Billionaires list confirms it: There's money in the car biz
 | Norman Braman |
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Forbes magazine says there are 1,342 billionaires in the world, and by our count about 25 either made most of their money in the car business or have made a big splash in the auto world since getting megarich.
Three car dealers turned up on Forbes' annual super-rich list: Norman Braman of Miami (net worth, $1.6 billion); Red McCombs of San Antonio ($1.3 billion); and Tom Benson of New Orleans ($1.2 billion).
Billionaire dealers like sports franchises. Benson owns the New Orleans Saints and Hornets; Braman once owned the Philadelphia Eagles; and McCombs has bought and sold the San Antonio Spurs, Denver Nuggets and Minnesota Vikings.
But so do aristocrats and supplier barons. Detroit Lions owner William Clay Ford Sr. ($1.25 billion) is the only Ford family member on the billionaire registry. Shahid Khan ($2.9 billion), owner of the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars, is the richest parts maker on the list. Khan, who built Flex-N-Gate into a car bumper behemoth, out-placed car interiors tycoon Wilbur Ross ($2.6 billion), German ball bearings barons Maria-Elisabeth Schaeffler and son Georg Schaeffler ($2.2 billion), and Magna founder Frank Stronach ($1.2 billion).
Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk, who made his first fortune selling PayPal to eBay in 2002, punched in at ($2.7 billion).
Forbes listed a few Chinese auto billionaires, including Wei Jianjun ($5.3 billion), chairman of Great Wall Motor; Wang Chuanfu ($2.3 billion), chairman of BYD; and Li Shufu, who heads Geely-Volvo ($2.2 billion).
One Korean made the list: Chung Eui-San ($2.2 billion), the eldest son of Hyundai Motors chairman Chung Mong- koo and a company vice president.
Tom Friedkin, founder of Gulf States Toyota, which has exclusive rights to sell Toyotas in Texas and four other states, is worth $1.7 billion.
Dealer giant and speed merchant Roger Penske was clocked at $1.2 billion. Russian car guy Vladimir Scherbakov, at $1.1 billion, controls Avtotor Holding, the second-biggest carmaker in Russia.
Who are the richest of the auto billionaires? German Susanne Klatten ($14.3 billion) ranked 58th on the Forbes list. Her brother, Stefan Quandt ($11.9 billion), was 87th, and their mother, Johanna Quandt ($10.6 billion), was 100th. Johanna Quandt, 86, is the widow of Herbert Quandt, who saved BMW from ruin a half century ago.
