Net Worth: $5.4 B

LAST YEAR: $5.2 B
CHANGE: 2.9%
AGE: 62
RESIDENCE: Beverly Hills
SOURCE OF WEALTH: Retail

THE MONEY: Smidt is the chief executive and sole owner of Calabasas-based Harbor Freight Tools. He launched the retailer with his father in 1977. The company employs more than 25,000 people and maintains 1,300 company-owned stores that sell low-cost home improvement, hardware and automotive equipment. The company’s annual revenue tops $6.5 billion. Since 2010, Harbor Freight has reportedly conducted corporate refinancings that generated cash dividends paid to Smidt of more than $1 billion.

THE BUZZ: Harbor Freight is recognized as a top employer of military veterans and women and is praised for the diversity of its workforce. Smidt is also philanthropic via his Smidt Foundation, a flagship initiative of which is the Harbor Freight Tools for Schools. It supports trade-skills education. In June, the foundation made a $5 million challenge grant to expand the Holocaust Museum LA. Smidt also supports Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, which operates the Smidt Heart Institute; expansion of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; the Anti-Defamation League; LA Family Housing; InnerCity Struggle; and Los Angeles Urban League. He serves as a trustee of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Smidt also has more than 30 years of experience as a jet pilot.