“It was a difficult year for many, but the good times did not stop for the richest of our nation. The 400 richer Americans have seen their fortunes grow by 40% in the last year, to $ 4.5 trillion. “Almost all of them are richer than a year ago.” The above reports the Forbes website which 24 hours ago published the list of the 400 richest Americans for the year 2021.
Among the names in that list Forbes includes a Greek from Nisyros: o John (John) Katsimatidis.
The 73-year-old Greek-American businessman is ranked 310th on the list with assets approaching $ 3.7 billion. His group includes gas stations and real estate companies, as well as huge supermarket chain in New York, called Gristedes.
He, born on September 7, 1948, Katsimatidis moved with his family from Nisyros to New York when he was still an infant, in 1949, and grew up in a small apartment in Haarlem.
He worked as a grocery store clerk while attending New York University, but dropped out when he was given the opportunity to acquire part of the store where he worked. He opened his own grocery store in 1969, at the age of just 21 and thanks to his business insight, he already owned 10 Red Apple stores by the age of 25.
“I grew up poor, but I always dreamed of becoming one Aristotle Onassis“, He had stated years ago.
The next step was expected: the Red Apple Group, a real estate company with about $ 2 billion in shares in New York, Florida and Pennsylvania.
Shortly afterwards, he founded the subsidiary of the Red Apple Group, United Refining Company, thanks to which it now has 400 gas stations in the state of New York alone. It also has many restaurants, a newspaper of the Diaspora (the Hellenic Times) even airlines such as C&S Acquisition and Capital Air Express associated with luxury jet rental.
The 2013 failed to be elected mayor of New York, coming down with his (beloved) Republicans, but he continues to try to communicate with the residents, now making his own radio show every Sunday morning in New York.
Recently, in fact, between funny and serious, he said somewhere on his show: “I have the feeling that soon, in a few years, at the City Hall of New York, according to the popular custom of the Greeks, dishes will be broken”, meaning that one of the next mayors of Megalo Milos may be of Greek origin.
However, Forbes, in its extensive article, notes emphatically and meaningfully that “although the wealth of these 400 people increased, unfortunately their generosity did not increase accordingly.” The number of 400 Forbes members who donated more than 20% of their fortune fell from ten to eight last year, while those who donated less than 1% of their fortune rose from 127 to 156. The list includes 44 new entrants from which the richest is the Sam Bankman-Fried, a 29-year-old cryptocurrency businessman with a fortune of $ 22.5 billion, is also the youngest member of the list.
The threshold for entering the Forbes list is net worth of 2.9 billion dollars, an amount increased by 800 million dollars compared to last year. Assets were calculated using shares prices and exchange rates as of September 3, 2021.
Four Greeks in the Forbes world list
It was preceded, last May, by the publication of the list of the richest people on the planet. This is the 35th revised list of the richest families for the year 2021, among which are four Greeks.
Regarding our country, as the only Greek billionaire in position 2,141 is considered the Bardis Vardinogiannis of Motor Oil, with a total fortune of $ 1.4 billion.
The list of “Forbes”, of course, includes Filippos Niarchos, who has a fortune of $ 2.8 billion. However, it ranks among the billionaires of France and not of Greece.
The same goes for him Aristotle Mystakidis (Switzerland), who with a fortune of 2.3 billion dollars “figures” in the position of 1,262.
The total wealth of the richest people on Earth (with assets over $ 1 billion) is formed in the highly impressive number of 13.1 trillion. dollars, strengthened by 5.1 trillion. dollars in just 12 months.
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