The 18 richest people in America

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Mark Zuckerberg

Mariana Bazo/Reuters

32-year-old Mark Zuckerberg is the fourth richest person in the US with a fortune of $58.5 billion.

One-third of the 500 billionaires on the recently relaunched Bloomberg Billionaires Index - including the top three - hail from the US.

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The 18 richest - culled from the global top 30 - are worth an astounding $793 billion - more than the annual GDP of the Netherlands, Turkey, or Switzerland.

The two richest people in America are no surprise: Bill Gates and Warren Buffett maintain their lead at the top despite being the two most generous people on earth. But US tech moguls continue to creep toward the very top. Heavyweights like Jeff Bezos of Amazon and Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook add billions to their net worths each year as their powerful companies continue to grow in value and influence.

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Not everyone is an entrepreneur though. Inherited wealth has kept a hefty portion of the country's cash in the hands of a few families, as the Koch brothers, the Waltons of Walmart, and the heirs to the Mars candy conglomerate each rank among the wealthiest.

Read on to learn more about the richest people in America.

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Note that Bloomberg does not report the net worth of its founder and owner Michael Bloomberg, who does not appear on this ranking, though other sources peg his fortune at roughly $45 billion.