These billionaires have NC ties. Here’s who made the 2025 Forbes list

More than 3,000 people made the Forbes 2025 world billionaires list, but only a select few have close ties to North Carolina.

Some were born here or live here, some attended universities here, and some founded companies that are based in the state.

This year’s list features many familiar faces, such as James Goodnight, Tim Sweeney and John Sall, who founded businesses based in the Triangle.

For at least the third year in a row, Goodnight, a cofounder of SAS Institute, is the richest North Carolina resident and the 274th richest person in the world, though his net worth is down from 2024.

The number of billionaires across the globe has grown faster in recent years than it did previously, Forbes says. There were 140 names on its first list, published in 1987, and the number of billionaires didn’t surpass 1,000 for two decades. By 2017, there were more than 2,000 billionaires. And eight years later, in 2025, there are 3,028.

The country that has the most billionaires, including eight of the top 10 wealthiest people in the world, is the United States, with 902. That’s followed by China (516) and India (205).

Forbes used stock prices and exchange rates from Friday, March 7, along with assets such as private companies, real estate and art, to calculate net worth. Wealth of Russian billionaires was calculated using ownership structures from February 2022.

Billionaires who live in North Carolina

Here are the Forbes billionaires who reside in North Carolina:

• No. 274: James Goodnight ($9.9 billion)

• No. 620: Tim Sweeney ($5.7 billion)

• No. 734: John Sall ($4.9 billion)
• No. 1408: Roy Carroll II ($2.6 billion)
• No. 1688: Dennis Gillings ($2.1 billion)
• No. 2233: Olivia Holding ($1.5 billion)
• No. 2479: Carson Brice ($1.3 billion)
• No. 2479: Claire Bristow ($1.3 billion)

• No. 2623: Frank Holding ($1.2 billion)

• No. 2933: Ric Elias ($1 billion)

Billionaires with other connections to North Carolina

Here are a few of the billionaires who don’t live in North Carolina but attended school here or have some other strong connection to the state.

• No. 58: Melinda French Gates ($30.4 billion) attended Duke.
• No. 95: David Tepper ($21.3 billion) owns the Carolina Panthers and Charlotte FC.
• No. 236: Marijke Mars ($10.7 billion) attended Duke.
• No. 535: Pham Nhat Vuong ($6.5 billion) is the CEO of VinFast.
• No. 948: David Rubenstein ($3.8 billion) attended Duke.
• No. 979: J.B. Pritzker ($3.7 billion) attended Duke.
• No. 1045: Michael Jordan ($3.5 billion) attended UNC-Chapel Hill.
• No. 1462: Tim Cook ($2.5 billion) attended Duke’s business school.
• No. 1513: Bruce Karsh ($2.4 billion) attended Duke.

• No. 1688: Tor Peterson ($2.1 billion) attended Duke.

• No. 2790: Jerry Seinfeld ($1.1 billion) was Duke’s 2024 commencement speaker.

• No. 2933: Louis Bacon ($1 billion) was born in Raleigh.

This story has been updated to include more billionaires with North Carolina connections.

This story was originally published April 9, 2025 at 1:49 PM.

Renee Umsted

The News & Observer

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Renee Umsted is a service journalism reporter for The News & Observer. She has a degree in journalism from the Bob Schieffer College of Communication at TCU.