Forbes 400 ranks America's wealthiest people using data from Orbis

The annual Forbes list of the 400 wealthiest Americans has been compiled using data from sources including Bureau van Dijk's Orbis. To get into the Forbes 400 you will now require a net worth of at least $2.1 billion, up by $100 million from last year. And for the first time in 24 years, Bill Gates is no longer the wealthiest American. It’s now Jeff Bezos.

The report also notes record-breaking numbers including:

• Bezos' fortune is the first on the Forbes 400 to surpasses the $100 billion mark, at $160 billion
• the total net worth of the list has increased to $2.9 trillion, up 7% from last year
• the average net worth of those on the list is $7.2 billion, up $500 million from 2017
• the top 10 on the list are worth a combined $730 billion, $120 billion more than last year

The Forbes 400 top 5 wealthiest Americans

1. Jeff Bezos of Amazon ($160 billion)
2. Bill Gates of Microsoft ($97 billion)
3. Warren Buffet of Berkshire Hathaway ($88.3 billion)
4. Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook ($61 billion)
5. Larry Ellison of Oracle ($58.4 billion)

The Forbes 400 list starts with a list of 700 candidates who are interviewed by Forbes, as are their colleagues, peers, lawyers and rivals. The Forbes team then reviews SEC documents, court records, news articles and more using resources including Bureau van Dijk's Orbis.

Orbis has information on around 300 million companies in all countries. It’s the resource for company data, making it simple to compare companies internationally with standardized financials, extensive corporate ownership structures and beneficial ownership information.