Rolling In It
In January 2010, we published “The Billionaires’ Club,” an article by Tom Connor profiling the 11 Connecticut residents who’d made Forbes magazine’s list of the 400 richest Americans that year.
The 2012 survey recently came out, and although the national economy continues to be sluggish and there’s been some jockeying in terms of rankings, the local contingent is not doing too badly at all: In 2010, their combined worth was $28.1 billion; in 2012, it’s $37.4 billion.
What’s even more impressive is that the growth comes despite the exodus of Edward Lampert (No. 101 on Forbes’ list in 2010), who took his $3.1 billion fortune and ESL Investments hedge fund to the sunnier—and more tax-friendly—environs of Florida. He’s been replaced in the club by Greenwich’s Mario Gabelli, founder of GAMCO Investors, whose mere $1.1 billion estimated wealth puts him at only No. 392 on the list.
Speaking of rankings, hedge-fund mogul Steven Cohen, founder of SAC Capital Advisors, dropped from No. 32 two years ago to No. 40 this time out, despite seeing his wealth grow from $7.3 billion to $8.8 billion over that span. Independent investor C. Dean Metropoulous of Greenwich held his worth steady at $1.2 billion, but also dropped in the rankings, sliding from No. 332 down to No. 360. (Maybe there is something to that 1 percent thing?)
But there were also some significant gains by prosperous Nutmeggers: Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associates, doubled his worth to $10 billion, good enough to push him past Cohen to be the state’s highest-ranking representative at No. 33; Thomas Peterffy of Interactive Brokers Group has also enjoyed great returns over the past two years, going from $1.4 billion to $4.6 billion in personal wealth and shooting up 213 spots to No. 77 overall.
Let the good times roll.
