Panthers owner David Tepper hits Forbes' list of wealthiest Americans

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Charlotte has a new connection to Forbes’ annual list of the wealthiest people in America, though his residence is listed as Florida. David Tepper, the newly minted owner of the Carolina Panthers and founder of hedge fund Appaloosa Management, comes in at No. 38 on the list with a net worth estimated at $11.6 billion.

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The magazine calls Tepper, 61, “arguably the greatest hedge fund manager of his generation,” noting that Miami Beach, Florida-based Appaloosa has some $15 billion under management and has been “steadily returning money to client investors in recent years.”

Previous iterations of the Forbes list included Charlotte businessman and former UNC System President C.D. Spangler Jr., who died earlier this year. Only three other Carolinians made this year’s list — software executives James Goodnight and John Sall, both of SAS Institute and residents of North Carolina’s Triangle region, and Anita Zucker of Charleston, South Carolina, the CEO of chemicals manufacturer InterTech Group. Goodnight ranks highest of those three, coming in at No. 55 with his net worth pegged at $8.9 billion. Sall lands at No. 163 with $4.4 billion, followed by Zucker at No. 316 with $2.6 billion.

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Jeff Bezos, CEO of online retail behemoth Amazon.com Inc., jumped past Microsoft Corp. founder Bill Gates to top this year’s list. And for the first time this year, each member of the “Forbes 400” was scored based on philanthropic giving, with 5 being the highest.

Check out this slideshow to see how Tepper and the top-ranked individuals fared.

Cox Media Group