N.J. billionaires earn spots on Forbes’ annual list, led by hedge fund guru

John Overdeck, who is worth $5.1 billion, is the wealthiest person in New Jersey, according to Forbes’ 2020 ranking of the world’s billionaires.

It turns out, however, the affluent are not immune to COVID-19.

When the World’s Billionaires List was finalized on March 18, Forbes counted 2,095 billionaires worth $8 trillion, down 58 billionaires and $700 billion from last year, respectively. When looking back just 12 days ago, 226 billionaires fell off the list due to the financial hardships of the pandemic and 21 people have died. Of the remaining, more than half (51%) have less money than they did last year.

Here are the seven billionaires from New Jersey that made the list, including their age, industry, rank and net worth:

John Overdeck, age 50, Millburn

  • Hedge funds
  • #253
  • $6.1 billion

Rocco Commisso, 70, Saddle River

  • Telecom
  • #383
  • $4.5 billion

Peter Kellogg, 77, Short Hills

  • Investments
  • #764
  • $2.7 billion

Leon G. Cooperman, 76, Short Hills

  • Hedge funds
  • #616
  • $3.2 billion

Larry Robbins, 50, Alpine

  • Hedge funds
  • #1,135
  • $1.9 billion

Duncan MacMillan, 82, Princeton

  • Bloomberg LP
  • #1,613
  • $1.3 billion

Michael Price, 67, Far Hills

  • Investments
  • #1,851
  • $1.1 billion

There were also two billionaires with prominent New Jersey roots on the list.

Donald Newhouse, the 90-year-old co-president of the publishing and broadcasting empire Advance Publications, which owns NJ.com, came in at No. 124 on the list and is worth $10.8 billion. And David Tepper, who moved from the Garden State to Florida and is the president and founder of Appaloosa Management, was ranked No. 101 on the list and is worth $12 billion.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, topped the list again for the third year in a row with a net worth of $113 billion, followed by Bill Gates at No. 2 with $98 billion and Bernard Arnault & Family, who nudged out Warren Buffet for the No. 3 spot, at $76 billion.

The U.S. remained the top country with the most billionaires at 614, followed by greater China (including Hong Kong and Macao) with 456.

To see the full list and methodology, click here.