Hunts Rolling in the Dough

(Click here for the list of Wealthiest Arkansans.)

Most of Arkansas’ wealthiest seem to be recovering from 2001’s down year.

Eight of the 10 families on the 2001 Northwest Arkansas Business Journal’s list of the wealthiest Arkansans saw an increase.

The J.B. Hunt family of Fayetteville shot into the No. 9 spot on the list with $364.6 million, up 60.3 percent from last year’s estimated $227 million, which wasn’t good enough to place it in the top 10 for 2001.

The main source of wealth for the family is stock in J.B Hunt Transport Services Inc., which bounced back in 2002. The stock skyrocketed 171 percent from its low point in October 2001, when it hit $11.93. Now it’s trading in the $28 range.

The value of the family’s nearly 12 million shares of the trucking company shot up 67.75 percent in 2002 from $202.4 million in 2001 to $339.6 million this year.

The trend of increasing estimated wealth bypassed the Stephens family of Little Rock. The family saw almost another 12 percent of its wealth vanish since November 2001, when Arkansas Business last tracked the state’s wealthiest.

The value of the family’s known holdings in publicly traded stock fell 15.07 percent from $1.5 billion in 2001 to $1.3 billion in 2002. Still, the family’s wealth, estimated at $2.65 billion, is strong enough to hold on to second place in Arkansas Business’ 2002 Wealthiest Arkansas.

The John A. Cooper family of Bella Vista wasn’t as fortunate. The rise of the Hunt fortune knocked it out of 10th place this year. Once again, the powerhouse on the list is the Walton family of Bentonville, which retains the No. 1 spot.

Helen Walton, widow of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. founder, Sam Walton, and their four children have an estimated wealth of $94.8 billion, which is up 3.85 percent from 2001. Still, the amount is off 12 percent from its high at 107.8 billion in mid-2000, thanks to a slump in the retail sector that has lasted more than a year.

Still, the family remains unchallenged for the No. 1 spot with a fortune that is 35 times larger than the No. 2 Stephens family. In fact, the Waltons’ wealth is more than 10 times that of the other nine fortunes on the top 10 list put together.

The only individual to make the list of the 10 wealthiest Arkansans is Lt. Gov. Winthrop Paul Rockefeller of Little Rock, with an estimated wealth of $1.2 billion, good enough for the No. 5 spot. Although his wealth, mostly from the John David Rockefeller Estate inheritance, remained the same, he dropped two positions on the list since 2001.

The Don Tyson family of Springdale and Murphy Family of El Dorado moved up to No. 3 and No. 4, respectively.

The Tyson family’s wealth stems mostly from Tyson Foods stock. The value of the family’s wealth jumped 10.72 percent to $1.25 billion. Last year, the family’s wealth was valued at $1.13 billion, which placed it in the No. 4 position.

The Murphy family enjoyed a nearly 7 percent increase in the value of their holdings, from $1.125 billion in 2001 to $1..2 billion in 2002, thanks primarily to a healthy increase in the value of Murphy Oil Corp. stock.

Arkansas’ media magnate Walter Hussman Jr.’s family again ranked as the sixth wealthiest in the state. Hussman’s Camden News Publishing Co. publishes the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. His wealth saw a slight increase of 1.88 percent from $873.3 million in 2001 to $889.8 million this year.

A 10 percent increase in the Frank Lyon Jr. family’s estimated wealth due to a run-up in the value of U.S. Bancorp stock helped it hold on to the No. 7 spot on the list. The family’s wealth jumped from $504.7 million in 2001 to $555.4 million in 2002.

Good times for bank stocks also contributed to the second-largest jump in wealth among the top 10 by the family of the late Herbert McAdams of Little Rock. Its estimated wealth climbed nearly 15 percent, from $475.2 million in 2001 to $546.1 million this year. The family, which remained in the No. 8 spot, holds stock in Bank of America as well as Alltel Corp., Dillard’s Inc., farms and other investments.

The F.S. (Sheridan) Garrison Family of Harrison held on to the No. 10 spot again with $313.1 million in estimated wealth, a slight increase over 2001.

The George Gleason family of Little Rock posted one of the largest gains in stock holdings for the year: a 103 percent gain on the strength of its Bank of the Ozarks Inc. stock, which climbed from $29.8 million in 2001 to $60.4 million.