Forbes 400 H-E-B Billionaires See Wealth Rise

Charles Butt remains the most prominent member of the H-E-B family on the Forbes 400.

The 88-year-old chairman of H-E-B has an estimated net worth of $11.3 billion, according to Forbes. That is up from approximately $10.3 billion in the previous year.

Butt ranks No. 137 among the wealthiest Americans on the 2026 Forbes 400. He is also ranked 18th among Texas billionaires.

His fortune is closely connected to H-E-B, the privately held grocery chain that has grown into one of the most important retailers in Texas.

Butt began working in the family business as a child before eventually becoming its chief executive and later chairman. He served as CEO for decades before handing the position to his nephew, Howard Butt III, in 2021.

Today, Butt continues to serve as chairman while the next generation plays a larger role in the company’s daily operations.

Eleanor Butt Crook Also Makes the List

Eleanor Butt Crook, another member of the H-E-B family, also appears on the 2026 Forbes 400.

Forbes estimates Crook’s net worth at $4.7 billion. She ranks No. 367 among the richest Americans and 38th among wealthy Texans.

Crook, 94, is based in San Marcos and serves on H-E-B’s board of directors. Unlike her brother Charles Butt, she does not have a day-to-day management role at the grocery chain.

Her fortune comes from the family’s long-standing ownership of H-E-B.

The company was founded in 1905 by Florence Butt, making the grocery business more than a century old. What began as a small family operation eventually expanded into one of the largest supermarket chains in the United States.

H-E-B Fortune Extends Beyond Two Billionaires

The Forbes 400 H-E-B billionaires represent only part of the Butt family’s broader fortune.

Forbes estimates the wider Butt family fortune at $26.6 billion. The family owns an estimated 87 percent of H-E-B, which operates hundreds of stores in Texas and Mexico.

Other members of the family also have multibillion-dollar fortunes. However, the wealth threshold for entering the Forbes 400 has risen sharply.

For 2026, a person needed an estimated net worth of at least $4.4 billion to qualify for the list.

That figure represents a $600 million increase from the previous year. It is also $2.7 billion higher than the minimum required a decade ago.

As a result, several members of the Butt family remain billionaires but do not appear individually on the Forbes 400.

Record Wealth Among America’s Richest

The 2026 Forbes 400 illustrates how dramatically the wealth of America’s richest people has increased.

The combined fortune of the 400 members reached a record $8 trillion, up from $6.6 trillion in 2025.

Forbes attributed the surge in wealth to several factors, including strong stock-market performance and the rapid growth of artificial intelligence and data-center businesses.

There are also 590 American billionaires who are wealthy enough to be billionaires but not wealthy enough to enter the Forbes 400.

That gap highlights how quickly the wealth threshold has increased.

At the very top of the ranking, Elon Musk leads the list with an estimated fortune of $908 billion, according to Forbes. His wealth more than doubled over the previous year.

H-E-B Remains a Major Texas Business

The Butt family’s continued presence on the Forbes 400 reflects the enormous value created by H-E-B over more than a century.

The company has remained privately owned while expanding its footprint across Texas and into Mexico. Forbes says H-E-B has more than 450 locations and generated about $49.6 billion in revenue during fiscal 2025.

H-E-B also remains one of Texas’ largest private employers.

The company’s growth has helped preserve the Butt family’s position among the state’s wealthiest families while allowing different generations to participate in its leadership.

Charles Butt’s continued role as chairman also provides a direct link between H-E-B’s modern operations and the family business built by his grandmother, Florence Butt.

What the 2026 Forbes 400 Shows

The appearance of Charles Butt and Eleanor Butt Crook on the 2026 Forbes 400 is part of a broader story about rising private-business wealth in America.

Their fortunes are tied to a grocery company that has remained privately held while becoming a major force in the retail industry.

At the same time, the higher Forbes 400 entry threshold demonstrates how concentrated wealth has grown among America’s richest individuals.

For the Butt family, however, the latest ranking represents more than a billionaire list. It reflects the financial legacy of a grocery business founded in 1905 and developed across generations.

With H-E-B continuing to expand and the family retaining significant ownership, the Butt name remains firmly connected to one of Texas’ most valuable private companies.