Tilman Fertitta tops new Forbes list of Houston's richest billionaires

big money

Tilman Fertitta's net worth is estimated at over $10 billion. Photo by J. Thomas Ford

A dozen of Houston's illustrious billionaires have made the cut on the newForbes 400, a list of the 400 richest people in the United States for 2024.

Houston hospitality king and Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta is the 12th richest Texan and the 99th richest person in the United States, according to Forbes' list, released October 1.

Forbes estimates Fertitta's net worth in 2024 as $10.1 billion, which has steadily climbed from his 2023 net worth of $8.1 billion. Fertitta, 67, purchased the Houston Rockets in October 2017 for $2.2 billion. The billionaire also owns Texas-based hospitality and entertainment corporation Landry's. In 2019, Fertitta embarked on a new venture as an author.

"Fertitta released his first book titled Shut Up And Listen! in September [2019], detailing his experiences in the dining and entertainment industries," Forbes wrote in Fertitta's profile.

The Forbes 400list is a definitive ranking of the wealthiest Americans, using interviews, financial data, and documentation provided by billionaires and their companies.

According to the report, America's elite class is now worth $5.4 trillion collectively, which is a $1 trillion jump since 2023.

“The Forbes 400 is richer than ever, and it’s harder than ever to be one of the 400 richest people in America," said Forbes senior editor Chase Peterson-Withorn in a press release.

In all, 43 Texas billionaires made the list.

Unsurprisingly, Austin resident Elon Musk ranks No. 1 nationally for the third time, with a net worth of $244 billion. Despite ranking at the top of the list this year, Musk's net worth has actually dropped by $7 billion since 2023.

New to the 2024 list are Houston-based Westlake Corporation co-owners Albert Chao, James Chao, and their respective families. According to their Forbes profiles, the Chaos own nearly 25 percent of Westlake Corporation, which produces low-density polyethylene that is used for food packaging and other products.

"His father, T.T. Chao, moved the family from Taiwan to the U.S. and founded Westlake in 1986," Albert Chao's profile says. "Albert and brother James Chao are credited with helping launch the company. Albert was CEO from 2004 to July 2024, when he became executive chairman. James was chairman from 2004 to July 2024, when he became senior chairman."

Here's how the rest of Houston's billionaires fared on this year's list:

  • Oil and gas chairman Richard Kinderranks No. 112 nationally with an estimated worth of $9.3 billion.
  • Houston pipeline heir Randa Duncan Williams ties for No. 126 with an estimated net worth of $8.6 billion. Fellow pipeline heirs Dannine Avara and Milane Frantztie for 130th nationally. Each has an estimated net worth of $8.5 billion. Scott Duncan ranks No. 137 with an $8.3 billion estimated net worth.
  • Toyota mega-dealer Dan Friedkin and Houston oil tycoon Jeffery Hildebrand tie for 156th nationally with an estimated net worth of $7.6 billion.
  • Houston Texans owner Janice McNair ties for No. 210 nationally with an estimated net worth of $6.2 billion.
  • Energy exploration chief exec George Bishop of The Woodlands ranks No. 266 with an estimated net worth of $5 billion.

Missing from the 2024 list is local hedge fund honcho John Arnold, who ranked No. 345 nationally in 2023 but now ranks No. 991 in 2024 with an estimated net worth of $3.3 billion. As of October 1, Forbes estimates Arnold's net worth at $2.9 billion.

Find all the Texans on the new Forbes 400 list here.

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This article originally ran on CultureMap.

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Nancy and Richard Kinder are the richest residents of Houston. Photo by Michelle Watson/Catchlight Group

17 Houstonians cash in on Forbes' 2021 list of world's billionaires

big money

Houston's unofficial benefactor, Richard Kinder, is officially the richest person in the Bayou City, according to Forbes 2021 list of the world's billionaires. Sixteen other uber-wealthy Houston-area residents join Kinder on that list.

But that's not the biggest news, statewide: Eclectic entrepreneur Elon Musk has officially knocked Walmart heiress Alice Walton of Fort Worth off her longtime perch as the richest person in Texas.

On April 6, Forbes released its 2021 list. Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, landed at No. 2 globally with a net worth of $151 billion. He sat at No. 31 in last year's ranking. Forbes lists Musk's place of residence as Austin, although he hasn't confirmed where in Texas he settled last year.

Now at No. 2 in Texas is Walton, whose net worth is $61.8 billion. That puts her at No. 17 on the global list.

Walton is the only daughter of Walmart founder Sam Walton; as of December 2020, the Walton family still reigned as the richest family in the U.S., with Alice Walton's wealth accounting for a little over one-fourth of the family fortune.

The only other Texan who comes close to Musk and Walton in the Forbes ranking is Michael Dell. The chairman and CEO of Round Rock-based Dell Technologies boasts a net worth of $45.1 billion. That places him at No. 30 on the global list and No. 3 in Texas.

In all, the Forbes list features 64 Texas billionaires collectively worth $460.1 billion. (What pandemic?) Among the state's metro areas, Dallas-Fort Worth leads with 27 billionaires, followed by Houston (17), Austin (10), and San Antonio (three).

What follows is a breakdown of Texas billionaires in other cities, including their global ranking, source of wealth, and estimated net worth.

Houston:

  • Richard Kinder, pipelines, No. 369, $7 billion
  • Dannine Avara, pipelines, No. 451, $6 billion
  • Robert Brockman, software, No. 451, $6 billion
  • Scott Duncan, pipelines, No. 451, $6 billion
  • Milane Frantz, pipelines, No. 451, $6 billion
  • Randa Duncan Williams, pipelines, No. 451, $6 billion
  • Tilman Fertitta, Houston Rockets owner/food/entertainment, No. 622, $4.6 billion
  • Dan Friedkin, Toyota dealerships, No. 705, $4.1 billion
  • Janice McNair, Houston Texans owner and energy, No. 705, $4.1 billion
  • John Arnold, hedge funds, No. 925, $3.3 billion
  • Jeffery Hildebrand, oil, No. 1,580, $2 billion
  • Leslie Alexander, former Houston Rockets owner, No. 1,750, $1.8 billion
  • Fayez Sarofim, money management, No. 2,035, $1.5 billion
  • Jim Crane, Houston Astros owner and logistics, No. 2,141, $1.4 billion
  • Wilbur "Ed" Bosarge Jr., high-speed trading, No. 2,674, $1 billion

Two billionaires in the Houston suburbs also show up on the list:

  • Leo Koguan of Sugar Land, information technology services, No. 1,444, $2.2 billion
  • George Bishop of The Woodlands, oil and gas, No. 1,517, $2.1 billion

Fort Worth

  • Robert Bass, oil and investments, No. 550, $5.1 billion
  • David Bonderman, private equity, No. 705, $4.1 billion
  • Sid Bass, oil and investments, No. 1,064 $2.9 billion
  • Donald Horton, homebuilding, No. 1,299, $2.4 billion
  • Edward Bass, oil and investments, No. 1,444, $2.2 billion
  • Lee Bass, oil and investments, No. 1,664, $1.9 billion
  • John Goff, real estate, No. 2,263, $1.3 billion

Mark and Robyn Jones of Westlake, who derive their wealth from the insurance industry, appear at No. 1,249 on the Forbes list with an estimated net worth of $2.5 billion.

Dallas:

  • Jerry Jones, Dallas Cowboys owner, No. 264, $8.9 billion
  • Andy Beal, banking and real estate, No. 311, $7.9 billion
  • Mark Cuban, online media and Dallas Mavericks owner, No. 655, $4.4 billion
  • Ray Lee Hunt, oil and real estate, No. 680, $4.2 billion
  • Margot Birmingham Perot, technology and real estate, No. 705, $4.1 billion
  • Trevor Rees-Jones, oil and gas, No. 727, $4 billion
  • Robert Rowling, Omni Hotels and Gold's Gym, No. 752, $3.9 billion
  • Kelcy Warren, pipelines, No. 891, $3.4 billion
  • H. Ross Perot Jr., real estate, No. 1,174, $2.7 billion
  • Gerald Ford, banking, No. 1,249, $2.5 billion
  • Ray Davis, pipelines, No. 1,517, $2.1 billion
  • W. Herbert Hunt, oil, No. 1,580, $2 billion
  • Todd Wagner, online media, No. 1,664, $1.9 billion
  • Stephen Winn, real estate services, No. 1,664, $1.9 billion
  • Kenny Troutt, telecom, No. 2,035, $1.5 billion
  • Darwin Deason, software, No. 2,141, $1.4 billion
  • Timothy Headington, oil and gas/investments, No. 2,141, $1.4 billion
  • A. Jayson Adair, car salvage business, No. 2,674, $1 billion

Austin:

  • Elon Musk, Tesla and SpaceX, No. 2, $151 billion
  • Michael Dell, technology, No. 30, $45.1 billion
  • Robert F. Smith, private equity, No. 451, $6 billion
  • Bert "Tito" Beveridge, vodka, No. 622, $4.6 billion
  • Thai Lee, information technology, No. 956, $3.2 billion
  • Joe Liemandt, software, No. 1,008, $3 billion
  • John Paul DeJoria, hair care and tequila, No. 1,174, $2.7 billion
  • Jim Breyer, venture capital, No. 1,249, $2.5 billion
  • David Booth, mutual funds, No. 1,750, $1.8 billion
  • Whitney Wolfe Herd, Bumble dating app, No. 2,263, $1.3 billion

San Antonio:

  • Christopher "Kit" Goldsbury, salsa and private equity, No. 1,833, $1.7 billion
  • James Leininger, medical products, No. 2,035, $1.5 billion
  • Red McCombs, real estate/oil/car dealerships/sports/radio, No. 2,035, $1.5 billion
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This article originally ran on CultureMap.

A.J. "Jim" Teague received glowing reviews from ex-employees. EnterprisePartnersProducts

Houston energy exec scores well on list of top CEOs at Fortune 100 companies

Best boss

Correction: The original article referenced information from a ranking from Upslide that mistakenly reported Jim Teague's Glassdoor employee approval ratings as 9 percent, rather than his actual approval rating of 96 percent. The corrected story is below.

CEO A.J. "Jim" Teague, of Houston-based pipeline company Enterprise Products Partners LP, has received top marks according to Glassdoor data. Teague receives 96 percent approval rating from employees who've reviewed him on the platform, according to Glassdoor.

The Money Inc. website says Teague, who became CEO in 2016, is working to reconfigure the culture at Enterprise Products Partners. "His goal is to shape that culture so that the company itself can become more popular with the general public," the website notes.

Teague has also received positive reviews locally. In December, the Greater Houston Port Bureau named him its 2020 Maritime Leader of the Year to recognize his support of the Houston Ship Channel.

"Building on the legacy of the late Dan L. Duncan, who started Enterprise in 1968, Teague has remained loyal to the founder's values of hard work, integrity, and perseverance, with an uncompromising commitment to safety," the bureau says in a release.

Fellow Texans also received top marks. As Fortune magazine once observed, Michael Dell's leadership style revolves around "vision, inspiration, curiosity, and ultimately passion." And as it turns out, employees of Round Rock-based Dell Technologies Inc. are equally passionate about their company's chairman and CEO.

According to Glassdoor reviews, Dell has a 97 percent approval rating from employees of Dell Technologies.

In October 2013, Forbes magazine offered a glimpse into how Dell interacts with employees of the tech company he founded in 1984.

After speaking to a group of Dell workers for about 45 minutes, "more than a dozen employees rush forward to have their picture taken with their iconic chief," Forbes wrote, "because they know he'll happily pose — something not many other tech executives would do. He doesn't disappoint. And he leaves them laughing and cheering again after answering a question about what's keeping him up at night. 'I've been sleeping pretty well lately.'"

You might be sleeping pretty well, too, if your net worth were $31.4 billion, making Dell the richest person in Austin and the 18th richest person in the U.S.

Another Fortune 100 company exec, Kelcy Warren, chairman and CEO of Dallas-based pipeline company Energy Transfer Partners, scores highly on Glassdoor as well. Warren's employee rating stands at 97 percent.

The respect paid to Warren by Energy Transfer Partner employees almost certainly stems, at least in part, from his laid-back demeanor. He reportedly favors a "non-hierarchical, collaborative management style."

"For all of his success, Warren remains a small-town sort of guy who likes to have buddies to his Dallas mansion on Wednesdays for beers, shuffleboard, and chain yanking," according to a 2015 article published by the Bloomberg news service.

With a net worth of $4.3 billion, Warren ranks 159th on Forbes' list of the richest Americans.

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This article originally ran on CultureMap.

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Intuitive Machines lands $1M grant to expand robotics operations

Expansion mode

Houston-based Intuitive Machines is expanding its operations around the country.

The space tech company—which has offices and labs in Texas, California, Arizona, Colorado and Maryland—announced that it has received a $1 million grant from Maryland Gov. Wes Moore through the state's Build Our Future Grant. The funding will go toward expanding Intuitive Machines’ Super Cislunar Robotics Assembly Building (Supa-CRAB) Mechanisms and Robotics Center of Excellence in Anne Arundel County.

The company will move into a 69,000-square-foot facility and build out additional lab and office space. It will also procure equipment that will allow for in-house Assembly, Integration and Test (AI&T) activities, according to a news release. Intuitive Machines says the expansion will take place this fall.

“This collaboration shows how industry, state programs, and education can reinforce one another,” Steve Altemus, CEO of Intuitive Machines, said in the release. “Maryland invests in innovation, companies grow and hire, students gain experience, and communities benefit from new opportunities and long-term career pathways. Together with Governor Moore, the state of Maryland, and Anne Arundel County leaders, we are building a permanent path to long-term lunar operations, an advanced robotics and mechanisms center of excellence, and a technology edge for our nation.”

Intuitive Machines first launched operations in Maryland in 2021 and has since expanded five times in the state. The company officially opened its robotics and mechanisms facility in 2024.

The Maryland team has built robotics and mechanisms for the Nova-C landers and IM-1 and IM-2 missions. In the future, Intuitive Machines expects the Maryland team to work on its IM-3 Rover Deployment Mechanism (RDM), a 360 pan-tilt camera for panoramic views, the Main Engine Gimbal (MEG), and the company's first data relay satellite, known as Altus-1.

Intuitive Machines moved into a new $40 million headquarters at the Houston Spaceport in 2023. The company announced an expansion of its lease last year.

The company announced a $175 million equity investment to fuel growth in March. It's since landed a $180 million NASA CLPS award to deliver seven payloads to the moon's Mons Malapert on the IM-5 mission.

5 Houston universities named best in the world on new U.S. News list

Top of the Class

Five Houston-area universities have been named among the best universities worldwide in U.S. News & World Report's just-released comprehensive list for 2026-2027.

U.S. News' Best Global Universities report ranks more than 2,250 schools based exclusively on their academic research performance and international reputation. Only 275 universities from the U.S. were included in the global ranking, and 21 based in Texas.

Harvard University topped the list for 2026-2027, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University claimed the coveted No. 2 and No. 3 spots worldwide.

Houston's Baylor College of Medicine topped the list of the best local schools, and it ranked as the 144th best university in the world.

Here's how the rest of Houston's local institutions ranked:

  • No. 201 – Rice University
  • No. 324 – University of Texas Health Science Center Houston
  • No. 390 – University of Houston
  • No. 599 – University of Texas Medical Branch Galveston

In a statement explaining global university trends, the managing editor for Education at U.S. News, LaMont Jones, Ed.D., said schools in the U.S. have continued to rank "disproportionately high" while major universities from other countries in China and South America are starting to catch up.

"The continuing strength of [American university] reputations and academic research are, for the most part, unmatched," he said. "It's why students all over the world flock here to learn."

Top-ranking Texas universities
The University of Texas at Austin ranked No. 1 statewide and No. 56 worldwide, further cementing the university's reputation as the top choice for students seeking a higher education in Texas.

Earlier in June, UT Austin ranked No. 35 in a separate list of the best universities in the world from the Center for World University Rankings, which compared 2,000 schools globally.

Here's where other Texas universities stand among the top 1,000 in this year's global rankings:

  • No. 113 – University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas
  • No. 177 – Texas A&M University, College Station
  • No. 296 – University of Texas at San Antonio
  • No. 451 – Baylor University, Waco
  • No. 503 – University of Texas at Dallas
  • No. 562 – Texas Tech University, Lubbock
  • No. 739 – University of North Texas, Denton
  • No. 975 – University of Texas at Arlington
  • No. 944 – Southern Methodist University, Dallas
Additionally, six Texas universities ranked outside the top 1,000: University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (No. 1,153); University of Texas El Paso (No. 1,238); Texas State University in San Marcos (No. 1,531); Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in Lubbock (No. 1,871); Texas Christian University in Fort Worth (No. 1,906); and Sam Houston State University in Huntsville (No. 2,141).

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This article originally appeared on CultureMap.com.

Rice student startup lands $1.85M to launch medical drone network

critical cargo

Students at Rice University have developed a medical cargo drone transport system to help deliver sensitive medical supplies and improve mobile healthcare efforts.

Haast Autonomous is the brainchild of graduating seniors Ege Halac, Jason Chen and Santiago Brent, who got their venture idea off the ground with help from the Liu Idea Lab for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (Lilie) Summer Venture Studio. The founders have developed the prototype at Rice’s Oshman Engineering Design Kitchen (OEDK) with fellow Rice researchers Felix Hasson, Ethan Javedan, Kenna Sanders and Caden Schmidt.

The startup has raised $1.85 million in pre-seed funding, according to Rice. The founders plan to focus on Haast full-time following graduation. They said they aim to launch pilot trials in 2027 and head to market later that year.

“We need better alternatives for a fast, safe and on-demand system of transport for life-critical cargo,” Halac said in a news release from Rice.

The Haast team has developed a custom aircraft with software that manages dispatch, routes, and chain of custody to assist in how materials move between sites in centralized medical systems. Generally, the transportation of medical supplies and materials between facilities and points of care relies on ground shipping or expensive air transport.

Haast Autonomous’ aircraft can take off and land vertically, and is designed around a mission profile of 50 to 62 miles. It can carry a payload of at least 5 pounds, with future versions intended to scale up in size. It also includes a built-in payload bay that regulates temperature, pressure, vibration and tilt to protect sensitive contents such as patient samples, antivenom or poisoning kits and radioligands or other therapies, according to Rice.

At first, the company envisioned the mission to be centered around transplants, but saw the product being best suited for a variety of operations.

“What we realized is that the platform we are building is suited for medicine, but it really underlies a much larger problem of mission-critical transport across industries,” Brent added in the news release. “We are building the fastest, most secure logistics chain for the world’s most sensitive cargo.”

Haast Autonomous was recognized at the 2026 Oshman Engineering Design Showcase and Competition, where it won Best Aerospace or Transportation Technology. It also performed well in the 2026 Napier Rice Launch Challenge.

In the future, Haast Autonomous plans to deploy a fleet of aircraft. The software will be designed to assist hospitals in requesting flights and tracking deliveries in real time.

“The drone is only part of the solution,” Chen also added in the release. “What matters is moving something from point A to point B in a way that fits into how hospitals already operate.”

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