CARY – North Carolina has a new richest person – Tim Sweeney, CEO and founder of Epic Games. He has surpassed longtime leader Jim Goodnight. So says new figures from Forbes, which tracks the world’s richest people.
Sweeney’s net worth surged to $7.4 billion this week after Epic secured an investment of $1 billion in new capital. Some $200 million of that came from Sony. Before the fund raiser, Sweeney’s fortune was reported to be $4.7 billion.
On April 7, Forbes estimated Goodnight’s fortune at $6.5 billion.
The investment lifted Epic’s value to $28.7 billion, according to the privately held company. Epic is publisher of the globally popular game Fortnite and is a developer of cutting-edge video game and computer graphics. Three times the firm has now raised more than $1 billion in capital.
Sweeney is still the company’s controlling shareholder, Epic told Forbes.
Forbes estimates his company’s holdings at 28% of shares.
Epic is embroiled in lawsuits and legal complaints globally against Apple and Google over antitrust issues related to sales of Fortnite through the tech giant’s app stores.
Fortune rebounding, Jim Goodnight widens lead over Tim Sweeney as NC’s richest person
