25. Gerald J. Ford
Source of wealth: Ford Financial Fund
Industry: Finance & Investments
Net worth: $2.78 billion
According to Forbes, Dallas-based businessman Gerald Ford earned his fortune by purchasing distressed banks. Today, Ford owns 16% of shares at Hilltop Holdings and is the majority shareholder at Mechanics Bank.
24. Thai Lee
Source of wealth: SHI International
Industry: Technology
Net worth: $2.80 billion
Thai Lee is the reigning CEO of SHI International, an IT provider that earned $10 billion in sales last year. The company — which is the largest woman-owned business in the United States — started as a software reseller, purchased by Lee and her now ex-husband for $1 million in 1989. Major clients include Boeing and AT&T.
23. Joseph Liemandt
Source of wealth: Trilogy Software, ESW Capital
Industry: Technology
Net worth: $3.00 billion
Joe Liemandt earned his fortune by founding Trilogy Software company and investment firm ESW Capital, which focuses on acquiring software companies. Liemandt lives in Austin, Texas.
22. John Arnold
Source of wealth: Centaurus Advisor
Industry: Finance & Investments
Net worth: $3.29 billion
John Arnold earned his fortune through his hedge fund Centaurus Advisor. He previously worked at Enron, and now dedicates the majority of his time to philanthropy efforts.
21. David Bonderman
Source of wealth: TPG
Industry: Finance & Investments
Net worth: $3.34 billion
David "Bondo" Bonderman cofounded TPG firm with Jim Coulter in 1992. Today, the company holds $84 billion in assets. While Coulter is based in San Francisco, Bonderman resides in Fort Worth.
20. Sid Bass
Source of wealth: Diversified
Industry: Energy
Net worth: $3.54 billion
Sid Bass and his brothers each inherited $2.8 million in 1959 from their "oil tycoon uncle." For many years, Bass and his relatives were the largest investors in The Walt Disney Company.
19. Jeffery Hildebrand
Source of wealth: Hilcorp
Industry: Energy
Net worth: $3.56 billion
Houston-based oil mogul Jeffery Hildebrand cofounded his company Hilcorp in 1990. Today, the company is the largest privately owned oil company in America. According to Forbes, "In 2015 Hildebrand gave each of his 1,400 employees a $100,000 bonus after they doubled the size of his company in five years."
18. Janice McNair
Source of wealth: Cogen Technologies
Industry: Sports
Net worth: $3.78 billion
Janice McNair's husband Robert — who died in 2018 — owned the Houston Texans NFL team. He earned his fortune in 1999 after selling Cogen Technologies for $1.5 billion.
17. Mark Cuban
Source of wealth: Broadcast.com
Industry: Media & Entertainment
Net worth: $4.11 billion
Current owner of the Dallas Mavericks basketball team, Mark Cuban earned his fortune after cofounding Broadcast.com in 1995. Cuban is also a regular on ABC's "Shark Tank."
16. H. Ross Perot, Sr.
Source of wealth: Electronic Data Systems, Perot Systems
Industry: Diversified
Net worth: $4.12 billion
H. Ross Perot earned his fortune selling multiple tech companies over the years. Perot sold his self-founded Electronic Data Systems company to G.M. for $15 billion in 1986; he sold Perot Systems to Dell Computer for $3.9 billion in 2009. Perot began his career at IBM, and also ran for president in the 1990s.
15. Dan Friedkin
Source of wealth: Gulf States Toyota
Industry: Automotive
Net worth: $4.20 billion
Dan Friedkin is the owner and CEO of Gulf States Toyota, founded by his father in 1969. In 2017, the Houston-based company sold $9 billion of Toyota cars. Additionally, Friedkin invests in luxury resort properties.
14. Bert Beveridge
Source of wealth: Tito's Vodka
Industry: Food & Beverage
Net worth: $4.21 billion
Bert "Tito" Beveridge founded Tito's Vodka in 1997. According to Forbes, he borrowed $90,000 across 19 credit cards to start his company; two decades later, the brand was worth $2.5 billion. Beveridge grew up in San Antonio, and today his company is based in Austin. In 2017, the Tito's brand sold 63 million bottles of vodka.
13. Trevor Rees-Jones
Source of wealth: Chief Oil & Gas
Industry: Energy
Net worth: $4.27 billion
Trevor Rees-Jones founded Dallas-based Chief Oil & Gas in 1984, currently the largest privately owned natural gas producer in America. According to Forbes, Rees-Jones is close friends with the Bush family. His self-named foundation holds $520 million in assets.
12. Kelcy Warren
Source of wealth: Energy Transfer
Industry: Energy
Net worth: $4.49 billion
Oil tycoon Kelcy Warren cofounded Energy Transfer, the company that completed the $3.8 billion Dakota Access Pipeline project. He currently serves as chairman and CEO of Energy Transfer Equity, one of his three public companies.
11. Ray Lee Hunt
Source of wealth: Hunt Consolidated, Hunt Oil Co.
Industry: Energy
Net worth: $4.81 billion
Ray Lee Hunt leads both Hunt Consolidated and Hunt Oil, one of America's oil giants. Hunt inherited the oil company from his father, H.L. Hunt, and plans to pass on the business to his son, Hunter Hunt.
10. Tilman Fertitta
Source of wealth: Fertitta Entertainment
Industry: Food & Beverage
Net worth: $4.91 billion
Tilman Fertitta is the reigning chairman and CEO of Fertitta Entertainment. His company owns Landry's, the parent company of Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. Additionally, Fertitta owns the Houston Rockets basketball team and Golden Nugget Casinos.
9. Robert F. Smith
Source of wealth: Vista Equity Partners
Industry: Finance & Investments
Net worth: $5.00 billion
Robert F. Smith earned his fortune after founding his firm Vista Equity Partners in 2000. Today, the company holds over $46 billion in assets. Smith previously worked at Kraft Foods and Goodyear Tire as an engineer before entering the business world.
8. Robert Bass
Source of wealth: Oak Hill Capital Partners
Industry: Energy
Net worth: $5.06 billion
Along with his brothers, Robert Bass inherited $2.8 million from his "oil tycoon uncle" in 1959. With his inheritance, he founded investment firm Oak Hill Capital Partners, which currently invests in companies ranging from Blackboard to Burger King. Bass lives in Fort Worth, Texas.
7. Robert Rowling
Source of wealth: Omni Hotels, Gold's Gym
Industry: Energy
Net worth: $5.80 billion
According to Forbes, Dallas-based Robert Rowling purchased Omni Hotels with the $500 million he received from selling his family's oilfields. He later added to his substantial fortune by purchasing Gold's Gym.
6. Scott Duncan, Milane Duncan Frantz, Dannine Duncan Avara, and Randa Duncan Williams
Source of wealth: Enterprise Products Partners
Industry: Energy
Net worth: $6.31 billion
Dan Duncan founded pipeline company Enterprise Products Partners in 1968, and later became the richest person in Houston. Following his death in 2010, Williams' four children each inherited equal shares of the family business: Scott Duncan, Milane Duncan Frantz, Dannine Duncan Avara, and Randa Duncan Williams.
According to Forbes, Randa is the only sibling involved in the company, currently serving as Non-Executive Chairman of the Board. She is also a board member of the University of Texas Health Science Center. Her sister Milane is the director of the Duncan Family Foundation.
5. Jerry Jones
Source of wealth: Dallas Cowboys
Industry: Sports
Net worth: $6.90 billion
Jerry Jones is the current owner and general manager of the Dallas Cowboys. Jones purchased the football team in 1989 for $150 million; according to Forbes, the team is worth $5 billion today. As of 2018, Jones is also the controlling shareholder of Texan oil and gas company Comstock Resources.
4. Richard Kinder
Source of wealth: Kinder Morgan Inc.
Industry: Energy
Net worth: $7.12 billion
Richard Kinder is the current chairman of eponymous Kinder Morgan, an oil and gas pipeline company he cofounded in 1997. Now the "largest U.S. energy infrastructure firm," the company is based in Houston, Texas. Kinder also runs a self-named foundation, which has made major donations to organizations in Houston.
3. Andrew Beal
Source of wealth: Beal Financial Corporation
Industry: Finance & Investments
Net worth: $9.30 billion
Andrew Beal is a Texas-based banker. Based in Dallas, he is the founder and owner of Beal Financial Corporation. The company's assets total more than $7 billion. According to Forbes, "He made a tidy sum during the Great Recession, scooping up beaten-down assets while the nation's biggest banks were being bailed out by taxpayers."
2. Michael Dell
Source of wealth: Dell
Industry: Technology
Net worth: $39.10 billion
Michael Dell is the founder, chairman, and reigning CEO of Dell Technologies, which he started by selling computers in his dorm room at the University of Texas. In 2016, Dell merged with EMC computer storage company in a deal estimated to be $60 billion. Today, Dell lives in Austin, Texas, about 25 minutes from company headquarters in Round Rock. Through his investment firm MSD Capital, Dell holds stakes in Four Seasons Maui, Applebee's, IHOP, Calvin Klein, and Grand Central Station.
1. Alice Walton
Source of wealth: Walmart
Industry: Fashion & Retail
Net worth: $46.99 billion
Alice Walton is one of three heirs to the Walton fortune, along with her brothers Rob and Jim. Their father, Sam Walton, founded the Walmart superstore chain in 1962. The company headquarters are located in Arkansas, but Walton resides in Forth Worth, Texas after spending many years on a ranch an hour outside the city in Millsap, Texas. She currently serves as chairwoman to Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, as well as a board member of the Walton Family Foundation.