Rhode Island, home to 2 of the world’s billionaires

JONATHAN NELSON was ranked No. 736 on Forbes' 2011 World's Billionaires list. /
JONATHAN NELSON was ranked No. 736 on Forbes' 2011 World's Billionaires list. /

PROVIDENCE – Jonathan Nelson and Hope Hill van Beuren (and family) are the two Rhode Islanders that made it onto the 2011 Forbes’ World’s Billionaires list.

Jonathan Nelson, founder of private equity investment firm Providence Equity Partners, ranked at No. 736 with a net worth of $1.7 billion.

Hope Hill van Beuren and family, Campbell’s Soup heiress and Middletown resident, with a net worth of $1.1 billion made it onto the list at No. 1057.

The 25th annual Forbes list, published Wednesday, ranked the world’s billionaires according to a “snapshot” taken on Feb. 14 in order to lock in stock prices and exchange rates around the world.

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Reigning for the second year in a row at No. 1, Mexican telecommunications czar Carlos Slim Helu (and family) outranked U.S. heavyweights Bill Gates and Warren Buffet. Slim’s fortune amasses $74 billion, Gates’ $56 billion and Buffet’s comes in at $50 billion.

Nelson’s fortune as of March 2011 reflected a rebound from 2010 and 2009, both calculated at $1.4 billion, but remained lower than his 2008 wealth, calculated at $2 billion.

Van Beuren’s fortune remained at $1.1 billion in 2011, consistent with 2010 and 2009 but also lower than in 2008, when it was calculated at $1.3 billion.

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