PHOENIX — Who is the wealthiest person in Arizona?
The 2024 Forbes 400 List, an annual ranking of America's richest people, features nine Arizonans, including one of the youngest billionaires on the list.
Earnest Garcia, II
Garcia takes the top spot as the wealthiest person in Arizona. Ranked 67th richest person in America, Garcia is the biggest shareholder of Carvana, an online platform for selling used cars and making auto loans.
Garcia attended the University of Arizona but dropped out to become a stockbroker and eventually turned to real estate development in Phoenix.
Garcia also owns and runs DriveTime Automotive, the nation's fourth-biggest used car retailer.
Carvana was founded by Garcia's son, Ernest Garcia III, who is also on the 2024 Forbes 400 list. Carvana is a subsidiary of DriveTime Automotive which was later spun out, according to Forbes.
According to Forbes, Garcia pleaded guilty to a bank fraud charge related to his dealings with Lincoln Savings & Loan in 1990 when he was 33.
He lives in Tempe and was also at one time the mayor of Gallup, New Mexico.
- Real-time net worth: $15 billion, ranked #146 in the world as of Oct. 9
- 2024 Forbes 400 Net Worth: $13 billion as of Oct. 1
Geroge Kurtz
Kurtz is the co-founder and CEO of CrowdStrike, a cloud-based cybersecurity company based in Sunnyvale, California, which went public in 2019.
Kurtz is ranked the 250th wealthiest person in America and 559th wealthiest person in the world as of Oct. 9. He owns around 5% of the company he founded with Dmitiri Alperovitch in 2011. According to Forbes, Alperovitch has since left the business.
A bug in a CrowdStrike software update set off an outage that grounded flights, took media outlets offline and disrupted companies worldwide in July of 2024.
Before Crowdstrike, Kurtz started the security tech firm Foundstone in 199, which was later acquired by McAfee.
Kurtz lives in Paradise Valley, attended Seton Hall University and has two children.
- Real-time Net Worth: $5.9 billion as of Oct. 9
- 2024 Forbes 400 Net Worth: $5.6 billion as of Oct. 1
Mark Shoen
Shoen owns roughly one-fifth of the publicly traded parent company of U-Haul and ranks 250th richest person in America and 620th wealthiest person in the world.
Shoen's parents, L.S. and Anna Mary Shoen, cofounded the truck-and-trailer-rental company in 1945, Forbes said.
Mark Shoen sided with his brother Joe in a "family feud," Forbes wrote in his bio, in which Joe "wrestled control of U-Haul" from their father.
In addition to U-Haul, Shoen is also a majority owner of one of the largest private self-storage operations in the United States, which does business with U-Haul.
He is 73 years old and lives in Phoenix. He attended College of the Holy Cross and has one child.
- Real-time Net Worth: $5.4 billion as of Oct. 9
- 2024 Forbes 400 Net Worth: $5.2 billion
Arturo Moreno
Moreno, ranked 266th richest person in America and 689th in the world, owns the Los Angeles Angels baseball team. He bought the team in 2003 for $184 million. Today, the team is worth about $2.7 billion.
Moreno's initial fortune came from billboard advertising company Outdoor Systems, which he sold to Infinity Broadcasting in 1999 for $8.3 billion. He also has stakes in other billboard companies and commercial real estate holdings throughout Phoenix.
Moreno had a plan to develop a new Angels baseball stadium for $325 million, but it was shut down by Anaheim's City Council in May of 2022. He announced a few months later that he intended to sell the Angels to the highest bidder, but has since changed his mind.
Moreno is the oldest of 11 children and was drafted into the Vietnam War before he attended the University of Arizona. He lives in Phoenix, has three children and is 78 years old.
- Real Time Net Worth: $5 billion as of Oct. 9
- 2024 Forbes 400 Net Worth: $5 billion as of Oct. 1
Ernest Garcia III
Garcia III comes in as the 288th richest person in America and the 571st wealthiest person in the world. The son of Arizona's wealthiest person, Garcia III is the CEO and co-founder of Carvana, an e-commerce platform for buying and selling used cars.
Carvana was originally launched in 2012 as a subsidiary of DriveTime, a traditional used car business that operates 126 dealerships in 25 states.
At age 42, Garcia III is the tenth-youngest member of the 2024 Forbes 400 List. Garcia attended Stanford University and lives in Phoenix.
- Real Time Net Worth: $5.8 billion
- 2024 Forbes 400 Net Worth: $4.6 billion
E. Joe Shoen
Joe Shoen is the president and chairman of U-Haul's parent company Amerco. He owns around 20%, according to Forbes. He is the 299th richest person in America and the 730th wealthiest person in America as of Oct. 9.
Joe Shoen went to the College of the Holy Cross for his bachelor's degree and the Harvard Business School for his master's degree. He is 74 years old, married and lives in Phoenix.
- Real Time Net Worth: $4.7 billion as of Oct. 9
- 2024 Forbes 400 Net Worth: $4.5 billion
Bob Parsons
Parsons ranks 338th wealthiest in America and 897th in the world as of Oct. 9. He is the founder of GoDaddy, a web hosting firm, which sold his remaining stake in in 2018 and stepped down from the board.
He sold the software firm Parsons Technology to Intuit for $64 million in 1994 and three years later launched Jomax Technologies, which was later renamed to GoDaddy.
Parsons also founded PXG, a company that makes high-performance golf equipment and apparel, in 2014, and owns commercial real estate, motorcycle dealerships, a production company, and the Scottsdale National Golf Club.
Since 2012, Parsons and his wife have given away more than $300 million to charities.
Parsons served as a U.S. Marine in the Vietnam War and received a Purple Heart medal and a combat action ribbon. The 73-year-old attended the University of Baltimore for his bachelor's degree and currently resides in Scottsdale.
- Real Time Net Worth: $3.9 billion as of Oct. 9
- 2024 Forbes 400 Net Worth: $3.9 billion as of Oct. 1
Stewart Horejsi & family
Ranking 347th richest person in America, Horejsi began buying stock in Berkshire Hathway for as little as $265 after reading John Trian's "The Money Masters" in 1980.
Horejsi graduated the University of Kansas in 1962 and then returned home to Salina, Kansas to take over his family's welding supply company. He expanded the business, invested the profits in Berkshire Hathway stock and has spent "much of his life" managing his family's money, Forbes said.
Horejsi is 87 years old, lives in Phoenix, is divorced and has two children. He splits his time between homes in Arizona, Oregon and Barbados, where he owns an 18th-century plantation home once owned by actress Claudette Colbert. He is the 954th richest person in the world as of Oct. 9.
- Real Time Net Worth: $3.7 billion as of Oct. 9
- 2024 Forbes 400 Net Worth: $3.8 billion as of Oct. 1
Bennett Dorrance
The final person from Arizona named on the 2024 Forbes 400 List is Dorrance, the 374th wealthiest person in America and grandson of John T. Dorrance, the inventor of condensed soup.
He is also the founding partner of DMB Associates, a real estate development firm with projects in Arizona, California and Hawaii.
Bennett Dorrance is also a licensed pilot and has a private hangar in Scottsdale, which also sometimes houses his vintage car collection.
The Dorrance Scholarship, which was established by Bennett and Jacquelynn Dorrance in 1999, has supported more than 150 first-generation college students in Arizona.
Bennett Dorrance attended the University of Arizona, resides in Paradise Valley, is married and has two children, He is 78 years old and is the 992nd richest person in the world as of Oct. 9.
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