Net Worth: $8.8 billion

LAST YEAR: $7.3 billion
CHANGE: 21%
AGE: 60
RESIDENCE: Holmby Hills
SOURCE OF WEALTH: Private equity, sports ownership

Platinum Equity, which Gores founded in 1995, has over $48 billion in assets under management, an increase of $1 billion over last year. The firm is betting big on the future of fiber optic cable and made significant investments in communications and broadband industry companies like the South Dakota-based TAK Communications Inc.

Education: Michigan State University, where he received a bachelor’s degree in construction management.

Sports Stake: Gores is better known to sports fans and Michigan residents as the owner of the Detroit Pistons. After gaining 100% equity ownership of the team in 2015, Gores said he would spare no expense to bring the battered team back to its former glory.

Charitable Giving: Gores launched FlintNOW in 2016 to support families affected by the city’s water crisis. Gores grew up in Genesee, Michigan, just ten miles out from Flint. Gores gifted $20 million to support the construction of a community center in Detroit’s River Rouge Park and pledged that it would be the first in a series of planned donations in support of local revitalization projects.