H. Ty Warner, Chicago's Richest

By Rachelle Bowden in News on Sep 24, 2004 12:26PM

Now that 10 years has passed since the height of their popularity, it's time to fess up. How many Beanie Babies did you have? One? One hundred? It seems like everyone in the country had at least one. At least! Which is why it's not surprising to see that H. Ty Warner was named Chicago's richest person on Forbes' annual ranking of the 400 richest Americans.

Warner is 60 years old and his wealth is estimated at $4 billion. That's a lot of Beanie Babies. And, helloooo gold-digging ladies: He's single! But still, at #34 on the list, he is far behind the richest person in America. Guess who? You got it, Bill Gates, who's estimated wealth is $48 billion. Warren Buffet came in #2 on nationally with $41 billion and Paul Allen came in 3rd with $20 billion.

Chicago's list includes a bunch of Pritzkers, Lester Crown who has scored big off investments, Samuel Zell who's into real estate, Oprah Winfrey, Michael Krasny of CDW, along with others. (Complete list in the sidebar of this Trib article.)

Back to the Beanie Babies. Can you believe that Ty is still producing these things? And that people are still collecting them like crazy!? Who are these people!?