Irvine Co. Chairman Don Bren cracked Forbes’ annual top 100 list of billionaires this year worldwide, up five places to 64.
Forbes pegs Bren’s net worth at $15.2 billion. The 82-year-old Newport Beach resident was ranked 30th wealthiest in the United States.
The business publication noted Bren’s company broke ground on a 1.2 million square-foot office campus in Silicon Valley set to open next year. His company also bought an office building in Chicago’s downtown for $850 million.
Irvine Co. officials declined to comment.
Other notable Southern California residents on the list include Patrick Soon-Shiong, 63, of Los Angeles, who Forbes says is the world’s wealthiest physician.
Forbes reported Soon-Shiong is “working on a momentous project: a company called Nantworks that would connect all the data about a patient in the hospital, and combine it with genetic information on a level nobody else is imagining.”
Soon-Shiong, who was believed to be worth $12.3 billion, was listed in 96th place globally and 37th in the United States. He was ranked 122 last year.
Dreamworks co-founder David Geffen of Malibu was said to be worth $6.9 billion and was ranked in 195th place globally. Philanthropist Eli Broad, who Forbes reports is worth $7.2 billion, was ranked 185th richest in the world.
Bill Gross, founder of Pacific Investment Management Company, better known as PIMCO, was ranked in 810th place. He is worth $2.3 billion.
Gross, 70, of Laguna Beach, was ranked 764th richest last year in the world. His fortunes have dimmed as he left PIMCO on awkward terms to take a position with Janus Capital Group.
— City News Service