Microsoft Founder and philanthropist Bill Gates took the top spot for the 21st year in a row on Forbes 400 richest Americans list with a net worth of $81 billion. Warren Buffett, Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway ranks second with a net worth of $67 billion, and Oracle CEO Larry Ellison is in third place with a $50 billion fortune. But in addition to these long-time heavyweights, 27 new names grace this year’s list, and Abram Brown, associate editor at Forbes, describes nearly all the newcomers as “self-made, entrepreneurial capitalists.”

A standout member among the new-editions to this very elite club is 30-year old college dropout Elizabeth Holmes. Holmes reportedly “labored in secret” for almost a decade while developing a revolutionary new blood-testing technology. In 2003 she took her findings to the public and founded Theranos-- the company announced partnerships with Walgreens and other major drugstores to bring a new type of blood testing to consumers. Holmes’ technology calls only for a single finger-prick and a very small amount of blood for medical testing—as opposed to the full vial (or vials) of blood typically drawn for testing in most labs and medical offices. The prick is said to be painless and Theranos’ testing-methods only a fraction of the cost of commercial labs.

The biotech founder is the youngest self-made woman on the Forbes 400 list with a net worth of $4.5 billion. Holmes dropped out of Stanford University her sophomore year as a chemical engineering major and used her tuition money to found her company. Holmes’ tests do not have to be performed in a doctor’s office, and by skipping the big labs most results can be ready in a few hours. “She could totally overturn an entire industry if Theranos is as successful as it seems to be,” says Brown.

Other new names of note on the 2014 list include video game king Jon Yarbrough, who got his start as a college kid in Tennessee by renting out his foosball table to a local bar for a 50-50 split of the profits. He expanded into video gaming machines and his business grew with the Tribal Casino business. Yarbrough’s current net worth is $1.66 billion and in June he announced plans to sell his company to an Australian firm for $1.28 billion.

Rockstar Energy Drink creator Russ Weiner also made his debut into the 400 with a $2.5 billion net worth. He founded the Red Bull and Monster Beverage competitor after learning the beverage industry-ropes while working for the founder of Skyy Vodka and expects 2014 sales of his drink to reach $713 million.

Brown points out that there are 133 American billionaires “too poor for the rich list.” This year the average net-worth of members of the Forbes 400 Richest list is $1.55 billion up almost 14% from last year, a number Brown says “generally rises as the stock market rises.” http://finance.yahoo.com/news/meet-the-college-dropout-billionaire-who-s-revolutionizing-the-medical-industry-170558675.html

1,491 Comments

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T 6 hours ago 3 9
Bs!!! My mothers business partner was using the micro dot blood test in the 1970's!!! She was the lab that was doing the blood work for the cancer clinics in mexico from san diego, because the u.s. Government refused to allow it in the u.s.. What they should have said, that the u.s. Government give her the rights that belonged to somebody else to the micro dot lab's!!! I know jan wanted me to take over the business but, i wanted to work it in my country the "usa", not mexico!!! I could go on and on but, hopefully someday god will bring true justice!!!

John E. Burke 3 hours ago 4 5
My feelings has been of late that I'm just bitter and jealous - there. I've set it out loud and to the world.

As I see all these billionaires and millionaires out there making dimes on just about every little bitty thing they do, and most of it doesn't really make up a hill of beans worth of difference to us, I have to ask how come I have to improvise and scrape and tried to arrange my financial life. When everything is blocked at every turn.


Mike Ogriz
Mike Ogriz 2 hours ago 2 8
Actually John I know what you are coming from. This Country is in debt and people are struggling just to get by and you have people that are billionaires that could probably work together and make this country debt free and help more people out. Like you said (somewhat) = what good does it do anyone when someone like Justin Beiber makes 100 Million for singing to his teenage fans. How much money do people need to live on?


Politically Incorrect
Politically Incorrect 2 hours ago 1 5
Celebrities are the worst. They make an obscene amount of money for basically playing pretend. It's ridiculous and yet people worship them like royalty.


Ivar
Ivar 1 hour ago 0 1

There's one big difference between those people and people such as yourself. Those people tend to spend their time and energy setting small goals for themselves obtaining them one at a time and building on them in an effort to eventually reach their ultimate goal whatever that may be.
Whereas many people want it all in one giant leap (immediate gratification) which is next to impossible to achieve thereby becoming easily disenfranchised, angry and jealous which leads to a perpetual state of self-pity, that's not a healthy place to be.
A very small percentage of people just fall into success willy-nilly. For most, it involves a lot of time and work, but when it's something that you enjoy doing, it really doesn't seem like work and your probably going to wish that you had more time to invest.
Take something in life that you really enjoy doing, no matter what that may be (as long as your not hurting other people) and then become an expert on whatever that may be. It's going to involve a lot of time and energy, but if you read, study and get hands on experience you can make money doing it. Hang out with people that have like interests and ask questions, lot's of questions, you want to know everything that they know about whatever it is that interests you. I have yet to find a person that doesn't enjoy having somebody ask for their advice and knowhow, most people consider that a compliment, and it actually is. people like being recognized for their knowledge or accomplishments. Your feeding off of their ego and theirs nothing wrong with that, it's mutually beneficial to both parties in a positive way.
BTW, if you don't think that you can make money doing anything that you wish to become an expert at/on, just look at everybody making money playing cards, racing cars, playing golf, shooting pool, fishing, hunting, even playing video games, etc....., Teaching others whatever it is you became an expert at. You don't have to be one of those people on TV to make money doing it.


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