T. Denny Sanford falls out of Forbes 400 in latest wealth rankings

Trent Abrego, Sioux Falls Argus Leader
·2 min read
T. Denny Sanford speaks at the groundbreaking for Midco Arena, which will host a new Augustana University hockey team, on Tuesday, October 5, 2021, on the corner of 33rd Street and Grange Avenue in Sioux Falls. Sanford made the largest donation in the history of the university for this new complex.
T. Denny Sanford speaks at the groundbreaking for Midco Arena, which will host a new Augustana University hockey team, on Tuesday, October 5, 2021, on the corner of 33rd Street and Grange Avenue in Sioux Falls. Sanford made the largest donation in the history of the university for this new complex.
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T. Denny Sanford fell out of the latest edition of the Forbes 400, a list of the wealthiest people in the United States.

Last year, the 86-year-old businessman ranked 340th. Sanford's net worth dipped to $2 billion, compared to last year's number of $3.4 billion. He now ranks 1,388th in the world, Forbes said. Sanford signed the Giving Pledge in 2010, professing he wants to "die broke" and give away a majority of his wealth.

And he's not the only billionaire who lost money this year. Sanford was one of 41 members of the 2021 Forbes 400 list to miss out on the newest edition of the list.

With the rapidly increasing inflation and falling markets, this year's edition of the Forbes 400 has lost $500 billion in wealth since 2021. It's the first time since the Great Recession that the "superrich did not get richer," Forbes said. In Sanford's case, a couple of large donations also contributed to the decline.

A little more than a year ago, Sanford announced a $350 million donation for virtual care at Sanford Health, which expanded Sanford Health's efforts in hard-to-reach rural areas by creating a telemedicine care center and expanding a virtual network, according to previous reporting from the Argus Leader.

In September, Sanford pledged $150 million to the University of California at San Diego to expand stem-cell research that focuses on space-based stem-cell science, according to The Chronicle of Philanthropy.

Forbes said that Sanford has given nearly $2 billion to charity. Sanford has donated roughly $1.5 billion to Sanford Health since his initial gift more than 10 years ago, which was then known as Sioux Valley. There are now no South Dakotans in the Forbes 400.

Elon Musk, the co-founder of Tesla, SpaceX and Boring Company, was named the wealthiest American in the Forbes 400, amassing a net worth of $251 billion, followed by Jeff Bezos of Amazon with $151 billion. Bill Gates clocked in at the third spot with a net worth of $106 billion. The minimum net worth to make the top 400 fell by $200 million to $2.7 billion.

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: T. Denny Sanford falls out of Forbes 400