7 Indian-Americans in Forbes’ list of 400 wealthiest people in US as rich Americans beat coronavirus

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, who is the richest person on the planet, has topped the list with a net worth of $179 billion.

Seven Americans of Indian origin have made it to Forbes’ list of 400 wealthiest people in the United States of America this year. While Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, who is the richest person on the planet, has topped the list with a net worth of $179 billion, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation co-founder Bill Gates ranked second in the 2020 Forbes list with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg bagging the third spot. “Pandemic be damned: America’s 400 richest are worth a record USD 3.2 trillion, up USD 240 billion from a year ago, aided by a stock market that has defied the virus…Even in these trying times mega-fortunes are still being minted,” Forbes said.

The seven Indian-Americans on the list are — Jay Chaudhry, Romesh Wadhwani, Niraj Shah, Vinod Khosla, Kavitark Ram Shriram, Rakesh Gangwal and Aneel Bhusri. 

Ranking 85th on the list, Jay Chaudhry has a net worth of $6.9 billion and is CEO of ZScaler, a cybersecurity firm he founded in 2008. The firm was started with the life savings of Jay Chaudhry and his wife and is his first startup, according to Forbes. 

Romesh Wadhwani, who ranked 238th on the list, has a net worth of $3.4 billion. His Symphony Technology Group brings in $2.5 billion in annual revenues. In 2017, Romesh Wadhwani combined nine of his companies that were AI-focused into a new group called SymphonyAI.

Niraj Shah ranks 299th and has a net worth of $2.8 billion. His company Wayfair offers more than 18 million products and generated $9.1 billion in net revenue in 2019.

Ranking 353rd on the list is Vinod Khosla who has a combined fortune of $2.4 billion. He co-founded computer hardware firm Sun Microsystems in 1982.

Kavitark Ram Shriram ranks 359th on the Forbes list and has a net worth of $2.3 billion. An early Google backer, Kavitark Shriram sold off most of his stock but remains on the board of its parent company, Alphabet. Rakesh Gangwal, who ranked 359th on the list,  made his fortune from InterGlobe Aviation, which is the parent outfit of budget airline IndiGo, India’s largest by market share. Aneel Bhusri has a net worth of $2.3 billion and is the CEO of business software firm Workday. 

America’s 400 richest are worth a record $3.2 trillion combined.