There have never been more billionaires in the world—3,028, by Forbes’ count, crossing the 3,000 threshold for the first time in 2025. It stands to reason that there also have never been more billionaires in Aspen, their collective influence shaping the community’s social fabric.
How many billionaires are there with ties to Aspen and Pitkin County? Aspen Journalism, a nonprofit, investigative news organization, and Aspen Sojourner partnered to try to answer that question, refreshing an effort initiated in 2014, when we collaborated on The Aspen 50 project, documenting the number of billionaires we found tied to local property ownership at that time.
We can say with certainty that the number has risen since then. By how much exactly depends on how the counting is done. This time around, we tightened our criteria, limiting mention on the primary roster to those who appear on the Forbes World’s Billionaires List and who are personally tied to an ownership interest in at least one Pitkin County property. That produced 80 individuals, couples or co-owning siblings, including 22 that acquired local property before 2014 that we either missed in our previous accounting or who weren’t billionaires then. Some of those listed in 2014 fell off this version of the list for various reasons (including death, the great equalizer), but we identified 27 new billionaires who acquired local property after we last checked in.
If we loosened the criteria and included those who are related to members of the Forbes list, who are part of a family included on the Forbes America’s Richest Families list, or who might be considered billionaires but are not by Forbes, the number grows well past 100. While we do not attempt a definitive count of these maybe-billionaire households, we share some of our findings on pages 81 and 82.
Whatever the number, Pitkin County (population around 17,000) certainly can claim to have one of the highest concentrations of billionaires—or, at least, billionaire-owned property—in the world, even if it is a second, third, or fourth home for most of them. New York City, for example, counts 123 billionaire residents among its populace of 8.3 million, according to Forbes. Is there any other place that has a concentration of billionaire-connected second-home properties as high as Aspen’s?
“Maybe Monaco,” suggests Randy Gold, a longtime Aspen real estate appraiser, who keeps his own running tally of locally connected billionaires. He figures he has counted at least 100, and assumes there are at least 25 he doesn’t know about. “I think you can say confidently that there is nothing like this in North America,” Gold says. He notes that in 2024, roughly one third of the single-family-home transactions in the Aspen market went for over $20 million. “And there is no way that billionaires aren’t driving that,” he adds. (In a first-quarter 2025 analysis, Aspen real estate broker Tim Estin reported that the average asking price for a single-family home in Aspen soared to $17.2 million, up 67 percent from 2021.)
The impacts of this increasing concentration of wealth have been accelerating, especially with the post-pandemic migration of the lifestyle-seeking, work-from-anywhere uber-wealthy. Gold referenced changes in Aspen’s retail economy, with swelling sales receipts from clothing, jewelry stores, and art galleries and the proliferation of new fine-dining establishments. Many of Aspen’s billionaires generously donate to or sponsor local nonprofits, or otherwise further their work (billionaires referenced in this reporting who have supported Aspen Journalism include Sam Walton via the Catena Foundation; Carrie Walton Penner via the Penner Family Foundation; and Lynda and Stewart Resnick and John Doerr.)
And the residential sector, specifically the second-home and investment-property industry, is widely considered to be the community’s primary economic driver, outpacing perhaps even transient tourism. It requires thousands of contractors, maids, cooks, landscapers, property managers, personal assistants, real estate agents, architects, land-use planners, government-service staff, and more.
“It creates a lot of jobs, but it also creates a lot of traffic, competition for employees, and the need for affordable housing,” Gold says.
A residential and commercial landscape influenced by the world’s wealthiest clientele has pushed the cost of living here increasingly beyond the means of most year-round residents, with much local hand-wringing about Aspen losing its soul. Yet, as noted by one Aspenite observer, almost any other community would consider itself blessed to have so many billionaires to help underwrite its economic security.
And that’s not even counting all the mere hundred-millionaires.
1. S. Robson “Rob” Walton
2025 net worth: $110 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 11 Age: 80 Source of wealth: Walmart Stake in Aspen: 10,000-square-foot home east of downtown Aspen; condo at base of Aspen Mountain Notes: The eldest son of Walmart founder Sam Walton is now retired after more than 30 years as chairman of the retail chain, so he can spend more time in Aspen at his slopeside condo, bought in 2008 for $1.9 million, or his east Aspen property, acquired in 2012 for $6.3 million and now worth $52.4 million after building a home there in 2016.
2. Charles Koch
2025 net worth: $67.5 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 22 Age: 89 Source of wealth: Koch Inc. (pipelines, chemicals, software, automotive, and Dixie cups) Stake in Aspen: $21.4 million, 6,000-square-foot home in Aspen’s West End, bought in 1992 Notes: Charles Koch has been chairman of Koch Inc.—the country’s second-largest private company by revenue—since 1967 and was its CEO until 2023. Long known as a libertarian champion and Republican donor, Koch’s vast philanthropy has lately focused more on classical liberal causes like education, social impact, and anti-poverty initiatives. The sales deed to Koch’s West End parcel states that the buyer would not have the right to any vein or lode found beneath it—a nod to Aspen’s silver mining history.
3. Thomas Peterffy
2025 net worth: $57.3 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 27 Age: 80 Source of wealth: Discount brokerage Stake in Aspen: 22,400-square-foot Willoughby Way home, purchased for $108 million in April 2024 Notes: Thomas Peterffy was penniless when he came to the US from his native Hungary in 1965, but he started accumulating a fortune after buying a seat on the American Stock Exchange and pioneering digital trading through his company, Interactive Brokers. Peterffy, whose Palm Beach estate neighbors Mar-a-Lago, was a guest at then presidential candidate Donald Trump’s fundraising dinner in Aspen in August 2024. Peterffy’s purchase of the Willoughby Way home (with No. 40 Aspen billionaire Steve Wynn through Buddies Aspen LLC) set a record as the highest-priced real estate transaction in Pitkin County’s history.
4. Ken Griffin
2025 net worth: $42.3 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 35 Age: 56 Source of wealth: Hedge funds Stake in Aspen: Two homes near Tiehack, one purchased in 2013 for $10 million and the other in 2015 for $12.8 million. Notes: Ken Griffin is the founder, CEO, and majority owner of hedge-fund firm Citadel and owns Citadel Securities, which according to Forbes handles one in four US stock trades. His net worth has more than octupled since 2014, and he’s upgraded his Aspen properties too. Through LLCs, Griffin sold one home he’d had since 2009 at Tiehack after purchasing two side-by-side homes in the same neighborhood, collectively worth $66 million in 2024.
5. Stanley Kroenke
2025 net worth: $18 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 113 Age: 77 Source of wealth: Sports teams, real estate Stake in Aspen: Two adjoining Red Mountain properties together worth $44.9 million; townhome at base of Aspen Mountain worth $32.5 million Notes: Stanley Kroenke owns Colorado’s professional basketball, hockey, and soccer teams; the UK’s Arsenal soccer team; and millions of square feet of shopping plazas near Walmart stores. He’s also married to Walmart heiress Ann Walton Kroenke—worth $12.6 billion, according to Forbes—whom he reportedly met on a ski trip in Aspen. Kroenke’s net worth has more than tripled since 2014.
6. Andreas Bechtolsheim
2025 net worth: $17.9 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 114 Age: 69 Source of wealth: Google Stake in Aspen: Red Mountain home and vacant lot together worth $31.3 million Notes: A Sun Microsystems cofounder, Andreas Bechtolsheim bought his Aspen properties from his former colleague Bill Joy in 1999, for a total of $11.2 million. He’s kept the same—very modest by Aspen standards—four-bedroom, 4,800-square-foot, 1980s home on the property. A computer engineer by training, Bechtolsheim earned much of his wealth from an early investment in Google.
7. Laurene Powell Jobs
2025 net worth: $15.6 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 136 Age: 61 Source of wealth: Apple Stake in Aspen: Sardy House, purchased in 2016 for $23.2 million Notes: Laurene Powell Jobs launched Emerson Collective, an impact investing firm, aided by wealth inherited from her late husband, Apple cofounder Steve Jobs. A business leader and philanthropist, she has pledged $3 billion to organizations addressing climate change and environmental justice, has stakes in pro sports teams and The Atlantic magazine, and is a donor to ProPublica. The Victorian-era Sardy House, which has been a funeral parlor and luxury hotel, is one of Aspen’s most recognized buildings, notably the site of an annual Christmas tree lighting.
8. Hasso Plattner
2025 net worth: $15.2 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 141 Age: 81 Source of wealth: Software Stake in Aspen: Two Red Mountain homes, purchased in 1997 for $3.4 million and 2002 for $9.6 million—now collectively worth $46.9 million Notes: An early tech trailblazer from Germany, Hasso Plattner left IBM in 1972 and cofounded SAP, Europe’s largest software company, from which he recently retired. A sports enthusiast who enjoys skiing, golfing, and yacht racing, he’s the majority owner of the San Jose Sharks. Philanthropy is also a passion: Plattner has pledged that he will give away the majority of his fortune.
9. John Doerr
2025 net worth: $13.8 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 171 Age: 73 Source of wealth: Venture capital Stake in Aspen: 43-acre property with 8,600-square-foot home up Hunter Creek, worth $29.6 million Notes: A local property owner since 1998, John Doerr is involved with the Aspen Institute—as a trustee and namesake/major donor of one of its main buildings—and in forest and climate issues local and global. The chair of venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins got his start at Intel in 1974; he has led investments in Google, Amazon, Netscape, Intuit, and others.
10. Andy Beal
2025 net worth: $12 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 199 Age: 72 Source of wealth: Banks, real estate Stake in Aspen: Home on Red Mountain valued at $65 million and adjacent 2.5-acre lot worth $8.8 million Notes: A double college dropout and math whiz, Andy Beal got his start in real estate at age 19, leasing out a house he bought for $6,500. Through his eponymous financial corporation and bank, which has over $20 billion in assets, he’s known for snapping up distressed assets, according to Forbes. He did well with that strategy in the Great Recession—and with his Aspen property, which he acquired for $29.5 million, less than half its asking price of $65 million.
Methodology
The individuals and households identified in this listmeet two criteria: they appear on the Forbes World’s Billionaires List; and they own, or have a stake in, at least one residential or commercial property in Pitkin County. Forbes uses data collected in March of any given year (March 7, 2025, for the 2025 list and March 8, 2024, for the 2024 list) to compile its list and provide a snapshot of each billionaire’s wealth, based on stock portfolios and other assets including private companies, real estate, and art.
We also reference individuals with ties to a billionaire family included in the 2024 Forbes America’s Richest Families List (see Families/Dynasties).
We based our research on the 2024 Forbes World’s Billionaires, selecting each of the 813 US billionaires on that list and searching for evidence of property ownership in Pitkin County. We also obtained a list of all 17,000 properties registered with the Pitkin County Assessor’s Office on August 26, 2024, and we researched ownership records for every agricultural, agricultural/commercial, agricultural/residential, condo, duplex/condo, and residential property in the county with a valuation 2024 of at least $17 million, which amounted to 860 properties, looking for connections to the Forbes lists. (The house valuations cited are from 2024).
A handful of billionaires own property in their own name, but most high-end real estate is owned by limited liability corporations, trusts, or other entities that may shroud the owner’s identity. To ascertain ownership interest, we reviewed a variety of public documents, including but not limited to records from the Pitkin County Assessor, the Pitkin County Clerk & Recorder, voter registration records, building permits, state filings, and court records. We searched news media archives online, as well as social media profiles, to see if any Aspen ties emerged. We also relied on prior reporting, including the similar list that Aspen Journalism and Aspen Sojourner published in 2014.
We made our best effort to reach out to every billionaire we identified as having Pitkin County property ties, oftentimes contacting their companies or representatives, to give the individuals listed a chance to confirm, correct, or comment on our reporting.
The net worth and rankings of each individual on this list were updated using the 2025 Forbes World’s Billionaires List, which was published on April 1. Forbes hadn’t released an updated list of the richest families as of the time of this writing.
11 J. Christopher Reyes
2025 net worth: $12 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 199 Age: 71 Source of wealth: Food and beverage distribution Stake in Aspen: 44-acre property with 13,600-square-foot home near West Buttermilk, purchased in 2010 for $31.5 million Notes: Chris Reyes co-chairs the family business that his father founded with him and his brother Jude in 1976, when they started distributing Schlitz beer in South Carolina. Now, Reyes Holdings’ businesses include the largest beer distributor in the US and the largest McDonald’s distributor worldwide. His acquisition of the Buttermilk property was the highest single-family home sale in Pitkin County in 2010.
12. Jude Reyes
2025 net worth: $12 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 199 Age: 69 Source of wealth: Food and beverage distribution Stake in Aspen: Owl Creek ranch property purchased in 2003 for $11.75 million, home off Cemetery Lane bought in 2020 for $20.5 million Notes: Jude Reyes co-chairs Reyes Holdings (see No. 11). His Owl Creek property has nearly quadrupled in value since he acquired it through an LLC in 2003; together with the Aspen home bought during the pandemic, his local properties are worth $72 million.
13. Antony Ressler
2025 net worth: $11.4 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 213 Age: 64 Source of wealth: Finance Stake in Aspen: 77-acre Owl Creek property worth $42.4 million, bought in 2011 for $20.5 million Notes: In the 1990s, Antony Ressler cofounded private equity firms Apollo Global Management and Ares Management, the latter with fellow billionaire David Kaplan (No. 55). He’s majority owner of the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks and has a minority stake in baseball’s Milwaukee Brewers. In 2014, he sold another Snowmass Village home purchased six years prior.
14. Richard Kinder
2025 net worth: $10.6 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 248 Age: 80 Source of wealth: Pipelines Stake in Aspen: A six-property riverfront compound in Woody Creek that includes three homes, with a total value of $30.7 million Notes: Richard Kinder is cofounder and executive chairman of Kinder Morgan, which services the Roaring Fork Valley with natural gas and is the largest energy infrastructure company in the US. Kinder was once president of Enron, under the late Ken Lay, a college friend. Kinder’s net worth increased by $1.5 billion between 2024 and 2025.
15. Leonard Lauder
2025 net worth: $10.1 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 271 Age: 92 Source of wealth: Estée Lauder Stake in Aspen: Through a trust in Lauder’s name, five West End properties including three residences and two vacant lots, collectively worth $67.2 million Notes: Leonard Lauder joined his mother’s cosmetics company in 1958, ran it for three decades, and is currently chairman emeritus. In 2013, Lauder, whose net worth peaked in 2021 at $25.25 billion, donated his $1 billion Cubism collection to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where his collection of vintage American art posters from the 1890s has been on permanent display since 1987. He bought his first Aspen property, with his late wife Evelyn, in 1978 for $220,000.
16. Graeme Hart
2025 net worth: $9.3 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 307 Age: 69 Source of wealth: Packaging Stake in Aspen: McLain Flats estate on 40 acres worth $40.1 million Notes: Graeme Hart, New Zealand’s first billionaire and richest person—who dropped out of high school at 16—built a packaging empire (including Reynolds Wrap) that went public in 2020 and is poised to be taken private again this year in a $3.2 billion deal. Hart’s knack for building wealth extends to his Aspen property, bought in 2011 for $16 million after it had been previously listed for $32 million. The estate, which includes a 13,900-square-foot home, was valued at $40.1 million in 2024.
17. Roman Abramovich
2025 net worth: $9.2 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 311 Age: 58 Source of wealth: Steel, investments Stake in Aspen: Two Snowmass homes together worth $59.9 million Notes: Roman Abramovich, a Russian businessman who made his fortune after the dissolution of the former Soviet Union, is a major supporter and member of Chabad Aspen and has seen his Snowmass properties’ value double in the last decade.
18. Todd Boehly
2025 net worth: $8.5 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 353 Age: 51 Source of wealth: Finance, investments Stake in Aspen: $32.3 million condo in downtown Aspen, plus four commercial units in the same building, purchased in 2015 Notes: Investor Todd Boehly cofounded and heads holding firm Eldridge Industries, which has invested in over 100 businesses, including media titles such as Rolling Stone and Variety. He is also an owner of several sports teams, including the Chelsea Football Club, bought from fellow local billionaire Roman Abramovich (No. 17) for $3.1 billion in 2022. He was formerly on the board of the sportsbook/fantasy sports website DraftKings.
19. Leslie Wexner
2025 net worth: $7.9 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 390 Age: 87 Source of wealth: Retail Stake in Aspen: Red Mountain ranch on 65 acres with 25,400-square-foot home, bought in 1984 for $2 million, now worth over $50 million Notes: In 1963, with a $5,000 loan from his aunt, Leslie Wexner opened an Ohio clothing boutique, The Limited—precursor to L Brands, the global retail giant whose holdings included Victoria’s Secret, Bath & Body Works, Henri Bendel, and Lane Bryant—serving as its CEO for more than five decades. Wexner also owns around 6,000 acres of ranchland at the base of Mount Sopris that includes a 1,268-acre parcel of formerly public land acquired through a land swap.
20. Dan Friedkin
2025 net worth: $7.7 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 411 Age: 60 Source of wealth: Toyota dealerships Stake in Aspen: Hotel Jerome Notes: The son of late billionaire Thomas Friedkin, who founded Gulf States Toyota Distributors, private distributor of Toyota vehicles in the United States, Dan Friedkin took over the family’s business and became CEO at 35. Friedkin, through the Friedkin Group and his hospitality investment company (Iconic Properties), owns a portfolio of luxury resorts and vacation properties, including Aspen’s historic Hotel Jerome, which he acquired in 2015 (his daughter, jewelry designer Savannah Friedkin, set up a pop-up jewelry store last summer at the hotel).
Amazing Facts
The 80 billionaires on the Forbes listwith Pitkin County property ties have a combined net worth of almost $680 billion—that’s larger than Argentina’s GDP—and they own or have a stake in at least 167 Pitkin County properties, for a combined value of about $3.4 billion, which represents around 5 percent of the total value of all Pitkin County property.
Of the 50 billionaires with local property ownership interests that Aspen Journalism and Aspen Sojourner reported in 2014, 35, including a couple and three co-owning siblings, made our 2025 list.
The collective net worth of these 35 return billionaires has jumped by 75 percent since 2014. Twenty-nine of those 35 ( 83 percent) grew richer in those 11 years, while just five saw their net worth decline and one remained the same.
Hedge-funder Ken Griffin (No. 4, $42.3 billion) saw his net worth grow the most—it has more than octupled since he appeared on our 2014 list. Two spots behind him at No. 6 is Aspen’s richest techie, early Google investor and Sun Microsystems cofounder Andreas Bechtolsheim, whose net worth multiplied by nearly four-and-half times since 2014. Venture capitalist John Doerr and hedge-funder Paul Singer were the other two billionaires whose net worth has increased more than fourfold in 11 years.
Among the five individuals whose fortunes have shrunk in that timeframe, hedge funder John Paulson’s wealth has dropped the most: from $13.5 billion to $3.8 billion, or 72 percent. Oil and mining tycoon Bill Koch’s net worth dropped in half, from $4 billion to $2 billion. (Meanwhile, older brother Charles, the wealthiest in 2014, has the second-highest net worth on this year’s list: $67.5 billion, up 62 percent since 2014). Edward Lampert, whose fortune is tied up in retailer Sears (which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in October 2024), saw a 37 percent decline in his wealth.
Thirty-nine billionaires, or about half the list, have stakes in more than one Pitkin County property. Several own neighboring properties, perhaps as family compounds or keeping unbuilt lots vacant to preserve views or privacy. Arizona Diamondbacks owner Ken Kendrick has ties to the most properties—11 in Aspen, Snowmass Village, and on McLain Flats—while Ben Ashkenazy concentrates his 10 property interests in the Residences at Little Nell and seven of Kit Goldsbury’s eight properties are vacant lots.
All told, 1,953 properties in Pitkin County are valued at $10 million or more, and the 80 individual billionaires we list here control 98 of them.
The median age of Pitkin County billionaires is 68. The youngest is former Uber CEO Ryan Graves, 41, and the oldest is Leonard Lauder, who is 92.
While Aspen is a popular place for billionaires to own real estate, few could describe their homes here as their primary residence. Just four of the listed individuals are registered to vote at their Pitkin County address, though there are more billionaire-connected properties where registered voters live, often the children of a listed billionaire or billionaire family.
21. Jeffery Hildebrand
2025 net worth: $7.7 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 411 Age: 66 Source of wealth: Oil and gas Stake in Aspen: Home and vacant lot east of downtown Aspen together worth $29.3 million; 200-acre ranch property in Snowmass Creek Valley worth $12.5 million Notes: Jeffery Hildebrand cofounded and runs Hilcorp, the nation’s largest privately owned oil company by production volume. He is an avid polo player and sponsor of Aspen Valley Polo Club, which uses a polo field on the Snowmass Creek property he purchased through an LLC for $13.25 million. Reporting has also linked Hildebrand to the adjacent 957-acre Windstar property, once owned by John Denver. An Aspen Valley Ski & Snowboard Club supporter who has sponsored several Ajax Cup teams, Hildebrand co-hosted then-candidate Donald Trump’s campaign stop in Aspen in August 2024; the president has nominated Hildebrand’s wife, Melinda, to be US ambassador to Costa Rica.
22. Neil Bluhm
2025 net worth: $7.2 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 453 Age: 87 Source of wealth: Real estate Stake in Aspen: Long-term interest inRed Mountain home valued at nearly $62 million, almost triple its 2014 worth Notes: Chicago real estate tycoon and casino owner Neil Bluhm also cofounded online gaming platform Rush Street Interactive and owns minority stakes in the Chicago Bulls and Chicago White Sox. A longtime Democratic donor, he hosted President Obama’s 49th birthday and donated $500,000 to a super PAC supporting Joe Biden in 2020.
23. Charles Simonyi
2025 net worth: $7.2 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 453 Age: 76 Source of wealth: Microsoft Stake in Aspen: 500-acre Wildcat estate with 22,000 square feet of living space in two homes, worth nearly $53 million Notes: Computer scientist Charles Simonyi worked on one of the first personal computers at Xerox in the early 1970s, then had a long career at Microsoft, where he built the first versions of Microsoft Office. He has the distinction of being the only space tourist to visit the International Space Station twice, having paid $60 million for Russian rocket rides in 2007 and 2009. He purchased his Wildcat property in 2013 for $44 million.
24. Daniel, Dirk, and Robert Ziff
2025 net worth: $6.8 billion each 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 498 Age: 53 (Daniel), 61 (Dirk), 58 (Robert) Source of wealth: Publishing (inherited), investments Stake in Aspen: Four mining claims near Ashcroft worth $400,000, 40-acre agricultural parcel in Thompson Creek Notes: The three Ziff brothers inherited a fortune made from their grandfather’s publishing company, Ziff Davis, which was sold by their father for $1.2 billion in 1994. The three brothers leveraged their inheritance through their investment company, which closed in 2014, and further hedge fund endeavors. Their father, Bill Ziff Jr., started investing in Pitkin County real estate in the late ’90s, and while the brothers sold holdings in Starwood, the family property LLC has retained the Ashcroft mining claims and Thompson Creek grazing land. Dirk and wife Natasha Ziff help fund NewsMatch, a program of the Institute for Nonprofit News that supports nonprofit news organizations nationwide, including Aspen Journalism.
25. Jim Cox Kennedy
2025 net worth: $6.6 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 512 Age: 77 Source of wealth: Media, automotive Stake in Aspen: Two adjacent slopeside homes and one vacant lot in Snowmass Village, together worth $19.2 million Notes: Jim Cox Kennedy is the grandson of the Ohio governor and presidential candidate James M. Cox, who founded the family business, Cox Enterprises, in 1898, with the purchase of the Dayton Evening News. Kennedy served as publisher of the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel from 1978 to 1985 before assuming the role of chairman of Cox Enterprises; after the death of his mother, Barbara Cox Anthony, in 2007, he inherited a 25 percent stake in the company, as well as ownership interests in the Snowmass Village properties. Kennedy’s philanthropy focuses on education, health care, and sustainability. His Colorado ties run deep, including having chaired the state wildlife commission and several gifts to universities in areas of wildlife and habitat conservation.
26. Tony Tamer
2025 net worth: $6.4 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 540 Age: 67 Source of wealth: Private equity Stake in Aspen: Two ski-in, ski-out neighboring homes at Aspen Highlands, purchased in 2001 for $2.1 million (as vacant lot) and 2006 for $5.75 million, now collectively worth $39.4 million Notes: Tony Tamer is co-executive chairman of private equity firm H.I.G. Capital, which he cofounded in 1993, and which has $64 billion under management. He was previously a partner at Bain & Company, and he fundraised for his former colleague Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign. With his wife, Sandra, Tamer’s philanthropic portfolio includes Aspen Art Museum, Aspen Valley Ski & Snowboard Club, Jazz Aspen Snowmass, and the expansion of a Columbia Business School institute to include climate change work.
27. Thomas Pritzker
2025 net worth: $6.4 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 540 Age: 74 Source of wealth: Hotels, investments Stake in Aspen: Two Maroon Creek properties totaling 215 acres, worth over $41 million Notes: One of 13 billionaire heirs to the Pritzker family fortune, Tom Pritzker (cousin of No. 37 Penny Pritzker) is executive chairman of Hyatt Hotels Corporation (started by his father) and heads up the family investment company, The Pritzker Organization. His wife, Margot, chairs the Aspen Institute’s Board of Trustees. Through Roaring Fork Land & Cattle Co, Pritzker in 2021 bought a 35-acre parcel from a neighbor that he and others had been battling for years over the neighbor’s plans to build a large home. The sale price for the vacant land, $11 million, was well over its $2.5 million valuation at the time.
28. Lynda and Stewart Resnick
2025 net worth: $6.3 billion each 2025 Forbes Billionaires rankings: 551 Age: 80 (Lynda), 88 (Stewart) Source of wealth: Agriculture Stake in Aspen: $38.9 million home on 36 acres east of Aspen, purchased in 1994 for $4.9 million Notes: Lynda and Stewart Resnick, cofounders and co-owners of The Wonderful Company (one of the largest farming operations in the country, which includes branded nuts, pomegranate juice, oranges, and Fiji Water) met, then later married, after Stewart sought marketing help from Lynda’s ad agency in the 1960s. The longtime Aspen homeowners acquired their property from Fabi Benedict, a prominent figure in modern Aspen history. Today, their $2 billion philanthropic portfolio includes Aspen Valley Hospital and the Aspen Institute, where Lynda is a trustee and the couple has funded multiple programs and buildings, most recently the Resnick Center for Herbert Bayer Studies.
29. Paul Singer
2025 net worth: $6.2 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 561 Age: 80 Source of wealth: Hedge funds Stake in Aspen: Two side-by-side homes in Pitkin County, bought in 2002 and 2003, collectively worth $30.9 million Notes: Paul Singer, who founded one of the oldest hedge funds on Wall Street in 1977, was at one point the ninth largest investor in the US. His firm, Elliott Management, is known for buying distressed debt. A libertarian who is a major supporter of Republican candidates, he is also an active supporter of LGBTQ rights, Israel, and locally has sponsored the National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic.
The Newbies
Pitkin County has welcomed at least 26 new property-owning billionaires since the last time we published our list in 2014—representing a third of the current roster. And the pace of Aspen property ownership has picked up since the pandemic hit: 16 billionaires have purchased 24 properties here since March 2020, compared with the 10 billionaires who acquired 19 properties in Pitkin County from 2014 to January 2020. In fact, 2020 was the most popular year to enter the local market, with five new billionaires. Still, Aspen newbies have a lower average net worth ($5.85 billion) than their counterparts who were on our 2014 list or bought before 2014 (around $10 billion). The wealthiest new billionaire to the area is Thomas Peterffy ($57.3 billion), whose purchase of a Willoughby Way property (with Steve Wynn) for $108 million set a local and state record in August 2024.
30. Russ Weiner
2025 net worth: $5.2 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 688 Age: 55 Source of wealth: Rockstar energy drink Stake in Aspen: 9,600-square-foot Red Mountain home purchased in 2020 for $21.7 million Notes: Russ Weiner founded energy drink company Rockstar in 2001 before selling it to PepsiCo in 2020 for more than $4 billion. More recently, Weiner has been making headlines for his high-profile real estate investments in California, Florida, and Utah; a 2023 Wall Street Journal story described his prowess for purchasing homes in high-value communities and renovating, then renting and/or selling them for profit. Weiner listed his Aspen property for $39.75 million in 2021 but took it off the market the next year.
31. Herb Simon
2025 net worth: $5.1 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 700 Age: 90 Source of wealth: Real estate Stake in Aspen: 3,100-square-foot condo near the base of Aspen Mountain, worth $15.4 million Notes: Herb Simon and his late brother Melvin started their real estate business in 1960; it’s now one of the largest real estate investment trusts in the world. Recently retired, Simon also owns a majority stake in the Indiana Pacers, currently worth $3 billion, which he also bought into with his late brother. Another good investment he made was his modest (by Aspen standards) local condo—it traded back and forth between Simon and his ex-wife until he bought her out in 1997 for $1 million. Today it’s worth nearly $5,000 per square foot.
32. Jim Coulter
2025 net worth: $4.9 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 734 Age: 65 Source of wealth: Private equity Stake in Aspen: $52 million home and $13 million vacant lot at base of Aspen Mountain Notes: Jim Coulter, the founding partner and executive chair of private equity giant TPG (which manages $220 billion in assets), is also managing partner of TPG Rise Climate, a private equity fund that invests in climate solutions, and co-managing partner of its impact investing platform, The Rise Fund. Coulter has been a speaker on economics, investing, and the climate crisis at Aspen Ideas Festival, which TPG has sponsored. He’s also a backer of the company behind the Palm Tree Music Festival, which debuted in Aspen in 2022.
33. Dan Snyder
2025 net worth: $4.5 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 801 Age: 60 Source of wealth: Marketing, NFL’s Washington Commanders Stake in Aspen: 11,275-square-foot West Buttermilk home, purchased in 2004 for $11.25 million and now worth $46 million Notes: College dropout Dan Snyder made his fortune initially with a marketing firm that he sold in 2000 for $2.1 billion in stock. At age 34 he was the youngest person to buy an NFL franchise, the Washington Commanders (then known as the Redskins). In 2023 he sold the team for a record $6 billion.
34. Eric Lefkofsky
2025 net worth: $4.4 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 823 Age: 55 Source of wealth: Groupon, investments Stake in Aspen: 13,700-square-foot, $60 million home on lower Red Mountain, purchased in 2012 Notes: The Chicago entrepreneur and investor Eric Lefkofsky is best known as the cofounder of the daily deals site Groupon. In addition to serving as board chair of the Art Institute of Chicago in his hometown, locally Lefkofsky and his wife, Liz, have made significant donations to the Aspen Art Museum, Aspen Institute, and Anderson Ranch.
35. Behdad Eghbali
2025 net worth: $4.4 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 823 Age: 48 Source of wealth: Private equity Stake in Aspen: $20 million Victorian home purchased in 2019, and a $19.5 million condo purchased in 2020, both in Aspen’s Lift One neighborhood Notes: Born in Iran, Behdad Eghbali moved to the US as a child with his family. He cofounded investment firm Clearlake Capital in 2006 with Steven Chang and fellow local billionaire José E. Feliciano (No. 36). Previously, Eghbali worked for TPG Capital, founded by another local billionaire, Jim Coulter (No. 32). With Todd Boehly (No. 18), Eghbali and Feliciano led a consortium that bought the Chelsea Football Club in 2022 from Roman Abramovich (No. 17).
36. José E. Feliciano
2025 net worth: $4.4 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 823 Age: 51 Source of wealth: Private equity Stake in Aspen: 75-acre property in West Buttermilk that includes a 15,000-square-foot home, valued at $45 million Notes: See Behdad Eghbali (No. 35). In addition to being Democratic donors, Puerto Rico-born José E. Feliciano and his wife, Kwanza Jones, have committed $200 million to support ventures focused on education, entrepreneurship, equity, and empowerment. The couple, through an LLC in 2020, bought the West Buttermilk property for $21 million; the estate was first listed in 2017 for $50 million.
37. Penny Pritzker
2025 net worth: $4 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 902 Age: 65 Source of wealth: Hotels (inherited), investments Stake in Aspen: Three adjoining Castle Creek properties with four residences, purchased between 2006 and 2011 for a total of $20.9 million, collectively worth $75 million in 2024 Notes: Penny Pritzker (who served as Barack Obama’s commerce secretary from 2013 to 2017 and as special representative for Ukraine recovery and reconstruction during the Biden administration) may be the highest-ranking former government official with property ties in Pitkin County. One of the 13 billionaire Hyatt fortune heirs, Pritzker is also known as a successful investor and entrepreneur. A member of the Aspen (Institute) Strategy Group, she is the sister of Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker and cousin of Aspen billionaire Thomas Pritzker (No. 27).
38. Daniel Och
2025 net worth: $3.9 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 929 Age: 64 Source of wealth: Hedge funds Stake in Aspen: Three adjoining properties on lower Red Mountain collectively worth $76.9 million Notes: Hedge funder Daniel Och has ties to fellow Aspen billionaire homeowners Edward Lampert (No. 59), with whom he got his start at Goldman Sachs, and the Ziff brothers (No. 24), who provided seed money for Och-Ziff Capital Management (now Sculptor), which he left in 2019. Och, who has backed Robinhood and Instacart through his firm Willoughby Capital, has donated over $1.8 million since 2009 to local organizations, including the Aspen Valley Hospital Foundation, Aspen Community Foundation, and Mountain Rescue Aspen.
39. John Paulson
2025 net worth: $3.8 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 948 Age: 69 Source of wealth: Hedge funds Stake in Aspen: 90-acre property with 53,000-square-foot home and two others, plus adjacent 36-acre property with two homes, purchased together for $41 million in 2012, now worth nearly $119 million Notes: Hedge fund manager John Paulson started his own firm in 1994 and is best known for betting against subprime mortgages just before the Great Recession. He visited Aspen for years before purchasing property here—first in 2010 and then in 2012 when he bought Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia’s Hala Ranch at “a substantial discount” from the $135 million listing price, calling it “one of the most beautiful properties in Aspen.” A major Donald Trump donor and fundraiser who backed both presidential campaigns, Paulson removed himself from consideration as a potential candidate for treasury secretary after the November election.
Sources of Wealth
In 2025, more than one in three billionaires with property ties to Pitkin County have made their fortunes in finance and investments, the largest source of wealth category—with nearly three times as many billionaires (29) as the 12 percent on our list who derive their wealth from technology.
Pitkin County has eight billionaires in the food and beverage industry, and seven billionaires each in the fields of real estate, energy, and fashion or retail. Four local billionaires have diversified sources of wealth, three earned their fortunes from sports teams, two each from media/entertainment and automotive, and one each grew rich from telecom, metals and mining, gambling and casinos, and construction/engineering.
40. Steve Wynn
2025 net worth: $3.7 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 979 Age: 83 Source of wealth: Casinos, hotels Stake in Aspen: 22,400-square-foot Willoughby Way home, purchased for $108 million in April 2024 Notes: Steve Wynn took over his father’s bingo parlor business, moved it to Las Vegas in 1967, and developed some of the Strip’s most recognized landmarks. He launched Wynn Resorts, a high-end hotel and casino operator with properties in the US and China, in 2002 and resigned as CEO in 2018. His Aspen property, purchased through Buddies Aspen LLC with Thomas Peterffy (No. 3), set a sales record in Pitkin County and Colorado—and the LLC in February paid nearly $173,500 in property taxes on its actual value of $89.9 million.
41. Jonathan Nelson
2025 net worth: $3.4 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 1,072 Age: 68 Source of wealth: Private equity Stake in Aspen: 11,000-square-foot home near North Star, purchased in 2023 for $70 million Notes: Jonathan Nelson has invested in more than 180 companies in media, communication, education, and technology sectors over the past 36 years, including bankrolling the launch of streaming platform Hulu with $100 million in 2007. In 2022, Nelson cofounded Dynasty Equity, a sports investment firm, which bought a minority stake in the Liverpool Football Club and in the Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy golf league, TMRW Sports.
42. James Packer
2025 net worth: $3.3 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 1,108 Age: 57 Source of wealth: Casinos (inherited), investments Stake in Aspen: 15,000-square-foot West Buttermilk mansion, purchased in 2013 for $15.6 million, now worth $62.5 million Notes: James Packer inherited and ran his father’s empire, which included interests in media and casinos, making him the richest person in Australia for a time (when he purchased his Aspen mansion, he was No. 3). After stepping down from boards and selling his stake in the family businesses, he’s now reportedly investing in big tech, AI, and real estate. Locally, Packer is perhaps better known as being the onetime beau of regular Aspen holiday visitor Mariah Carey.
43. Paul Foster
2025 net worth: $3.2 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 1,141 Age: 67 Source of wealth: Oil refining, investments Stake in Aspen: 10,700-square-foot home on Red Mountain, purchased in 2011 for $15 million, now worth $44.9 million Notes: A teenage Paul Foster welded pipes and cleaned tanks in oil fields in El Paso, Texas, before founding and building Western Refining, then selling it for $6.4 billion in 2017. Foster then founded and currently runs Franklin Mountain Investments; he and his wife cofounded a group that owns a baseball team and two soccer clubs in El Paso and the adjacent Mexican city of Juarez. He has reported giving $182 million to charitable causes since 2007.
44. Daniel Loeb
2025 net worth: $3.2 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 1,141 Age: 63 Source of wealth: Hedge funds Stake in Aspen: $60.7 million slopeside home and vacant lot on Aspen Mountain Notes: After starting to play the stock market while in college, Daniel Loeb launched his hedge fund in 1995, naming it after the surf break, Third Point, that he grew up riding in California. An activist investor, he’s known for shaking up companies he has invested in. His ski-in, ski-out Aspen home is part of a real estate portfolio that includes a Manhattan penthouse, East Hampton and LA homes, and a Miami Beach waterfront mansion. Local causes supported include Aspen Valley Ski & Snowboard Club, Aspen Center for Environmental Studies, and the Aspen Music Festival and School.
45. Haim Saban
2025 net worth: $3.1 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 1,172 Age: 80 Source of wealth: Television, investments Stake in Aspen: 17,500-square-foot home on five acres on lower Red Mountain, worth $85 million Notes: Starting as a bass player in a rock band in Israel in the 1960s, Haim Saban relocated to France in 1975, founded a record company, and in 1983 moved to Los Angeles, where he segued into television with Saban Entertainment (which produced, distributed, and merchandised X-Men and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers franchises). Now focused on investments through Saban Capital Group, his wealth and ranking among the world’s billionaires has declined since 2014, when his net worth was $3.4 billion and he was ranked 500 on the Forbes list. After building a modern mansion on Red Mountain, Saban in 2024 sold his home near the Aspen Club for more than twice its assessor-determined value.
46. John Paul DeJoria
2025 net worth: $3 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 1,219 Age: 81 Source of wealth: Hair products, tequila Stake in Aspen: $17.4 million home in Aspen’s East End, bought for $4.5 million in 2012; five units in a building on Restaurant Row, including the space housing Sway Thai and three employee housing units Notes: John Paul DeJoria slept in his car and sold shampoo door to door prior to cofounding hair care company John Paul Mitchell Systems with $700 in 1980. In 1989, DeJoria partnered with Martin Crowley to acquire a stake in Patrón Spirits Company, which they sold to Bacardi in 2018 for $5.1 billion. His Aspen home doubled in value between 2022 and 2023; he acquired the Restaurant Row spaces in 2016 out of a foreclosure sale.
47. Robert Sands
2025 net worth: $3 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 1,219 Age: 66 Source of wealth: Liquor Stake in Aspen: 8,800-square-foot home on Red Mountain, purchased in 2021 for $31 million, now valued at about $46.8 million. Notes: Rob Sands started his career at a law firm before joining the family business, Constellation Brands (one of the largest beer and wine importers in the US) as general counsel in 1986. Sands served as CEO from 2007 through 2019, succeeding his brother and late father, who founded the precursor to Constellation in 1945. In 2022, Sands family members received $1.5 billion to give up their enhanced voting power and Rob Sands retired from his position as executive chairman, assuming his current role as a non-management director. Sands’ luxury assets include a $70 million superyacht that is worth 50 percent more than his Aspen mansion.
48. Robert Clark
2025 net worth: $2.9 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 1,265 Age: 66 Source of wealth: Construction and design Stake in Aspen: Nearby ranch-residential properties in Old Snowmass—17 acres bought in 2005 and 20 acres purchased in 2020, now valued at about $10 million combined Notes: Bob Clark founded Clayco in 1984, at age 25 after dropping out of college, and grew the company into one of the country’s largest privately owned real estate, construction, architecture, and design firms. In 2020, Clark blogged about fulfilling a long-held goal of climbing Capitol Peak while being guided by local mountaineer Ted Mahon. More recently, he posted about plans to restore historic structures and build a new family ranch on the acreage he purchased in 2020.
49. Doug Ostrover
2025 net worth: $2.9 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 1,269 Age: 62 Source of wealth: Private equity Stake in Aspen: 10,400-square-foot Red Mountain home purchased in 2010 for $14 million, now worth $33 million Notes: Private equity investor Doug Ostrover debuted on Forbes’ billionaires list in 2024 with a net worth of $2.8 billion. The cofounder and co-CEO of Blue Owl, an investment firm specializing in private credit, previously cofounded credit firm GSO Capital Partners, acquired by Blackstone in 2008. Ostrover’s Red Mountain mansion isn’t his first Aspen property—he was part of a group of investors who bought the Mill Street Commercial Center across from Clark’s Market in 2007, then sold it in 2018 to an entity controlled by developer Mark Hunt, who owns a significant amount of downtown Aspen commercial property.
50. Mortimer Zuckerman
2025 net worth: $2.8 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 1,305 Age: 87 Source of wealth: Media, real estate Stake in Aspen: 7,000-square-foot home on Red Mountain, purchased in 2009 for $9.5 million, now worth $24 million Notes: The son of Ukrainian Jewish immigrants to Montreal, Mortimer Zuckerman still owns a small stake in Boston Properties (now BXP), the real estate firm he founded in 1970 that is one of the largest real estate investment trusts in the US. He’s also been a university professor and media mogul, the former owner of The Atlantic, Fast Company, and the New York Daily News and is the current owner, co-publisher, and editor-in-chief of U.S. News & World Report.
Families/Dynasties
Billionaire families with Aspen property ties are well represented on the Forbes America’s Richest Families List, which was last updated in 2024: a third have stakes in Pitkin County properties. But since many of these family members are not listed as billionaires in their own right by Forbes, they didn’t make our individual list.
Most prominent among those locally is the Crown family (No. 30, $14.7 billion), which owns and operates Aspen One, the parent company of the four local ski areas, The Little Nell and Limelight hotels, and retail brand Aspen Collection. We found about a dozen Crown family members with property interests in the Aspen area, including six of the seven children of patriarch Lester Crown.
The top four richest American families all have members with stakes in Pitkin County. The wealthiest is the Walton family, of Walmart fame, with a collective net worth of $267 billion. Besides two second-generation Waltons with ties to local properties whom Forbes lists individually—Rob Walton (No. 1 on our list) and Ann Walton Kroenke (spouse of Stanley Kroenke, No. 5 on our list)—additional third-generation Waltons also have local property stakes, including Carrie Walton Penner, an Aspen Institute trustee and Denver Broncos owner tied to Aspen parcels, and Sam Walton, whose Catena Foundation is connected to the ownership of properties in Coal Basin near Redstone. (Catena Foundation is a major donor to Aspen Journalism, underwriting our water coverage.)
The second-richest American family, the Mars family ($117 billion in 2024), with its global food brands empire, has a local connection through Stephen Badger, who has a home near Buttermilk and is the founder’s great-grandson and son of Jacqueline Mars, who’s ranked No. 33 on the Forbes World Billionaires List with $42.6 billion.
Locally, brothers Charles Koch (No. 2) and William Koch (No. 58) represent the third-richest American family with $116 billion, and the No. 4 Cargill-MacMillan family ($60.6 billion) counts three members tied to local property among its 100 members who own 88 percent of the multinational agribusiness and food-industry supplier.
Besides family patriarch Leonard Lauder (No. 15), Aerin Lauder Zinterhofer (No. 76), and William Lauder (No. 77), other Lauder family ( 11thrichest in America, $25.9 billion) members with local property ties include Gary Lauder, a venture capitalist who with his wife Laura is heavily involved with the Aspen Institute; he last made Forbes’ billionaires list in 2023.
David Millstone, co-CEO of industrial conglomerate Standard Industries, is a member of the Millstone-Winter-Heyman family (No. 18 on Forbes America’s Richest Families List, $19.2 billion) and the son-in-law of family business founder Sam Heyman. He bought a Red Mountain home in 2015 and is connected to an ownership group that has interests in downtown Aspen restaurants.
Members of the Hunt family (No. 12 on the Forbes wealthiest families list, $24.8 billion), with a fortune from oil and ownership of the Kansas City Chiefs NFL team, have a downtown Aspen condo and a home at the base of Red Mountain.
Bren Simon owns a Red Mountain home and is linked to several properties in downtown Carbondale. She’s the widow of Melvin Simon and sister-in-law of Herb Simon (No. 31 on our list); the shopping mall landlord Simon brothers and family are America’s 38th richest, worth $11.6 billion.
Jacqueline Soffer, who has owned two neighboring properties on Castle Creek since 2004, is the sister of fellow local property owner Jeffrey Soffer (No. 80). Jacqueline is chair and CEO of Turnberry, the real estate company that is the source of the family fortune (the family last made Forbes’ wealthiest families list in 2015).
51. Ed Bass
2025 net worth: $2.5 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 1,462 Age: 79 Source of wealth: Petroleum industry Stake in Aspen: Three long-held properties east of Aspen, together worth $21 million Notes: Parlaying a $2.8 million inheritance from an oil tycoon uncle into billions, Ed Bass and his three brothers sold their oil company to ExxonMobil in 2017 for $5.6 billion in stock. He has financially backed the Biosphere 2 self-contained living experiment, spearheaded development of Fort Worth’s Dickies Arena, and owns a chunk of historically preserved downtown Fort Worth. All three of the properties that Bass owns in Aspen (including a 2,600-square-foot home on a 44-acre parcel straddling the Stillwater section of the Roaring Fork River) rank among the smallest of all billionaire-owned Aspen homes.
52. Michael Polsky
2025 net worth: $2.5 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 1,462 Age: 76 Source of wealth: Electric power Stake in Aspen: 39-acre property in Old Snowmass andtwo homes in Aspen, one in Castle Creek and the other near Aspen Meadows, together worth over $60 million Notes: Born in Soviet-era Ukraine, Michael Polsky moved to the US with his wife in 1976 with $500 in cash, four suitcases, and a degree in mechanical engineering. Twenty-five years later, he founded and became the CEO of Invenergy, one of the largest privately held energy companies in the US (in Colorado, Invenergy operates three wind farms on the Eastern Plains and a natural gas power plant near Denver). Through his personal foundation, Polsky has donated to various charities and causes, including organizations that support families in war-torn Ukraine.
53. Daniel Lubetzky
2025 net worth: $2.3 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 1,573 Age: 56 Source of wealth: KIND snack bars Stake in Aspen: Two side-by-side properties on lower Red Mountain, one with a 5,300-square-foot home and the other a building site, currently together worth $40.9 million Notes: In 2004, Daniel Lubetzky launched KIND Healthy Snacks as a fruit-and-nut-bar alternative to candy bars. He sold the business to Mars in a deal reportedly valued at $5 billion in 2020—the same year he acquired his Aspen properties. In 2015, after Lubetzky’s Do the KIND Thing (a memoir outlining the business principles that shaped the company) became a New York Times best seller, President Obama named him an Ambassador for Global Entrepreneurship.
54. Tom Ford
2025 net worth: $2.2 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 1,626 Age: 63 Source of wealth: Fashion Stake in Aspen: New 9,500-square-foot home on lower Red Mountain, purchased in 2023 for $42.25 million Notes: The fashion designer and film producer earned billionaire status in 2022 by selling the Tom Ford brand to Estée Lauder for $2.8 billion. A year later, Ford left his position as creative director to focus on filmmaking at Fade to Black, a production company he founded in 2005. In addition to his Aspen acquisition, Ford’s real estate portfolio also includes a London mansion that was the UK’s most expensive residential real estate sale of 2024, a Hamptons estate once owned by Jackie Kennedy’s family, a Manhattan townhouse, and mansions in Palm Beach and LA.
55. David Kaplan
2025 net worth: $2.2 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 1,626 Age: 57 Source of wealth: Finance Stake in Aspen: Two-acre property near Rio Grande Trail worth $67.7 million, plus a one-acre vacant lot next door Notes: As cofounder of Ares Management with Antony Ressler (No. 13), Kaplan serves as a director and partner of an investment firm that manages $419 billion in assets. Through an LLC, Kaplan previously owned a townhome on the edge of downtown Aspen. His Rio Grande property, purchased in 2017 with a new home completed in 2023, is an upgrade.
56. Marcelo Claure
2025 net worth: $2 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 1,763 Age: 54 Source of wealth: Cell phone distribution, investments Stake in Aspen: Two McLain Flats neighboring properties, together worth $32.4 million, and 1/8 share of Residences at Little Nell unit, purchased for $1.6 million in 2015. Notes: Bolivian American entrepreneur and investor Marcelo Claure has been involved in multiple mobile phone companies, including T-Mobile, where he’s a member of the board and owns shares that comprise much of his fortune. His Claure Group investment firm owns a stake in fast-fashion company Shein, where he is group vice chairman. One of his McLain Flats properties, which used to be part of a ranch, only has a 1,600-square-foot log cabin built in 1981, but the nearly 11-acre property is worth $11 million. The McLain Flats properties are listed for sale and were under contract as of press time in late April.
57. Christopher “Kit” Goldsbury
2025 net worth: $2 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 1,763 Age: 82 Source of wealth: Salsa Stake in Aspen: Eight properties, seven of which are vacant lots, near Aspen Meadows, collectively worth $69.2 million Notes: At Pace Foods, Kit Goldsbury went from working the assembly line to becoming president—all after marrying the founder’s daughter, whose half ownership in the salsa company he bought when they divorced—to selling it for $1.1 billion in 1994. In 1988, Goldsbury purchased his Aspen home (including one vacant lot) for $2.5 million; it’s now worth nearly $35.3 million. An LLC he controls bought six other lots on a bluff above his home that were slated for development as townhomes.
58. William Koch
2025 net worth: $2 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 1,763 Age: 84 Source of wealth: Oil, mining Stake in Aspen: Elk Mountain Lodge, encompassing eight buildings on 52 acres near Ashcroft Notes: A brother of billionaire No. 2 Charles Koch, Bill Koch agreed to surrender his stake in the family business in 1983 and battled two of his brothers (Charles and the late David) for decades over the amount of the payout, all the while building his own fossil fuel business, Oxbow, which operated coal mines in western Colorado’s North Fork Valley. On a ranch outside Paonia, Koch built a faux Wild West town with five saloons, a jail, and more than 50 buildings to house one of America’s largest collections of Western memorabilia and art. At press time in April, Koch’s Elk Mountain Lodge, a former dude ranch and event venue he bought for $26.5 million in 2007, was on the market for $125 million.
59. Ed Lampert
2025 net worth: $2 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 1,763 Age: 62 Source of wealth: Hedge funds, Sears Stake in Aspen: 15,200-square-foot Starwood home, purchased for $5.5 million in 1998 Notes: Ed Lampert founded his hedge fund company, ESL Investments, in 1988, the same year he bought an Aspen home near the Ziff brothers (No. 24), who were early investors in ESL. Four years after stepping down as the chief executive of Sears Holdings, Lampert put his Starwood property on the market in late 2022 for $35 million; it’s currently worth $30.25 million, according to the county assessor.
60. Geoffrey Palmer
2025 net worth: $2 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 1,763 Age: 74 Source of wealth: Real estate Stake in Aspen: 9,000-square-foot,$33.3 million Red Mountain mansion, purchased for $7.75 million in 2003 Notes: Having built over 13,000 apartment units in the Los Angeles metro area, developer Geoffrey Palmer has battled statewide and local affordable housing and rent control initiatives in California and Los Angeles. A major Republican donor, Palmer hosted a fundraiser for Donald Trump during his 2020 campaign in Beverly Hills. Palmer’s net worth fell by $1.1 billion between 2024 and 2025, according to Forbes.
Billionaire-Adjacent
Plenty of others with billionaire ties are linked to Aspen in ways that don’t meet our strict criteria of being on the Forbes list and having a direct ownership stake in local property. Wealthiest among them is the world’s third-richest man, Jeff Bezos ($215 billion), whose parents, Jackie and Miguel Bezos, are longtime local homeowners. Michael Dell’s ($97.7 billion, No. 17 on the Forbes list) brother Steven sold a home previously owned by his parents and purchased a condo in Aspen’s core in 2021.
Aman Resorts owner and CEO Vladislav Doronin, whose OKO Group is developing the Gorsuch Haus project at the western base of Aspen Mountain, is widely referred to as a billionaire even though he doesn’t appear on Forbes’ list. Other Pitkin County property holders who don’t appear on the Forbes list but are credibly considered billionaires include former Disney CEO Michael Eisner, who bought his upper Snowmass Creek property in 1987 and is a trustee and benefactor of the Aspen Institute, and Lachlan Murdoch, who runs his father Rupert Murdoch’s media and entertainment businesses.
Many more qualify for this billionaire-adjacent category—too many to completely list here.
61. Dan Wilks
2025 net worth: $2 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 1,763 Age: 68 Source of wealth: Oil and gas, investment Stake in Aspen: 6,400-square-foot home east of downtown Aspen, bought in 2010 for $9.2 million, now worth $22.4 million Notes: Impoverished as children, Dan Wilks and his brother Farris established Wilks Masonry (their father worked as a bricklayer) in 1995 before starting Frac Tec in 2002 in their native Texas. Since selling their fracking company for $3.5 billion in 2011, they’ve continued to invest in oil and gas, as well as land—together, they’re America’s 12th largest landowners with over 672,000 acres across the West. The Wilks brothers are scaling back locally though—Farris sold a Snowmass Village property in 2022, and Dan sold an east Aspen home in 2017 for $6.5 million (purchased six years earlier for $3.4 million).
62. Terry Taylor
2025 net worth: $1.9 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 1,850 Age: 74 Source of wealth: Car dealerships Stake in Aspen: 20,700-square-foot home near Ute Avenue and three adjacent properties in East Aspen, together worth $115 million Notes: Terry Taylor, who owns over 120 dealerships in the US through his Florida-based Automotive Management Services, made the Forbes list for the first time in 2024. Three years before buying, through an LLC, a 20,700-square-foot home on Ute Avenue in 2023 for $75 million, Taylor purchased three neighboring properties east of Aspen for $32 million, including a two-acre riverfront estate with an 11,000-square-foot home that as of late April is on the market for $59 million.
63. Jorge Pérez
2025 net worth: $1.7 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 2,019 Age: 75 Source of wealth: Real estate Stake in Aspen: $23 million home in Five Trees bought in 2020 for $9.5 million Notes: Known as the “condo king” of Miami, developer Jorge Pérez founded Related Group with billionaire (and former Snowmass Village investor) Stephen Ross in 1979 and together they started building affordable housing in Florida before switching to high-end condos. Pérez’s Five Trees property (where he hosted an art collection tour during Aspen ArtWeek in 2022 has been on the market for $30 million since August 2024. In April, Pérez donated millions of dollars’ worth of artwork, as well as a large endowment, to the Tate Modern in London.
64. Walter Kortschak
2025 net worth: $1.7 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 2,019 Age: 65 Source of wealth: Venture capital, tech investment Stake in Aspen: Home in Castle Creek Valley purchased in 2019 for $22.7 million, now worth $45.9 million Notes: Software engineer turned investor Walter Kortschak spent much of his career with pioneering growth equity firm Summit Partners before striking out on his own. Notable investments through his two Aspen-based companies include OpenAI, Palantir, and SpaceX. Forbes lists his residence as Aspen, but Kortschak also has homes in London and Hawaii, including the ranch where Jurassic Park was filmed. Locally, Kortschak is a donor to the Aspen Institute and the Aspen Valley Ski & Snowboard Club—and he also ski races in the Aspen Snowmass Town Race Series.
65. Alfred West
2025 net worth: $1.7 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 2,019 Age: 82 Source of wealth: Money management Stake in Aspen: Six-bedroom home west of downtown Aspen, valued at $8.6 million Notes: Alfred West founded financial services firm SEI, which developed a computer program simulating lending environments, in 1968. He took it public in 1981, and after more than 50 years as CEO is now executive chairman. West is also a longtime Aspen property owner, having bought his home near Shadow Mountain in 1986 for $775,000, recently completing a contemporary-style remodel. West’s two children also own Aspen property.
66. Ben Ashkenazy
2025 Net worth: $1.6 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 2,110 Age: 55 Source of wealth: Real estate Stake in Aspen: Ownership interests controlling eight hotel rooms and two commercial spaces in the Residences at Little Nell building Notes: Ben Ashkenazy is founder and CEO of Ashkenazy Acquisition Corporation, a real estate investment firm that owns more than 100 buildings in North America, including landmarks like Boston’s Faneuil Hall. He bought his first building at age 17 and never graduated from college. Ashkenazy paid $3.2 million for the RLN restaurant space in December 2010; about a year later he acquired another commercial space, along with the fractional development’s eight hotel rooms, for a total of $4.5 million.
67. Stewart Butterfield
2025 net worth: $1.6 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 2,110 Age: 52 Source of wealth: Slack messaging platform cofounder Stake in Aspen: 9,900-square-foot estate home in Five Trees, purchased in 2021 for $25 million Notes: Canadian by birth, Stewart Butterfield is the cofounder and former CEO of team-based messaging platform Slack, which sold to cloud software giant Salesforce for $27.7 billion in cash and stock in 2021. A Silicon Valley icon who was also cofounder of the photo-sharing website Flickr, Butterfield relocated to Aspen during the pandemic with wife Jen Rubio, the founder of luggage startup Away. They were 2024 co-chairs of Aspen Art Museum’s annual summer fundraiser ArtCrush.
68. Paul Sciarra
2025 net worth: $1.6 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 2,110 Age: 44 Source of wealth: Pinterest Stake in Aspen: Newly built 7,700-square-foot home on Aspen Golf Course, purchased for $25.4 million in 2023 Notes: Paul Sciarra cofounded Pinterest and retained a 7 percent stake when he left in 2012, which made him a billionaire when the company went public in 2019. He’s been executive chairman of electric air taxi developer Joby Aviation (invested in by No. 74 Marc Pincus’ Reinvent Capital) since 2014 and holds a 10 percent stake. Sciarra and his wife, Jennifer, have a private foundation based in Aspen and are members of the Aspen Community Foundation’s 2025 Giving Network.
69. Eugene Shvidler
2025 net worth: $1.6 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 2,110 Age: 61 Source of wealth: Oil and gas, metals, investments Stake in Aspen: 6,400-square-foot home in Two Creeks, bought in 2008 for $14.5 million and currently worth $17.3 million Notes: Born in the Soviet Union and earning his MBA in the US, Eugene Shvidler returned to Russia in the mid-’90s and partnered with his friend Roman Abramovich (No. 17) in numerous business endeavors involving some of the country’s largest and most profitable companies. The pals bought their Snowmass Village properties the same year: 2008.
70. Laurie Tisch
2025 net worth: $1.6 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 2,110 Age: 74 Source of wealth: Loews Corp, New York Giants (inherited) Stake in Aspen: Residential condo in downtown Aspen worth $12.9 million and commercial condo in same building worth $1.6 million Notes: With siblings Jonathan and Steve (No. 71), Laurie Tisch inherited stakes in both the Loews Corporation and the New York Giants from parents, Joan and Bob Tisch. In 1946, Bob cofounded the energy, insurance, and packaging conglomerate (Loews Corp generates over $14 billion in revenue annually) and in 1991 purchased a 50 percent stake in the NFL franchise, valued at $6.8 billion. The founder and president of the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund, which increases access and opportunities for New Yorkers, Tisch is also a trustee of the Aspen Institute and regular participant in its Aspen Ideas Festival; her board service includes the Whitney Museum, Lincoln Center, Juilliard School, and Children’s Museumof Manhattan.
71. Steve Tisch
2025 net worth: $1.6 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 2,110 Age: 76 Source of wealth: Loews Corp, New York Giants (inherited) Stake in Aspen: Townhouse near Smuggler Racquet Club, purchased in 2014 for $2.8 million, worth $4.1 million Notes: In addition to serving as chairman and EVP of the New York Giants, Steve Tisch is a longtime movie producer and won an Oscar in 1994 for producing Forrest Gump.
72. Frederic Luddy
2025 net worth: $1.4 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 2,356 Age: 70 Source of wealth: Software Stake in Aspen: 5,000-square-foot home on Ute Avenue, bought in 2024 for $25.75 million Notes: ServiceNow, the cloud-based company Frederic Luddy founded in 2004, generated over $9 billion in annual revenue, according to Forbes, and ranked at the top of the magazine’s 2018 Most Innovative List. Luddy stepped down as CEO in 2011 but still serves on the company’s board of directors.
73. Ryan Graves
2025 net worth: $1.4 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 2,356 Age: 41 Source of wealth: Uber Stake in Aspen: Legacy 245-acre ranch in Woody Creek Notes: Ryan Graves (Uber’s first employee) held several executive roles during his seven-year tenure at the ride-hailing service, becoming a billionaire thanks to his equity in the company. One of Forbes’ Richest American Entrepreneurs Under 40 in 2016, Graves now invests through the holding company he founded, Saltwater. Entities he controls bought four parcels making up the Woody Creek ranch in late 2021, spending $19.3 million.
74. Marc Pincus
2025 net worth: $1.4 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 2,356 Age: 59 Source of wealth: Online games Stake in Aspen: Home at base of Aspen Mountain worth $53.6 million, historic Woody Creek property with 1888 cabin, worth $7.8 million Notes: Zynga cofounder Marc Pincus created the hit online social games FarmVille and Words with Friends, among others. He took the company public in 2011 and sold it for $12.7 billion in 2022. An early investor in Facebook and Twitter, Pincus is now a managing member of Reinvent Capital, which has invested in SpaceX, Lyft, and Paul Sciarra’s (No. 68) Joby Aviation. A registered Pitkin County voter, he gushed about the area’s recreational play options in a 2011 Vanity Fair article. He bought the Woody Creek spread in 2005 and the Ajax slopeside home in 2017.
75. Tom Bailey
2025 net worth: $1.3 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 2,479 Age: 88 Source of wealth: Money management Stake in Aspen: 29-acre agricultural parcel located near Highway 133 and Prince Creek Road south of Carbondale, purchased for $7.5 million in 2015 Notes: Tom Bailey founded the mutual fund giant Janus in Denver in 1969, selling his stake in the company in 2001-02. He also owns the Iron Rose Ranch near Carbondale in Garfield County, where he breeds cutting horses, which he has described as his third career.
76. Aerin Lauder Zinterhofer
2025 net worth: $1.3 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 2,479 Age: 54 Source of wealth: Estée Lauder Stake in Aspen: Mountain Valley home worth $15.6 million, bought in 2009 for $6.5 million Notes: Aerin Lauder Zinterhofer, the niece of Leonard Lauder (No. 16) and granddaughter of Estée Lauder, has worked for the family company since 1992. She has her own luxury lifestyle brand, Aerin, which includes home goods and beauty products. A visitor to Aspen since childhood, she purchased her family home in 2009 and authored the introduction to the coffee-table book Aspen Style.
77. William Lauder
2025 net worth: $1.3 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 2,679 Age: 65 Source of wealth: Estée Lauder Stake in Aspen: Vacant lot in the West End Notes: William Lauder, the eldest son of Leonard Lauder (No. 16) and cousin of Aerin Lauder Zinterhofer (No. 76), was CEO and chairman of the family’s cosmetic company for 17 years (he now serves on the firm’s board of directors). He is listed as an owner, along with his father, of a vacant lot in the West End.
78. Larry Fink
2025 net worth: $1.2 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 2,623 Age: 72 Source of wealth: Money management Stake in Aspen: $36.5 million Victorian residence in Aspen’s West End since 1995 Notes: As cofounder and head of BlackRock, the world’s largest asset management firm, Larry Fink ranked 28th (out of 75) on Forbes’ 2018 World’s Most Powerful People list. A steadfast Democratic Party supporter, Fink has used his annual open letter to CEOs to call for corporate action on environmental and diversity issues, among other generally liberal causes. He’s a frequent speaker at Aspen Ideas Festival.
79. Ken Kendrick
2025 net worth: $1.2 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 2,623 Age: 82 Source of wealth: Banking, sports teams Stake in Aspen: 11 properties collectively worth around $65 million: eight rental condos one block from Aspen gondola, two neighboring McLain Flats homes, and Snowmass Village estate on 39 acres Notes: Ken Kendrick built his fortune in software and banking but is known for his involvement in the Arizona Diamondbacks. The managing general partner and largest shareholder, he was part of the group that in 1995 brought the MLB expansion team to Arizona. Kendrick’s extensive local property portfolio also includes the Ironbridge Golf Course in Glenwood Springs. A major Republican donor who has attended Koch network events in Aspen, he’s also supported the Buddy Program’s Buddies Bash, held on his McLain Flats neighbor’s Merry Go Ranch.
80. Jeffrey Soffer
2025 net worth: $1 billion 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking: 2,933 Age: 57 Source of wealth: Real estate Stake in Aspen: 14,400-square-foot, $40 million estate on 67 acres in Starwood, purchased for $36.5 million in 2007 Notes: After their father developed the Florida city of Aventura, Jeffrey Soffer and his sister Jackie led the family real estate firm, Turnberry Associates, for over 20 years. Since 2019, Soffer has been developing on his own, focusing on large-scale lifestyle projects, with his firm Fontainebleau Development. The 2007 purchase of his Starwood property—from Saudi Prince Bandar—set records as Pitkin County’s most expensive property transaction and the highest amount ever paid for a single-family home. The home, which Soffer shared with supermodel Elle Macpherson when they were married, has been listed for sale multiple times since he’s owned it.
Brent Gardner-Smith, the founder, former editor, and executive director of Aspen Journalism, contributed to this reporting. For more on Aspen Journalism, visit aspenjournalism.org.
