Page 22 - Forbes - USA (February 2018)

LeaderBoard

NEW BILLIONAIRE MONEY AND POLITICS

HIS FELLOW
BILLIONAIRES
HERE’S SOMETHING political
observers agree on: Donald Trump’s
victory in 2016 will undoubtedly
make others among the nation’s ultra-
rich consider a presidential run. For
now, Trump is the front-runner for
2020; bookmaker Betfair gives him a
5/2 chance of winning. But there are
plenty of ten-figure challengers, even
if some of them deny being interested
in the job. We pulled the wagering
odds from Ladbrokes and gambling
sites like Bet365 and then asked
veteran Democratic pollster Mark
Penn to analyze the field.

MARK ZUCKERBERG
NET WORTH: $75.8 BILLION
ODDS: 28/1
Penn: [laughs] “He has no skills that
would really work in politics.”
JEFF BEZOS
NET WORTH: $114 BILLION
ODDS: 50/1
“Not this cycle, but I wonder if in two
THE BIG WHEELER
to three cycles. . . . The person who has
A little trouble with the law hasn’t stopped Ernie become the world’s richest person and
runs Amazon has some potential.”
Garcia from hitting the gas on a used-car empire.
MICHAEL BLOOMBERG
NET WORTH: $52.9 BILLION
FOR MANY YEARS, Ernest “Ernie” Garcia II, 60, shunned the
spotlight. Then, last April, he sauntered onto one of the grand- ODDS: 50/1
“Should’ve just thrown his hat in the
est stages in business: the bell-ringing platform at the New York ring last time. I suspect he’s never going
Stock Exchange. Carvana, which has created a popular online to run.”
marketplace for buying, selling and financing used automobiles, JAMIE DIMON
was going public, and Garcia, its largest shareholder, wanted to NET WORTH: $1.3 BILLION
savor the moment. ODDS: 50/1
“I don’t see America putting a banker in
Nearly 30 years ago his circumstances were vastly different. the White House anytime soon.”
Garcia, then a real estate developer, pleaded guilty to a felony fraud
charge connected to Charles Keating’s Lincoln Savings & Loan OPRAH WINFREY
NET WORTH: $2.9 BILLION
scandal and spent three years on probation. (Garcia had arranged
ODDS: 66/1
a complex real estate purchase that allowed Lincoln’s parent to “I’d put her chances lower than her
image would suggest. The Democratic
improperly siphon money out of the bank.) In 1991 he bought
electorate is looking for someone who
Ugly Duckling, a rental-car chain, for $1 million. Unable to turn it is experienced in government and
around, Garcia changed gears: Ugly Duckling became DriveTime, politics.”
a seller and financier of used cars, and he steered it through several
MARK CUBAN
subprime credit crunches. Carvana began as part of DriveTime NET WORTH: $3.3 BILLION ERNEST GARCIA II: MICHAEL NAGLE/BLOOMBERG; ILLUSTRATIONS BY BRIAN TAYLOR
before spinning off four years ago. Combined, Garcia’s stakes in the ODDS: 80/1 NEW BILLIONAIRE BY NATHAN VARDI; HANDICAPPING BY ABRAM BROWN
two firms are today worth over $2 billion. “Knows how to kick up a fuss.”
Garcia has tried to keep his controversial past separate from BILL GATES
NET WORTH: $92.5 BILLION
Carvana—at least somewhat. Although he has never served as a
Carvana executive or director, his son Ernest III now runs the ODDS: 150/1
“Full disclosure: I worked with him for
company, and the two live next to each other in Phoenix. many years. He understands health care,
the international scene, economics. He’d
have to run as an independent.”
20 | FORBES FEBRUARY 28, 2018