Who are the richest people in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, and how do they compare to the richest people in the United States? The most recent data from Forbes shows some of Minnesota's billionaires have seen gains, while others suffered losses in the last year.

This Forbes ranking points to a general downward trend, with roughly half of the world's billionaires being poorer (though, certainly not poor) than they were a year earlier. They go on to explain that the total worth of the world's billionaires is $12.2 trillion, which is $500 billion less than the Spring 2022 number of $12.7 trillion. Because of this overall trend, the list of worldwide billionaires lost 28 names in the last year.

Of Minnesota's five richest billionaires, three of them suffered some losses to their bank accounts over the last year. The other two saw modest gains.

Here's the ranking of those five richest billionaires:

#5 (Tie) - Martha & John MacMillan

Martha and John MacMillan are two of 12 heirs of the Cargill family and brand that are on the billionaire list. They are both grandchildren of W.W. Cargill, who founded Cargill from its humble origins as one grain warehouse in Iowa in 1865. Having grown extensively over the years, Cargill is now a Minnesota-based food conglomerate that operates worldwide. Martha (who lives in Orono) and John (who lives in Plymouth) are the only two that reside in Minnesota.

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They've both been on the billionaires list for a number of years, seeing growth from 1 billion each in 2016 to a height of $1.6 billion in 2022. Both saw their wealth shrink some in the last year, going from that high mark of $1.6 billion to $1.2 billion for 2023.

This places both Martha and John in a broad tie with many others for #2,259 on the list of worldwide billionaires by worth.

#3 - Jeffrey Michael

Jeffrey was one of the founding investors and a board member for the healthcare technology company CorVel., which was originally formed in 1987 under the original name FORTIS. The company, which is headquartered in Irvine, California, has since grown to be a NASDAQ-traded company.

According to Forbes, Michael and his family hold a 38%  stake in the company. The 66-year-old Minnetonka resident is a recent addition to the Minnesota billionaires club, joining in 2022 at $1.1 billion.

Since then, his wealth has grown to $1.2 billion as of the Forbes official spring 2023 ranking, making him one of two Minnesota billionaires to see growth in the last year. Since that ranking, Forbes now projects his wealth to be $1.3 billion,  ranking him in a broad tie with many others for 2,166 on the list of worldwide billionaires by worth.

#2 - Stanley Hubbard

Stanley Hubbard is the chairman and CEO of Hubbard Broadcasting, which owns a number of media outlets across the country, including TV stations KSTP in St. Paul, WDIO in Duluth, and KAAL in Rochester.

The company also currently owns the REELZ TV network, and Hubbard also played a role in consumer satellite TV. He founded United States Satellite Broadcasting, which opened the door for companies like DirecTV and DISH TV to find footing in the broadcasting world. After being launched in the early 1980s, USSB was eventually absorbed by DirecTV in the late 1990s.

Hubbard has seen a slow, steady downward trend in his wealth in recent years. Since a high mark of $2.3 billion in 2014 and again in 2017, his wealth was at $1.8 billion in 2022 and trended down again to $1.6 billion for the Forbes 2023 report.

This places him in a tie for #1804 on the list of worldwide billionaires by wealth.

#1 - Glen Taylor

Known by many Minnesotans as the owner of the Timberwolves, Glen Taylor built his wealth in the printing world.

Taylor founded Mankato-based Taylor Corporation in 1975, buying what was previously known as Carlson Wedding Services and growing it to the brand it is today. Taylor had worked for the company since 1959, before buying the company.

In addition to owning Taylor Corp., Glen bought the Timberwolves in 1994 and is also the owner of the Minnesota Lynx and shares ownership with the Minnesota United soccer team. Taylor has also owned the Minneapolis Star Tribune since 2014.

While Talyor is in the process of selling the Timberwolves to Alex Rodiguez and Marc Lore, he still holds a share of the ownership of the team as of the time of this ranking.

Overall Taylor has seen his wealth grow over the years, coming from $1.8 billion in 2014 to the high mark of $2.9 billion in 2020 and 2021. He suffered some losses in 2022, dropping to $2.5 billion, but has since seen a rebound up to $2.7 billion for 2023.

This places Taylor at #1,104 on the list of worldwide billionaires by wealth.

How does this compare to other U.S. billionaires?

For comparison, this is quite a way from the richest Americans on the 2023 Forbes billionaires list.

Big names like Bill Gates (#6 worldwide at $104 billion), Warren Buffett (#5 worldwide at $106 billion), Jeff Bezos (#3 worldwide at $114 billion), and Elon Musk (#2 worldwide at $180 billion) all stand an unbelievable $100 billion or more above and beyond Minnesota's richest billionaire.

In case you're curious who the richest billionaire in the whole world is, it is Bernard Arnault (& family) from France. His company, LVMH, owns a number of big brands in the fashion and cosmetics world. This list includes Sephora, Louis Vuitton, and recently-acquired Tiffany & Co.

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