Even an infusion of Walmart money couldn’t knock Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer off his lofty perch.
For the eighth straight year, Ballmer is No. 1 on the Forbes list of richest sports team owners, released Tuesday. Forbes pegs Ballmer’s net worth as of Wednesday at $78.6 billion, making him the 11th-richest person in the world.
But the list has a new No. 2.
Rob Walton, an heir to the Walmart fortune, surpassed Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper for that spot. Walton and his ownership group bought the Denver Broncos in August for $4.65 billion, a record price for a North American sports franchise.
Walton’s net worth is $56.6 billion, making him the 17th-richest person in the world. Immediately above and below him on the list are his siblings, each of whom inherited stakes in Walmart from their father, store founder Sam Walton.
Ballmer, a retired Microsoft executive, paid $2 million when he bought the Clippers from Donald Sterling in 2014.
Six of the 10-richest owners have NFL ties.
Ballmer and Walton are followed on the list by Tepper (Panthers, $18.5 billion), Steve Cohen (New York Mets ($17.5 billion) and Robert Pera (Memphis Grizzlies, $17.3 billion). Tepper and Cohen made their fortunes in hedge funds, Pera through wireless networking equipment.
Pera was listed as No. 4 on the list Tuesday, but he flipped spots with Cohen on Wednesday as Forbes tracks the real-time net worth of billionaires.
Rounding out the top 10 are Dan Gilbert (Cleveland Cavaliers, $15.9 billion), Jerry Jones (Dallas Cowboys, $15.6 billion), Stan Kroenke (Los Angeles Rams, Arsenal FC, Denver Nuggets, Colorado Avalanche, Colorado Rapids, $12.9 billion), Stephen Ross (Miami Dolphins, $11.6 billion) and Shahid Khan (Jacksonville Jaguars, Fulham FC, $10.7 billion).
–Field Level Media