Two well-known Louisiana business owners and philanthropists kept their place among the richest people in the world, according to Forbes' 2025 billionaires list.
Gayle Benson, the owner of the New Orleans Saints and Pelicans, made the annual list for the third year in a row. Todd Graves, the founder of Baton Rouge-based Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers, made his second consecutive appearance in the rankings.
Benson, 78, is ranked the 464th richest person in the world, with a net worth of $7.1 billion — a billion-dollar jump compared to her $6.1 billion net worth last year. Benson also rose from her 2024 ranking, 477th on that year's list.
Benson was once an interior designer in the 1970s but she entered into the sports industry in 2010 after founding her horse racing company, GMB Racing, according to her Forbes profile. In 2018, she inherited the Saints and Pelicans after the death of her husband, Tom Benson, and settled a dispute with his daughter and grandchildren over family assets.
Benson received national attention this year when New Orleans hosted Super Bowl LIX and she served as an ambassador for the city.
Graves, 53, made his debut on the Forbes list last year with 67 other Americans who joined the list, including pop star Taylor Swift.
Graves' net worth rose by about $400 million to $9.5 billion from 2024 to 2025. However, Graves' overall ranking fell from his debut as the 270th richest person in the world to the 293rd this year.
Raising Cane's concept of serving strictly chicken finger-based meals originated when Graves was a student at the University of Georgia, his Forbes profile says. By 1996, he launched Raising Cane's and the rapidly-growing fast food chain today is worth $3.7 billion with over 800 locations across the country.
This year, Forbes listed 3,028 billionaires around the world, 288 of which were newcomers. This year is the first time the billionaire list grew to over 3,000 people, worth a record $16.1 trillion combined.
The new billionaires include icons of American music, film and TV: Bruce Springsteen, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jerry Seinfeld.
At the top of the list with $342 billion is Elon Musk, whose companies include Tesla, SpaceX and xAI and who has taken a leading role in the Trump Administration's Department of Government Efficiency.
