It was a record-breaking year for these capitalist queens, as their combined fortunes increased by nearly a quarter to $154 billion, while the minimum required to reach the list increased by more than 35%.
Introduction
2024 has been a landmark year for America’s self-made women, with their combined fortunes soaring to an unprecedented $154 billion. This remarkable achievement marks a nearly 25% increase from the previous year and highlights the significant strides women have made in the business world. Forbes’ annual list of America’s Richest Self-Made Women has seen a record number of billionaires, with 31 self-made women making the cut, up from 24 last year.
Top Earners
Leading the pack is Diane Hendricks, with a net worth of $20.9 billion. Hendricks, the owner of ABC Supply, a roofing and building supply distributor, has seen her fortune grow significantly due to a 10% increase in the company’s revenues. Following closely is Judy Love and her family, with a net worth of $11.6 billion, derived from their gas stations. Judy Faulkner, founder of healthcare software company Epic Systems, boasts a net worth of $7.6 billion.
Notable Newcomers
Among the new faces this year were the singers among them Katherine Hudson famously known as Katy Perry who earned over $350 million after selling her music catalogue. Fawn Weaver who is the founder of uncle nearest whiskey appears on the list too with a decent net worth profile. Joan Payden who started her company Payden & Rygel in 1983 also got on the list at the age of 92.
Factors Contributing to Success
Strong stock prices performed well with some of these women and helped increase their fortunes. Many of them witnessed growth in their worth because of favourable conditions in the market and better valuation of their enterprises. The threshold net worth for making the list moved up to USD 300 million from USD 225 million the previous year, as self-made women in America continued to grow in affluence.
Impact and Significance
Women’s achievements are increasingly accompanied by success. This trend goes hand in hand with the global trends of the increase in female entrepreneurship and leadership. About 73 percent of the women on the list are the founders or co-founders of the firm whereas 22 are chief executive officer and co chief executive officer of the business. Their achievements are motivational for emerging entrepreneurs and underscore the significance of diversity and inclusion in business.
Pizza. Packing. Pop tunes Numerous strategies have been employed by the nation’s most prosperous women to achieve success. Of the 100 women listed, nearly three-fourths created or began a business, and 22 are either chief executives or co-chief executives. Members of Forbes’ tenth annual list of America’s Richest Self-Made Women have amassed a record $154 billion in combined wealth, up over 25% from the previous year, thanks to a thriving stock market. Since Forbes began following the top 100 in 2020, the minimum amount to qualify has increased to $300 million, the highest since it was $225 million the previous year. In 2023, only 10 members saw their wealth decline, whilst seventy-three members are now richer.
With a record fortune of $20.9 billion, up from $15 billion the previous year, billionaire Diane Hendricks maintains her position at the top for the seventh year in a row. In 1982, she and her husband Ken (d. 2007) launched ABC Supply, a wholesaler of roofing and building supplies. Since taking over as chairman in 2007, Hendricks has seen the company’s revenue soar from $2.6 billion to $20.4 billion.
Thanks to a 10% rise in ABC Supply’s 2023 revenues, Hendricks is the company that has gained the most money this year, up $5.9 billion from the previous year. Elizabeth Uihlein is the largest gainer in percentage terms, with her fortune rising 81% to an estimated $6.7 billion. In 1980, Uihlein and her husband Richard established the packaging supply company Uline. The jump in her net worth is due to Forbes having more information about revenues at the privately held company (estimated at $8 billion in 2023) as well as a higher valuation of the company tied to stronger market conditions.
There were eleven new members. Singer Katy Perry is the most well-known newcomer, with an estimated net worth of $350 million, primarily from the sale of her discography in September 2023.Money manager Joan Payden, who founded her company Payden & Rygel in 1983 and is still CEO at age 92, and Fawn Weaver, owner of Uncle Nearest, the fastest-growing whisky brand in American history, both make their debuts.
There are a record 31 billionaires on the list, up from 24 last year, including three newcomers.
Barbara Banke is believed to be worth $2.6 billion. She cofounded Jackson Family Wines, which is well-known for its Kendall-Jackson and La Crema wines, with her late husband Jess Jackson. The majority of Susan Ocampo’s estimated $2 billion fortune comes from her 21% ownership in the publicly traded semiconductor company Macom Technology Solutions. In the past year, Supermicro’s stock has increased by more than 400%, bringing cofounder Sara Liu’s estimated net worth to $1 billion.
The other four individuals climbed into the 10-figure range: Taylor Swift, who became a billionaire in October 2023 due to the profits from her Eras tour and the value of her music catalogue; Forbes now projects Swift’s fortune to be between $1.3 billion and $200 million more than in the fall after taking into account additional tour dates and a higher value for her music catalogue; Sheila Johnson, who cofounded cable TV network BET Networks in 1979 with her ex-husband Robert Johnson, and who is now cofounder of cybersecurity firm Cloudflare, another company whose shares surged in the past year.
Alice Schwartz, who cofounded the research and diagnostic company Bio-Rad Laboratories in 1952, is the oldest person on the list aged 97. Kylie Jenner, 26, is the youngest.
The state with the highest number of list members is still California. The Golden State now has 39 female residents, up from 38 the previous year, including Alphabet executive Ruth Porat and former talk show presenter Ellen DeGeneres. Eleven, including Lisa Su of Advanced Micro Devices and Gwynne Shotwell, the chief operating officer of SpaceX, reside in Texas. Nine members reside in New York, including newcomer Mary Callahan Erdoes, CEO of JP Morgan Chase’s wealth management division.
Ten members of the list had their fortunes decline over the course of the year, but roughly three-quarters saw their fortunes increase. Whitney Wolfe Herd, the creator of the dating app Bumble, lost $120 million to $400 million in wealth after the company’s stock dropped more than a third in the last 12 months. Although she is still chairman, she resigned as CEO in January. Doris Fisher, a co-founder of the apparel company Gap, has also fallen this year. She gave the Fisher Art Foundation the majority of her art collection, which made up a sizeable amount of her wealth.
Eleven people from the previous year’s list were removed, including 23andMe CEO and cofounder Anne Wojcicki. At risk of delisting, the direct-to-consumer genomics testing company’s shares dropped 95% from its peak in 2021. Wojcicki stated in April that she was thinking about going private with the business. The $300 million threshold for this year’s list was missed by showrunner Shonda Rhimes, the creator of television hits like Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal as well as the much-liked streaming series Bridgerton, who was valued at $250 million last year.
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Methodology: We used stock prices as of May 3, 2024, to value individual assets, including shares in publicly traded corporations, in order to calculate net worths. By speaking with outside experts and cautiously contrasting private enterprises with public ones, we were able to determine their value.
Women must be citizens or permanent residents of the United States and/or have made significant personal wealth in the country in order to be considered for the list.
Some ascended further and surmounted more challenges to join the ranks, but none inherited their fortune. Women are given a self-made score ranging from 6 (hired hand) to 10 (rags-to-riches entrepreneur) to gauge how far some have come. We made an effort to verify the numbers of every list participant.
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