," according to Forbes.

» Naples resident Tom Golisano sits at No. 660, with a net worth that has grown to $3 billion. Last year he weighed in at No. 688, with a value of $2.5 billion. Golisano, 75, founded Paychex "with just $3,000 and a credit card," and he's still chairman of the publicly traded company, which earned nearly $3 billion in revenue last year, according to Forbes. He once owned the NHL's Buffalo Sabres, which he sold for $189 million.

» William Stone, 61, has moved up on the list. At No. 1,567 and with a value of $1.3 billion, he's tied with two other Florida residents this year including basketball Hall of Famer Michael Jordan. Last year Stone ranked in last place on the Florida list of billionaires — at 1,695, with a value of $1 billion. The Indiana native started SS&C Technologies in 1986 "with the $20,000 he had saved from his days as a KPMG executive," according to Forbes. He's still the firm's largest individual shareholder.

» With a net worth of $1.8 billion, Catherine Lozick, 72, of Naples, ranks at No. 1,161. Though she dropped from 1067 last year, her worth has grown by $1 million. The only woman to make the list in Southwest Florida, Lozick inherited an estimated 65 percent stake in Swagelok from her father, Fred Lennon, who co-founded the company with a $500 loan in 1947, according to Forbes. The company has annual sales of about $2 billion.

This year there are 51 billionaires in Florida on the list, up from 44 last year.

The richest man in Florida is from Palm Beach. Thomas Peterffy, at No. 82, has a net worth of $13.8 billion. He's CEO of Interactive Brokers Group.

The wealthiest man in the world comes as no surprise. It's still Bill Gates, who has held the No. 1 ranking for four years in a row. The founder of Microsoft Corp. has reigned as the richest person in the world for 18 out of the past 23 years. His fortune is estimated at $86 billion, up from $75 billion last year.

American business magnate Warren Buffett, worth $75.6 billion, reclaimed the No. 2 spot after missing the mark for two years. Others in the top five are Amazon CEO and founder Jeff Bezos (No. 3 — $72.8 billion), Spanish clothing retailer Amancio Ortega (No. 4 — $71.3 billion) and Facebook CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg (No. 5 — $56 billion).

This year 2,043 billionaires made the list, with an average net worth of $3.75 billion. President Donald Trump, 70, was among them, ranking at No. 544, with a value of $3.5 billion. He became the first billionaire president in U.S. history.