Five KC area billionaires on Forbes’ list

The world’s richest person got even richer this year.

Forbes says that Bill Gates’s net worth rose to $79.2 billion in 2015 from $76 billion last year. That put him at the top of the magazine’s list of the world’s billionaires for the second consecutive year. The co-founder of Microsoft Corp. has topped the list for 16 of the last 21 years.

In second place is telecom mogul Carlos Slim Helu, with a net worth of $77.1 billion. He had topped the list in 2013.

Next is investor Warren Buffett, who moved up one slot this year with a net worth of $72.7 billion.

Brothers Charles and David Koch of Wichita were ranked sixth, each with net worth’s of $42.9 billion. Members of the Walton retailing family were ranked eighth, ninth and eleventh by Forbes.

The list included five from the Kansas City area:

▪ Min Kao, co-founder of Garmin Ltd., No. 603 with a net worth of $3 billion.

▪ Gary Burrell, who also co-founded Garmin, No. 1,006 with a net worth of $1.9 billion.

▪ Neal Patterson, chairman and chief executive of Cerner Corp., No. 1,006 with a net worth of $1.9 billion.

▪ Donald Hall, chairman of Hallmark Cards Inc., No. 1,415 with a net worth of $1.3 billion.

▪ Clifford Illig, Cerner co-founder, No. 1605 with a net worth of $1.2 billion.

Forbes says there were 1,826 billionaires on its list this year, up from 1,645 in 2014. It’s the 29th year for Forbes billionaires’ list.

This story was originally published March 2, 2015 at 9:22 AM with the headline "Five KC area billionaires on Forbes’ list."