Forbes 400 list includes a number of wealthy Irish Americans for 2018
Forbes Magazine has just published their annual list of the 400 richest people in America. Below is a selection of the notable Irish Americans included in this year's list.
Ken Griffin, worth $10.9 billion
Ken Griffin
Investor Griffin, 49, is chief executive of Citadel, a global investment firm he founded in 1990. The Harvard University graduate is a keen philanthropist and has donated some $500 million over his career, including a 2014 $150 million donation to a Harvard financial aid program
Jim Kennedy, worth $9.3 billion
Jim Kennedy
Kennedy, the grandson of Cox Enterprises founder James Cox, shares ownership of the media conglomerate with his sister and cousins. Kennedy served as the company’s CEO for 20 years until 2008 and helped grow the company’s revenue to $15.4 billion from $1.8 billion.
John Malone, worth $7.5 billion
John Malone
Known to many as the ‘Cable Cowboy,’ Malone became the CEO of TCI in 1973 at 29 years old. In 1999, he sold the firm to AT&T for more than $50 billion. In 2018, his Discovery Inc acquired Scripps television firm for $12 billion. Malone owns two castles, Humewood Castle and Castlemartin House and Estate, in Ireland, and in 2011 he surpassed Ted Turner as the largest individual private landowner in the US.
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Charles Dolan, worth $6.7 billion
At age 92, Dolan is among the oldest of the top ranked. Dolan is considered a pioneer in cable television and founded both HBO and Cablevision. The Irish American owns controlling stakes in AMC Networks and The Madison Square Garden Company.
Jack Dorsey, worth $6.3 billion
Jack Dorsey
The 41-year-old Irish Catholic is the co-founder of social media platform Twitter which launched in 2006. Raised in St. Louis and the nephew of a priest, Dorsey is also the founder and CEO of mobile payment company Square.
Robert McNair, worth $3.8 billion
Robert McNair
80-year-old McNair is the owner of the Houston Texans, the youngest franchise in the NFL. McNair was able to make the $700 million purchase of the Texas team following the sale of his power generator company Cogen Technologies to Enron for $1.5 billion in 1999. He and his wife Janice help fund two major philanthropic foundations.
Vincent McMahon, worth $3.3 billion
Vincent McMahon
The 73-year-old is the CEO and chairman of World Wrestling Entertainment, ‘WWE.’ The organization brings in about $1 billion annually. McMahon, who grew up in a trailer park, is a third generation wrestling promoter and helped transform the World Wrestling Federation (now the WWE) from a regional operation to a global brand.
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Patrick Ryan, worth $2.8 billion
Patrick Ryan
81 one-year-old Ryan is the founder and retired chairman of AON Insurance Company. A native of Chicago, Ryan helped lead the city’s unsuccessful bid for the 2016 Olympics and owns a large minority interest in the Chicago Bears. He and his wife Shirley are benefactors to the Art Institute of Chicago, and Patrick is on the board of trustees for his alma mater Northwestern University.
Timothy Boyle, worth $2.5 billion
Timothy Boyle
69-year-old Boyle is the fourth generation to head up famed outerwear company Columbia and has served as CEO since 1988. In 1970, Boyle began helping his mother Gert in running the company after his father, an Irish Catholic, died unexpectedly. Columbia Sportswear had a record $1.1 billion in sales in 2018, and also owns brands Prana and Sorel.
Robert ‘Bobby’ Cornelius Murphy, $2.3 billion
Bobby Murphy
30-year-old Murphy is the co-founder and CTO of social media app SnapChat. Founded in 2011 with Stanford University classmate Evan Spiegel, Snapchat went public in 2017. Murphy and Spiegel created the Snap Foundation to support the arts, education and youth non-profits.
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