Media names once again were plentiful on Forbes magazine's annual list of the top 400 richest Americans.
The two wealthiest media barons in the U.S.? Octogenarian Anne Cox Chambers, 81, and her sister Barbara Cox Anthony, 78, whose $11.3 billion fortunes come from Cox Enterprises, the Atlanta, Ga.-based media conglomerate that owns cable operators, television and radio stations, and newspapers. The Cox sisters were 11th on the list.
They were followed by number-13 John Kluge, 87, founder of Metromedia, Inc. That company was bought by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. in 1986. Kluge just edges out Viacom Chairman Sumner Redstone, who is worth $10.1 billion.
Murdoch and his $7.5 billion fortune come in at 21, immediately followed by longtime rival, Charlie Ergen, Chairman and CEO of Echostar Communications Corp. Ergen currently is trying to outbid Murdoch to gain control of Hughes Electronics, which owns EchoStar's only competition, DirecTV. Another Murdoch rival, Turner Broadcasting founder Ted Turner, comes in 25th with $6.2 billion.
Other media barons showing up on the Forbes 400 list are Donald and Samuel Newhouse, each with $5 billion; New York mayoral candidate Michael Bloomberg with $4 billion; Cablevision's Chuck Dolan with $2.6 billion; Continental Cablevision founder Amos Hostetter with $2.5 billion; Univision's A. Jerrold Perenchio with $2.5 billion: TCI and Liberty Media founder John Malone with $2.1 billion; Clear Channel's L. Lowry Mays with $1.6 billion; Hubbard Broadcasting's Stanley Hubbard with $1.4 billion; and BET's Bob Johnson with $1.3 billion. - Paige Albiniak
