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COVER STORY
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When The Virginia 100 first took flight more than a decade ago, the project was new, the names were familiar and the cutoff was $30 million. But this has become a more transient flock. Some fly south, and others fill the void. This year's group of the wealthiest individuals and families in the commonwealth has 17 new or returning members, and the cutoff is $94 million. Readers who have followed the list over the years know that many among The Virginia 100 have feathered their nests with years of slow, steady growth -- building retail, media or real estate empires. The new trend, however, mirrors what's happening in the economy. Today's fortunes are being built in telecommunications and information technology -- most prominently on the Internet. The list has lost some distinguished members, as well. This past year alone Barbara Bottom Forst of Gloucester and William Ralph Van Buren Jr. passed away. The Bottom and Van Buren families once shared ownership of the Newport News Daily Press. D. Tennant Bryan died at age 92 after a long career with Media General Inc., owner of the Richmond Times-Dispatch, many other Virginia dailies, and this magazine. His family remains on the list. Philanthropist Paul Mellon of Upperville passed away in February, leaving behind a significant estate. His estimated $1.4 billion fortune was meticulously distributed: Virginia institutions were major beneficiaries of Mellon's largesse. His wife, Rachel Lambert Mellon, remains on the list. We did manage to nail down several new names this year. James V. Kimsey, chairman emeritus of America Online, probably should have been among The Virginia 100 for a while now. He has had his hands in a number of businesses through the years. He makes the list at $700 million, but consider this estimate to be on the low side. Predictably, high-flying Internet IPOs added new names to this year's flock. Craig A. Winn and Rex Scatena of Charlottesville's online retailer Value America landed on the list, as did Michael J. Saylor and Sanju K. Bansal of MicroStrategy in McLean. Other new additions include Richard L. Sharp, the CEO of Circuit City Stores. He protests his inclusion on the list. But he's in good company. Other newcomers include America Online executive Theodore J. Leonsis, who recently organized a group to buy the NHL's Washington Capitals, and Marc Andreessen of Netscape fame, now chief technical officer at AOL. * * * What does it take to qualify for a spot on The Virginia 100? Take an Internet-related company public. We'll also give credit -- anonymously, of course -- to readers who call and suggest people who ought to be on our radar. We've already got more potential new entries for next year's report. Surveys tell us it's our best-read annual feature. The list gives insight into the commonwealth's economy and migration patterns in money-making. What's more, you never know what kind of stories will turn up. This year we even went offshore with Ben Benson, an Eastern Shore resident and treasure hunter who's new to The Virginia 100. A caveat: The editors track down stock holdings, look at real estate transactions, check news reports and sift through court documents. But when it comes to determining net worth, this is in large part a guessing game. That's why we give each estimate a rating that reflects the confidence we have in our research: "A" is for accurate, "B" is for ballpark and "C" is conjecture, because we can't think of a better "c" word. This we can say for sure: Even if our numbers are off, it's a good bet that the people on the following pages have more than the average nest egg. -- The Editors
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