The 10 People with the Richest Contact Lists - East Idaho News
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The 10 People with the Richest Contact Lists

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GETTY P 102610 BillClinton?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1359633227750Frank Polich/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — Money may not be everything, but maybe power is.  According to a new list of the most influential and wealthiest people, you don’t have to be the richest to be the most “influential.”

Wealth-X, a company based in Singapore, which has a propiertary database of individuals worth $30 million or more, has compiled a list of the 50 most influential ultra high net worth individuals, based on the collective net worth of their social and professional networks.

Interestingly enough, Wealth-X said it ignored family connections when compiling the list, hoping not to distort the list of family members who are all ultra high net worth individuals.

For Bill Gates, the first person on the list, Wealth-X Research said it considered the following when assessing his known associates: board members, non-profit associates (trustees and board members), friends and associates in companies that Gates or his investment vehicle, Cascade Investments, invest in.

Here are the top 10 most influential people and the value of each person’s “circle of influence,” according to Wealth-X:

1. Bill Gates – $261 billion
William Henry Gates III, 57, is the co-chairman of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and founder of Microsoft.  His net worth is $66 billion, according to Forbes, making him the richest person in the country.

2. Bill Clinton – $227 billion
William Jefferson Clinton is the founder of the William J. Clinton Foundation and a former U.S. president.  Financial news site 24/7 Wall Street estimates his net worth at around $38 million.

3. William Albert Ackman – $194 billion
Bill Ackman is the founder and CEO of the hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management.  He and his wife, Karen, established The Pershing Square Foundation and have signed the Giving Pledge, which invites the wealthy to commit to giving the majority of their wealth to philanthropy.

4. Eli Broad – $148 billion
Eli Broad, 79, is the founder of the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation, Sun America Inc. and KB Home.  His net worth is $6.3 billion, according to Forbes, which would make him the 55th richest person in the country.

5. Warren Edward Buffett – $146 billion
The second richest person in the country according to Forbes, with a net worth of $46 billion, Warren Buffett, 82, is the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway.

6. Peter George Peterson – $145 billion
Peter George Peterson, 86, is the co-founder of financial service company the Blackstone Group.  He left the firm in 2008 and has a net worth of $1.2 billion, according to Forbes, which ties him with Jorge Perez and T. Boone Pickens as the 360th richest people in the U.S.

7. Michael Terry Duke – $136 billion
As the CEO and president of Walmart, Michael Duke, 61, earned about $18.7 million in 2011.  He leads the country’s largest retailer with 4,500 retail facilities in the U.S. alone.

8. Keith Rupert Murdoch – $133 billion
As the chairman and CEO of News Corp., Rupert Murdoch, 81, owns a global media empire and is the 36th richest person in the country, according to Forbes.

9. Thomas Boone Pickens Jr. – $132 billion
T. Boone Pickens Jr., 84, made a name for himself in the energy industry, working at Phillips Petroleum then later starting Mesa Petroleum.  He is now the chairman of BP Capital Management.  He has a net worth of $1.2 billion and is tied for 360th richest person in the country, according to Forbes.

10. Linda S. Wolf – $131 billion
The only woman in Wealth-X’s top-10 list, Linda Wolf, 63, is a director on Walmart’s board, as well as a number of other organizations.  She is also the former chairwoman and CEO of Leo Burnett Worldwide, Inc., the advertising agency.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

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