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The tip of the pyramid
The 400 richest Americans have a combined net worth of $1.7 trillion, up $200 billion from a year ago, according to Forbes. The average net worth of a Forbes 400 member is $4.2 billion, up from $3.8 billion.
Two-thirds of these 400 billionaires added to their fortunes over the past 12 months. Cracking this year's list required a net worth of $1.1 billion, six times more than it took 30 years ago, when Forbes began compiling its closely watched annual list of the wealthiest Americans.
Seventy percent of the Forbes 400 members made their fortunes from scratch. Of the 20 newcomers, just four inherited their riches, including Steve Jobs' widow, Laurene Powell Jobs, the richest newcomer on the list, with a net worth of $11 billion.
Each of these individuals' success has a ripple effect. Consider Andrew and Peggy Cherng, founders of restaurant chain Panda Express, who debut this year with a combined net worth of $2 billion. Their restaurants employ approximately 21,000 people.
Other notable newcomers include Under Armour's (UA), Kevin Plank 5-Hour Energy's Manoj Bhargava and Twitter's Jack Dorsey, who gets the bulk of his fortune not from social media but from his mobile bill-payment company Square.
The country's three richest individuals continue to add to their net worth, with their wealth jumping by at least $7 billion even as they give money away via philanthropy. The net worth all of the top 10 rose over the past 12 months.