The Forbes 8 Value Investor Index

After looking over the recently released Forbes 400 list (the richest 400 people in America), I noticed the list has included more and more individuals in the "Finance/Investments" category. The growth in assets managed by Hedge Funds and Private Equity companies has been a major cause of this increase. In the Forbes 400 magazine, it shows a graphic representation of each category since the first list in 1982 (25 years ago). In 2007, Finance and Investments had the largest number of members in the list. Below I list which categories have grown or shrunk over the years:

Higher: Service, Finance/Investments, Technology, Retail

Lower: Food, Oil, Media/Communications, Real Estate, Manufacturing, Other

I'm not surprised by the above breakdown. Our world continues to shift from Mediocristan ((Where no single observation can meaningfully affect the aggregate.)) to Extremistan ((Where the total can be conceivable impacted by a single observation)). Not to say that categories in the "Lower" group above aren't subject to the laws of Extremistan—but that the wealth continues to shift to the more scalable business models.

More than one quarter of the 400 on the list made their fortune through investing or other finance-related companies. But how many of those are value investors? I scanned the list, and came up with the following names of people who have made their wealth following the practices of Benjamin Graham (or through other value investors):

The Forbes 8 Value Investor Index 1. Warren Buffett / 52.0 2. Edward Lampert / 4.5 3. David Gottesman / 2.5 3. Charles Brandes / 2.5 5. Franklin Otis Booth Jr. / 2.2 6. Charles Munger / 2.0 7. Michael Price / 1.8 8. Joseph Steinberg / 1.5

Let me know if I've missed any. I didn't include anyone in the buyout/P.E. industry, although a few of them may be considered Graham disciples (like Wilbur Ross).

See also: The Forbes One Billion - The Forbes 400 could help the other end of the scale: the world's one billion superpoor.