Autry Stephens, the founder and Board Chair of Endeavor Energy Resources, L.P., was honored with the Permian Basin Petroleum Association’s prestigious 2021 Top Hand Award. (Photo credit: Endeavor)
Midland resident makes Forbes’ ranking of 400 wealthiest Americans
A newcomer to Forbes Magazine’s annual ranking of the wealthiest Americans is a Midland resident.
West Texas wildcatter Autry Stephens, 84, is ranked No. 63 on the list of 400 richest Americans.
Stephens drilled his first well in Texas in 1979 after starting a sole proprietor business that grew into Endeavor Energy Resources, which is now one of the largest private oil producers in the U.S., generating 200,000 barrels per day, according to the Forbes report. The company “has the rights to drill on more than 500,000 acres in the U.S., mainly in Texas,” the report adds.
Stephens is one of 19 people on Forbes’ richest list who made their money in energy.
In total, 41 Texas residents made the 400 list, including the man at the very top of the ranking, Elon Musk, founder of Tesla and SpaceX who lives in Austin and is reportedly worth $251 billion.
Other Texans include:
No. 15 at $55.7 billion: Alice Walton of Fort Worth, daughter of Walmart founder Sam Walton
No. 16 at $50 billion: Michael Dell of Austin, chairman and CEO of Dell Technologies
No. 44 at $16 billion: Jerry Jones of Dallas, president and GM of the Dallas Cowboys
No. 48 at $12.9 billion: Stan Kroenke of Electra, a real estate and sports mogul
No. 56 at $11 billion: Jeffrey Hildebrand of Houston, cofounder of Hilcorp.
No. 61 at $10.3 billion: Andrew Beal of Dallas, founder and owner of Beal Financial Corporation
No. 79 at $8.3 billion: Ann Walton-Kroenke of Electra, the daughter of Bud Walton, who helped his brother, Sam, build Walmart
No. 86 at $8 billion: Robert F. Smith of Austin, founder of private equity firm Vista Equity Partners
No. 93 at $7.7 billion: Tilman Fertitta of Houston, owner of the Houston Rockets, Golden Nugget Casinos and Landry’s
No. 99 at $7.6 billion: Joe Gebbia of Austin, cofounder of Airbnb
No. 104 at $7.5 billion: Charles Butt of San Antonio, founder of H-E-B
No. 110 at $7.3 billion: Richard Kinder of Houston, chairman of Kinder Morgan
No. 119 at $6.9 billion: Siblings Dannine Avara, Scott Duncan, Milane Frantz and Randa Duncan Williams of Houston, inherited Enterprise Products Partners from their late father
No. 138 at $6.5 billion: David Bonderman of Fort Worth, chairman and founding partner of private equity giant TPG
No. 150 at $6.3 billion: Ken Fisher of Dallas, executive chairman and co-chief investment officer of Fisher Investments
No. 160 at $5.7 billion: Ray Lee Hunt of Dallas, son of legendary oil wildcatter H.L. Hunt who chairs Hunt Consolidated
No. 190 at $5.2 billion: Dan Friedkin of Houston, owner of Gulf States Toyota
No. 202 at $5 billion: Bert “Tito” Beveridge of Austin, founder of Tito’s Vodka
No. 202 at $5 billion: Janice McNair of Houston, widow of Robert (Bob) McNair who inherited stake in the Houston Texans
No. 211 at $4.9 billion: Robert Bass of Fort Worth, who helped launch a half dozen investment shops including his Oak Hill Advisors
No. 214 at $4.8 billion: Robert Rowling of Dallas, who in 1996 reinvested $500 million from selling the family’s oilfields into the purchase of Omni Hotels
No. 227 at $4.6 billion: Mark Cuban of Dallas, owner of the Dallas Mavericks who co-founded and sold Broadcast.com to Yahoo for $5.7 billion
No. 227 at $4.6 billion: Kelsey Warren of Dallas, who cofounded pipeline company Energy Transfer in 1996
No. 234 at $4.5 billion: Margot Birmingham Perot of Dallas, the widow of the late technology entrepreneur and presidential candidate H. Ross Perot, Sr.
No. 234 at $4.5 billion: Joe Liemandt of Austin, the founder of ESW Capital, an investment firm that purchases software companies
No. 252 at $4.2 billion: Thai Lee of Austin, CEO of $12.3 billion (sales) IT provider SHI International
No. 271 at $4 billion: Hayes Barnard of Austin ($4B, No. 271), the cofounder and CEO of GoodLeap
No. 271 at $4 billion: W. Herbert Hunt of Dallas, one of legendary oil wildcatter H.L. Hunt’s children who owns a refinery in Louisiana and oil company Petro-Hunt
No. 271 at $4 billion: Trevor Reese-Jones of Dallas ($4B, No. 271), who started Chief Oil & Gas in 1984 and became a pioneer of the shale fracking boom;
No 296 at $3.8 billion: Ross Perot Jr. of Dallas, the son of late billionaire presidential candidate Ross Perot Sr. who founded real estate development company Hillwood
No. 296 at $3.8 billion: Steven Udvar-Hazy of Westlake, credited with creating the airplane leasing industry
No. 303 at $3.7 billion: Sid Bass of Fort Worth, who inherited several million dollars from his oil tycoon great-uncle Sid Richardson in 1959 and has been diversifying ever since.
No. 332 at $3.3 billion: John Arnold of Houston ($3.3B, No. 332), successful energy trader who built his hedge fund Centaurus Advisors
No. 351 at $3.1 billion: Bill Austin of Brownsville, who owns Starkey Hearing Technologies, the largest hearing aid manufacturer in the U.S.
No. 359 at $3 billion: George Bishop of The Woodlands, who founded oil and gas producer GeoSouthern Energy in 1981
No. 369 at $2.9 billion: John Paul DeJoria of Austin, founder of tequila maker Patron Spirits Co. and cofounder of hair care company John Paul Mitchell Systems;
No. 380 at $2.8 billion: Eleanor Butt Crook & family of San Marcos ($2.8B, No. 380), who is an heir to the H-E-B grocery fortune
No. 388 at $2.7 billion: Drayton McLane of Temple, ($2.7B, No. 388) turned his family’s grocery distribution company, McLane Co., into an international firm and sold it to Walmart.
