No. 32: Robert McNair
Age: 76Home: HoustonNet Worth: $2 billion
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Jump to… Telling Fortunes No. 1: Alice Walton No. 2: Michael Dell No. 3: Richard Kinder No. 4: Harold Simmons No. 5: Andrew Beal No. 6: Charles Butt and Family No. 8: Ray L. Hunt Nos. 9, 10, 11, and 12: Dannine Avara, Scott Duncan, Milane Duncan Frantz, Randa Duncan Williams No. 7: Elaine Marshall and Family No. 13: Jeffrey Hildebrand No. 14: Robert Rowling No. 15: Trevor Rees-Jones No. 16: John Paul Dejoria No. 17: Henry Ross Perot Sr. No. 18: Kelcy Warren No. 19: William Herbert Hunt No. 20: Jerry Jones No. 21: John Arnold Nos. 22, 30, 31, and 37: Robert Bass, Edward Bass, Lee Bass, and Sid Bass No. 23: David Bonderman No. 24: Richard Rainwater No. 25: Mark Cuban No. 26: Dan Friedkin No. 27: Timothy Headington No. 28: Tilman Fertitta No. 29: Rodney Lewis No. 32: Robert McNair No. 33: Fayez Sarofim No. 34: Ray Davis No. 35: Gerald J. Ford No. 36: Drayton McLane Jr. No. 38: Henry Ross Perot Jr. No. 39: Joe Jamail Jr. Nos. 40 and 41: Dan Wilks and Farris Wilks The Forbes Methodology
Bob McNair is the man who brought pro football back to Houston. At the end of 1996, Houston had lost all love for the Oilers, who had announced they were moving to Tennessee for promises of a better stadium and higher ticket sales. After the team relocated, in 1997, McNair—who had just sold Cogen Technologies, a power plant operator and the largest privately owned cogeneration company in the world, to Enron for $1.5 billion—spent $700 million of his personal fortune to bid for the thirty-second expansion team in the NFL. He beat out Los Angeles and Toronto and won the franchise that eventually became the Houston Texans, now valued at $1.3 billion.
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Jump to… Telling Fortunes No. 1: Alice Walton No. 2: Michael Dell No. 3: Richard Kinder No. 4: Harold Simmons No. 5: Andrew Beal No. 6: Charles Butt and Family No. 8: Ray L. Hunt Nos. 9, 10, 11, and 12: Dannine Avara, Scott Duncan, Milane Duncan Frantz, Randa Duncan Williams No. 7: Elaine Marshall and Family No. 13: Jeffrey Hildebrand No. 14: Robert Rowling No. 15: Trevor Rees-Jones No. 16: John Paul Dejoria No. 17: Henry Ross Perot Sr. No. 18: Kelcy Warren No. 19: William Herbert Hunt No. 20: Jerry Jones No. 21: John Arnold Nos. 22, 30, 31, and 37: Robert Bass, Edward Bass, Lee Bass, and Sid Bass No. 23: David Bonderman No. 24: Richard Rainwater No. 25: Mark Cuban No. 26: Dan Friedkin No. 27: Timothy Headington No. 28: Tilman Fertitta No. 29: Rodney Lewis No. 32: Robert McNair No. 33: Fayez Sarofim No. 34: Ray Davis No. 35: Gerald J. Ford No. 36: Drayton McLane Jr. No. 38: Henry Ross Perot Jr. No. 39: Joe Jamail Jr. Nos. 40 and 41: Dan Wilks and Farris Wilks The Forbes Methodology
