Top 10 Richest Women In America 2021: Forbes 2021

Richest Women In America 2021: More than 90% of the women on the Forbes 400 list for 2021 have increased their wealth since last year. 

But the biggest dollar gainer is Fidelity Investments CEO Abigail Johnson, whose net worth increased by a stunning $10 billion to $25.2 billion as a result of strong asset management performance. 

Since last year, she has increased Fidelity’s discretionary assets by nearly $1.3 trillion, to $4.2 trillion. 

Laurene Powell Jobs, the widow of Apple visionary Steve Jobs and the founder of investment and advocacy firm Emerson Collective, received the next biggest boost, thanks to a 66 percent increase in Apple stock and a 53 percent increase in Disney stock.

Despite the fact that the total number of women on the list remains unchanged, three newcomers and one returnee have replaced four women from the previous year’s ranking. 

Despite her $2.6 billion fortune, Oprah Winfrey dropped off the list in 2021, marking the first time in 26 years that she hasn’t made The Forbes 400. 

Doris Fisher, cofounder of Gap, and real estate heirs (and siblings) Amy Goldman Fowler and Diane Kemper of New York, both dropped off this year.

Melinda French Gates, who inherited her late husband Sheldon Adelson’s entire stake in casino empire Las Vegas Sands, is now worth at least $6.3 billion after receiving billions in public stock as part of her divorce from Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates. 

This year’s additions include Trudy Cathy White, who was discovered to have inherited a portion of the Chick-Fil-A fried chicken chain founded by her father, Truett Cathy (d. 2014), in 1967; her two brothers, Bubba Cathy and Dan Cathy, have been Forbes 400 members since 2015. 

Gail Miller, who dropped off the list in 2017, is back this year with an estimated $3.2 billion net worth, thanks to the sale of the majority of her family’s majority stake in the NBA’s Utah Jazz for $1.66 billion in October 2020.

This year, fewer women have self-made (as opposed to inherited) fortunes, with only 10 doing so, down from 11 in 2020. (The remaining 46 were born into wealth.)

Diane Hendricks, the billionaire owner of a roofing supply company, is once again the wealthiest of the self-made group, with an estimated fortune of $11 billion, an increase of $3 billion due to revenue growth and a strong year-over-year performance in the roofing industry. 

Racial diversity has also decreased this year, with IT chief executive Thai Lee being the only person of colour among America’s wealthiest women since Oprah’s departure.