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Forbes launched its annual checklist of the 400 Richest People earlier this week. Whereas many individuals took a monetary hit throughout the pandemic, wallets grew to become fatter for this small circle of ultra-wealthy People. Their collective fortunes climbed to $4.5 trillion, a rise of 40 p.c in comparison with 2020.
However solely two Black males made the checklist: Robert F. Smith and David Steward, Black expertise information web site Afrotech famous. No Black ladies had been in that circle of elites.
RELATED: Who Is Robert F. Smith? Meet The Black Billionaire Who Paid Off Morehouse Grads’ Student Loan Debt
Ranked no. 141, Smith is the wealthiest Black American, in response to Forbes, which estimated his net worth at $6.7 billion. He based the personal fairness agency Vista Fairness Companions in 2000. His firm focuses completely on investing in software program corporations.
Throughout his 2019 graduation speech at Morehouse Faculty, Smith, 58, made headlines when he pledged to wipe out the student debt of your complete graduating class.
Forbes pegged Steward’s net worth at $5.8 billion, which places him within the 182nd place on the checklist, tied with a number of different folks at that rank.
Steward, 70, has a rags to riches story, in response to Forbes. He grew up with seven siblings within the segregated South, with a father who made ends meet via a number of jobs that included janitor and trash collector.
Regardless of humble beginnings, he based World Large Know-how, an IT supplier. At the moment, his firm has practically $12 billion in gross sales and a buyer base that features Verizon and the federal authorities.
Three acquainted names topped this 12 months’s checklist. Mark Zuckerberg of Fb, Instagram and WhatsApp positioned third at $134 billion. Tesla’s Elon Musk got here in second with $190 billion. And the wealthiest American is Amazon’s Jeff Bezos with a whopping $201 billion.