These Arizona Billionaires Are Among World’s Richest: Forbes 2022 List

ARIZONA — The past year was a mixed bag for the billionaires of Arizona, with some growing their fortunes and others losing a big chunk of theirs, along with many others in the exclusive group of the world's richest people. Billionaires across the globe lost a total of $400 billion as sanctions targeted Russian oligarchs following Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. The COVID-19 pandemic also continued to pose economic challenges, according to the recently released Forbes World's Billionaires List.

In Arizona, father and son billionaires Ernest Garcia II — the largest investor in Carvana— and Ernest Garcia III — Carvana's founder — both lost money over the past year. The elder Garcia's wealth decreased dramatically, by $7.3 billion, but that was still not nearly enough to take him anywhere near a fall from the billionaire list. Last year, he was worth a whopping $15.9 billion.

Comparatively, Arizona's other set of related billionaires — brothers Mark Shoen and E. Joe Shoen — increased their wealth this year. And a new face joined the list of Arizona billionaires, Ken Kendrick, the managing general partner and largest shareholder of the Arizona Diamdondbacks.

More than 1,000 billionaires are richer than they were a year ago. And more than 200 people became billionaires over the past year as ordinary Americans grapple with record gas prices and rising food costs at the grocery store.

The number of billionaires on this year’s list slipped to 2,668 — 87 fewer than last year.

A total of 12 billionaires on this year’s list hail from Arizona. Ernest Garcia II, 64, is still at the top even after his big losses over the past year. He still has a net worth of $8.6 billion.

Almost all of Arizona's billionaires are 60 or older and most of them are in their 70s. The only two younger than 60 are Ernest Garcia III, 39, and George Kurtz, 51. All of Arizona's billionaires are men.

Other Arizona billionaires on the list include:

• Mark Shoen, U-Haul, $4.7 billion

• E. Joe Shoen, U-Haul, $4.1 billion

• Arturo Moreno, Los Angeles Angels, $3.6 billion

• Bob Parsons, GoDaddy, $3.4 billion

• Ernest Garcia III, Carvana, $3.2 billion

• Stewart Horejsi, Berkshire Hathaway, $2.9 billion

• Bennett Dorrance, Campbell Soup, $2.8 billion

• George Kurtz, CrowdStrike, $2.8 billion

• Peter Sperling, Apollo Education Group, $1.6 billion

• Jerry Moyes, Swift Transportation, $1.4 billion

• Ken Kendrick, Arizona Diamondbacks, $1 billion

Even after losing almost half of his wealth over the past year, Ernest Garcia II could buy more than 19,000 houses at the average listing price in Phoenix of $450,000, when purchasing even a single home at that price is out of reach for many Arizonans.

To compile this year’s list, Forbes used a snapshot of its real-time billionaires rankings by analyzing stock prices and exchange rates for March 11.

The United States still leads the world with 735 billionaires worth a collective $4.7 trillion. This includes Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who tops the World’s Billionaires List for the first time.

Former Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos fell to the second spot on this year’s list. Bezos, who founded the e-commerce giant out of his garage in Seattle, Washington, stepped down as CEO in 2021 and is now executive chairman of the company.

Meanwhile, France’s Bernard Arnault of LVMH remains at No. 3, followed by Bill Gates of Microsoft at No. 4. Rounding out this year’s top five is Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway.

U.S. billionaires could surrender more wealth should Congress pass a “Billionaire Minimum Tax” proposed in President Joe Biden’s fiscal year 2023 budget proposal.

Under the proposal, households worth more than $100 million would pay at least 20 percent in taxes on both income and “unrealized gains,” or the increase in an unsold investment’s value. Many wealthy people hold onto these investments for decades, meaning they’re never taxed, the administration said.

However, the bill’s prospects seem grim after Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin spoke out against it.

“You can’t tax something that’s not earned. Earned income is what we’re based on,” Manchin told The Hill. “There’s other ways to do it. Everybody has to pay their fair share.”

See the full 2022 Forbes Billionaires List.

This article originally appeared on the Phoenix Patch