http://www.forbes.com/2002/09/13/400fictional.html
The “Forbes Fictional Fifteen”: the fifteen richest fictional characters. Lex Luther was elected President of the United States in 2000? When did this happen?
Related: The Founders’ Club, the 58 Americans who’ve made the Fortune 400 every year since 1982. Forbes argues that “the high churn rate is due mostly to the dynamic nature of American capitalism, which never settles into the sort of equilibrium that would give rise to a permanent aristocracy of wealth.” Is there a British equivalent? Is the churn rate there any different? The piece also explains that the list is limited to 400 names because:
“The Four Hundred” was a familiar shorthand term for high society during the Gilded Age, when Mrs. William B. Astor Jr. was the social arbiter and only 400 people could fit into her Fifth Avenue ballroom. Well, times change: The non-exclusive Empire State Building now rises where Mrs. Astor’s mansion once stood, and not a single Astor, Vanderbilt or Morgan rates a mention on the current Forbes Four Hundred.
(Three Rockefellers made the list.)