THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, October 3, 1994 TAG: 9410030023
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Medium: 68 lines
Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates is back on top as the richest American, with a net worth of $9.35 billion from his burgeoning software empire, according to Forbes magazine.
Coming in third for the second year in a row was John Kluge, 80, of Charlottesville, Va., who built the Metromedia radio and TV empire, then liquidated it to invest in movies, restaurants and long-distance telephone service.
Kluge's restaurant and movie interests are recovering from some weak times, Forbes reported, and the long-distance company, LDDS, is now No. 4 behind AT&T, MCI and Sprint. Kluge, whose worth was listed at $5.9 billion, led the field from 1989-1991.
Gates bumped stock tycoon Warren Buffett, with $9.2 billion, out of the No. 1 spot, the biweekly business journal said its annual report on the 400 richest Americans.
Forbes attributed the flip-flop since last year to the vagaries of the stock market.
Buffett, 64, the folksy investor from Omaha, Neb., kept his investment company, Berkshire Hathaway, growing this year, but not as fast as Microsoft.
Thanks to his holdings in Microsoft, Gates' net worth grew by more than $3 billion; Buffett's rose by $900 million.
Gates, 38, of Bellevue, Wash., was helped out earlier this year when Microsoft emerged largely unscathed from a federal antitrust inquiry that it monopolized the software business.
Gates is quoted in the Oct. 17 Forbes as saying the list is ``silly.''
Forbes also said Gates now appears to be the wealthiest commoner in the world. The only foreign billionaire in his league besides royalty is Yoshiaki Tsutsumi, a Japanese railroad and hotel tycoon whom Forbes said is worth $8.5 billion. ILLUSTRATION: RICHEST VIRGINIANS
Name Net worth Source of Hometown Age
(in millions) wealth
Kluge, John Werner,
5900, Metromedia, Charlottesville, 80
Mars, John Franklyn,
2500, Inheritance (candy), Arlington, 58
Mars, Forrest Edward, Jr.,
2500, Inheritance (candy), McLean, 63
Mellon, Paul,
1000, Inheritance, Upperville, 87
Batten, Frank Sr.,
820, Media, VA Beach, 67
Cooke, Jack Kent
700, Real estate, Middleburg, 81
Darden, Constance Simons du Pont,
400, Inheritance (Du Pont Co.), Norfolk, 90
KEYWORDS: MILLIONAIRES RICHEST FORBES by CNB