UPDATE: Why Oprah Winfrey, Kanye West, other Black American billionaires didn’t make 400 richest Forbes list

The American business magazine, Forbes has been criticised for excluding some renowned Black American billionaires in its recent 2022 Forbes 400 List of Richest Americans.

Forbes published the annual list in September to determine the 400 wealthiest people in the United States of America stating that a person must have a net worth of at least $2.7 billion to qualify for this year’s list.

In 2021, the benchmark to make the list was $2.9 million, over a billion dollars over the cutoff from a decade ago with the threshold at $1.1 billion.

However, some black billionaires such as the talk show host Oprah Winfrey and American rapper Kanye West were left out because Forbes considered them “too poor” for meeting the requirements.

Forbes said, “Oprah Winfrey (estimated net worth, $2.5 billion) is too poor. Kanye West ($2 billion) doesn’t have enough.”

Other Blacks not included in the 400 are the Chairperson of the Charlotte Hornets, Michael Jordan, media personality, Kim Kardashian and rapper, Jay-Z among others.

In the statement on Tuesday, Forbes said, “Neither do Kim Kardashian ($1.8 billion), Michael Jordan ($1.7 billion), Peter Jackson ($1.5 billion) or Jay-Z ($1.3 billion).

“In all, Forbes found more than 300 American billionaires who have ten-figure fortunes, but not enough dough to crack The Forbes 400.”