Forbes Removes Trump from 400 Richest Americans List, Adds Moderna Execs Who Made Billions Off Vaccine
Former President Donald Trump has dropped off Forbes’ list of the 400 wealthiest Americans, which now includes three Moderna executives and backers who cashed in big on the COVID-19 pandemic.
The list includes some familiar names, and Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates all remain at the top. Trump’s name is missing, which Forbes made sure to note.
“The minimum net worth needed to gain — or hold onto — a spot on the list this year jumped to $2.9 billion. For the prior three years, the cutoff had been $2.1 billion,” the outlet reported. “Fifty-one billionaires dropped off the ranking, including Donald Trump.”
In a follow-up article about those who lost a spot on the list, Forbes noted Trump’s quarter-century on its 400 list had ended.
“Seven drop-offs saw no change in their fortune since last year; 13 are poorer. An additional five members of last year’s list passed away, making the turnover for this year’s list 14%,” Forbes reported.
“That’s more than twice what it was last year, as established business behemoths lost spots to up-and-coming entrepreneurs. For the first time in 25 years, Donald Trump doesn’t appear on The Forbes 400. His fortune currently stands at an estimated $2.5 billion, $400 million below the cutoff.”
Three notable new people entered The Forbes 400.
“[A] trio of backers and executives of vaccine maker Moderna: early investor and Harvard professor Timothy Springer ($5.9 billion), Moderna’s cofounder and chairman Noubar Afeyan ($5 billion) and cofounder and MIT professor Robert Langer ($4.9 billion)” were announced by Forbes as newcomers to the list.
It isn’t difficult to see how Moderna’s top dogs did so well after looking at the company’s stock price.
From 2018 until the start of the pandemic, Moderna stock traded in a range between $11 and $20 per share. The stock closed at just over $28 per share on May 2, 2019.
Company shares closed at $309 per share on Thursday, which was down from a high of $455 per share in September, but still way up. Moderna’s contract with the federal government to distribute vaccines apparently treated Springer, Afeyan and Langer quite well.
Forty-four people, in all, joined this year’s Forbes list after a time that saw one of the largest transfers of wealth in history.
Trump made the 400 list each year for 25 years after he earned a fortune in New York City’s real estate market, and later added to it by making another fortune on TV. In 2016, he was of course elected president and spent four years with a target on his back that was unparalleled in this country’s history.
Democrats and the establishment media hated him. They loathed his America-first positions as much as they hated his billons in wealth. The emergence of COVID-19 gave them everything they needed to unite against him.
The coronavirus pandemic, one way or another, derailed his chance to better the country with sound policies during a second term. Mail-in ballots flooded in and Democrats in blue states used the public health emergency to tank their own economies.
A national economy that worked for everyone cratered, and some of Trump’s personal wealth went with it. Trump might be the only modern president to leave the White House with less money than he had when he was elected. That’s after the left screamed he only sought office as a self-enriching man hungry for more.
The man never even accepted a paycheck. So much for all that babble about Trump and financial corruption.
According to Forbes, Trump is out. Meanwhile, three guys who are benefiting from the Biden administration’s toxic public health policies and unconstitutional vaccine mandates are now in the “in” crowd.
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