14 Cargill heirs on Forbes' annual list of billionaires

The family earns the distinction of having the most members make the worldwide list.

March 3, 2015 at 12:22PM
Whitney MacMillan, retiring CEO of Cargill, Inc., at the Administrative Lake Office, known as the mansion, a historic old country home near Lake Minnetonka.
Whitney MacMillan, retiring CEO of Cargill, Inc., at the Administrative Lake Office, known as the mansion, a historic old country home near Lake Minnetonka. (Star Tribune/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

The family behind Cargill Inc.'s agribusiness empire includes 14 billionaires, more than any other family in the world, according to Forbes magazine's annual ranking of billionaires.

The descendants of W.W. Cargill, who founded Cargill 150 years ago, and his son-in-law, John MacMillan Sr., still own just under 90 percent of the Minnetonka-based company, the largest privately held U.S. firm.

Ranked 254th on Forbes' list was Pauline MacMillan Keinath with a fortune of $5.8 billion, followed by her brother, Whitney MacMillan, at 341st with $4.7 billion. Whitney MacMillan, now in his late 80s, was the last Cargill or MacMillan descendant to run the company.

Forbes said it also "uncovered" eight new billionaire heirs to the Cargill-MacMillan fortune, bringing the total to 14.

Others with Minnesota connections who surfaced on this year's list include Richard Schulze, the founder of Richfield-based Best Buy Co. Inc., who ranked 628th at $2.9 billion. Glen Taylor, printing magnate and owner of the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Star Tribune, was 782nd with $2.4 billion; and at 949th was St. Paul television mogul Stanley Hubbard with $2 billion.

Marilyn Carlson Nelson and Barbara Carlson Gage, who have large holdings in the hotel and travel business, were at $1.1 billion each.

At the top of the list was Bill Gates with $79.2 billion, followed by Mexico's Carlos Slim Helu with $77.1 billion and Warren Buffett with $72.7 billion. Basketball great Michael Jordan cracked the list this year with $1 billion, thanks to his investment in the Charlotte Hornets, the Associated Press reported.

Mike Hughlett • 612-673-7003

about the writer

Mike Hughlett

Reporter

Mike Hughlett covers energy and other topics for the Star Tribune, where he has worked since 2010. Before that he was a reporter at newspapers in Chicago, St. Paul, New Orleans and Duluth.

See More

More from Business

card image

Local real estate company owner Kris Lindahl said he was approached by the video game publisher as a way to promote the latest version of its popular, first-person shooter game.