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March 12, 2026 / 4:00 PM CDT
/ CBS Minnesota

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This session, a bill to end surveillance pricing is moving forward at the Minnesota Capitol.

Surveillance pricing is when companies use data collected on you to set individualized pricing for consumers. 

“Companies are using our personal data to find our pain points, how much we will pay for something,” said DFL Rep. Erin Koegel, the co-chair of the Minnesota House Commerce Finance and Policy committee.

The committee performed an experiment with a rideshare company — ordering the same ride from the same house to the Mall of America.

“The prices were always different. And so my committee administrator consistently saw a higher price of his twin brother,” said Koegel.

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Companies accused of surveillance pricing often deny it. One example is Instacart. On its website it says it does not use “personal, demographic, or user-level behavioral information about individuals to set online item prices.”. 

“The bill that we’re working through right now would basically just outlaw the use of personal data for prices. So companies would not be able to use all of your personal data to determine what you would pay,” said Koegel.

The Minnesota Chamber of Commerce has voiced its concerns about the proposed ban, arguing it would eliminate discounts, increase costs and restrict marketing tools and that a ban would impede what is the inevitable evolution of marketing. 

Koegel says it’s not clear if the bill will clear the Legislature.  

“We’re trying do here in Minnesota is make it clear that we want a fair and transparent market. We want to know what these companies are doing, ” said Koegel.

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In the meantime she shared some advice.

I think searching for flights in incognito mode. Kind of like you basically have to hide your identity online now to get fair prices,” said Koegel.

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In:

• While Elon Musk topped Forbes’ list of world’s richest people for 2026, several people with ties to Minnesota are also on the list.
• They include Glen Taylor, founder of Taylor Corp., and T. Denny Sanford, owner of First Premier Bank.
• 21 heirs of Cargill founder W.W. Cargill are also on the list of the world’s billionaires.

Several people with Minnesota ties are on Forbes’ latest listing of the world’s wealthiest people.

South African-born businessman and tech mogul Elon Musk is once again the richest man in the world, according to the magazine, which released its annual list of the world’s billionaires March 10.

Glen Taylor, of Mankato, Minnesota, is at No. 1285 on the list with assets totaling $3.3 billion, Forbes said. Taylor, 84, grew up on a farm in southern Minnesota, went to Minnesota State University, and in 1975 bought a wedding service he had worked in during college for $2 million, according to the magazine. That wedding service became Taylor Corp., a printing service with current annual sales of more than $2 billion. He owns stakes in the NBA’s Timberwolves and WNBA’s Lynx as well as the Minnesota Star Tribune newspaper.

T. Denny Sanford, who grew up in the Twin Cities, went to the University of Minnesota and now lives in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, was at No. 1712 on the list with assets totaling $2.4 billion. Sanford, 90, owns First Premier Bank, which is one of the largest issuers of Mastercards. Sanford has said that he wants to die broke, and he has given more than $1 billion to Sanford Health, a group of 43 nonprofit hospitals formerly called the Sioux Valley Health System, according to Forbes.

More: Fort Snelling offers expansive look at Minnesota’s history

Also on the Forbes list are members of the Cargill family, which owns Cargill. The food and beverage company based in Wayzata, Minnesota, is the largest privately owned company in the country, and 21 heirs of founder W.W. Cargill are worth $1 billion or more, according to Forbes. The highest on the list is Pauline MacMillan Keinath, who landed at No. 361 with $9.5 billion in assets, according to Forbes. Keinath, 92, now lives in St. Louis.

There are a record 3,428 people worth $1 billion or more, an increase of 400 compared with last year. This year’s billionaire class is worth a combined record $20.1 trillion, $4 trillion more than last year’s total income.

Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, tops the list again this year, increasing his wealth from 2025 by an estimated $497 billion, roughly doubling his fortune and bringing it to a record $839 billion. The 54-year-old is more than three times richer than Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who Forbes lists as the second and third wealthiest people in the world, respectively.

Here’s the top 50 wealthiest people on this year’s list.

More: Trader Joe’s is bringing its mini pastel tote bags back to Minnesota

Forbes’ 2026 top billionaires in the world

Forbes’ 2026 ranking of the richest people in the world was based on stock prices and exchange rates, as of March 1, according to the magazine.

Here’s a look at the top 50:

Rank	Name	Net Worth	Age	Country	Source
1	Elon Musk	$839 billion	54	United States	Tesla, SpaceX
2	Larry Page	$257 billion	52	United States	Google
3	Sergey Brin	$237 billion	52	United States	Google
4	Jeff Bezos	$224 billion	62	United States	Amazon
5	Mark Zuckerberg	$222 billion	41	United States	Facebook
6	Larry Ellison	$190 billion	81	United States	Oracle
7	Bernard Arnault & family	$171 billion	77	France	LVMH
8	Jensen Huang	$154 billion	63	United States	Semiconductors
9	Warren Buffett	$149 billion	95	United States	Berkshire Hathaway
10	Amancio Ortega	$148 billion	89	Spain	Zara
11	Rob Walton & family	$146 billion	81	United States	Walmart
12	Jim Walton & family	$143 billion	77	United States	Walmart
13	Michael Dell	$141 billion	61	United States	Dell Technologies
14	Alice Walton	$134 B	76	United States	Walmart
15	Steve Ballmer	$126 B	69	United States	Microsoft
16	Carlos Slim Helu & family	$125 billion	86	Mexico	Telecom
17	Changpeng Zhao	$110 billion	49	Canada	Cryptocurrency exchange
18	Michael Bloomberg	$109 billion	84	United States	Bloomberg LP
19	Bill Gates	$108 billion	70	United States	Microsoft
20	Francoise Bettencourt Meyers & family	$100 billion	72	France	L’Oréal
21	Mukesh Ambani	$99.7 billion	68	India	Diversified
22	Giancarlo Devasini	$89.3 billion	61	Italy	Cryptocurrency
23	Thomas Peterffy	$82.9 billion	81	United States	Discount brokerage
24	Julia Koch & family	$81.2 billion	63	United States	Koch, Inc.
25	Charles Koch & family	$73.8 billion	90	United States	Koch, Inc.
26	Zhang Yiming	$69.3 billion	41	China	TikTok
27	Zhong Shanshan	$68.1 billion	71	China	Beverages, pharmaceuticals
28	Jeff Yass	$67.4 billion	67	United States	Trading, investments
29	Dieter Schwarz	$67.2 billion	86	Germany	Retail
30	Germán Larrea Mota Velasco & family	$67.1 billion	72	Mexico	Mining
31	Gautam Adani	$63.8 billion	63	India	Infrastructure, commodities
32	Tadashi Yanai & family	$61.8 billion	77	Japan	Fashion retail
33	Ma Huateng	$53.8 billion	54	China	Online games
34	Robin Zeng	$53.2 billion	57	Hong Kong	Batteries
35	Iris Fontbona & family	$52.6 billion	83	Chile	Mining
36	Masayoshi Son	$51.5 billion	68	Japan	Telecom, Investments
37	Ken Griffin	$49.8 billion	57	United States	Hedge funds
38	Jacqueline Mars	$49.1 billion	86	United States	Candy, pet food
38	John Mars	$49.1 billion	90	United States	Candy, pet food
40	Lukas Walton	$48.9 billion	39	United States	Walmart
41	Giovanni Ferrero	$48.8 billion	61	Italy	Nutella, chocolates
42	Li Ka-shing	$47 billion	97	Hong Kong	Diversified
43	Mark Mateschitz	$45.8 billion	33	Austria	Red Bull
44	Gianluigi Aponte	$44.5 billion	85	Switzerland	Shipping
44	Rafaela Aponte-Diamant	$44.5 billion	80	Switzerland	Shipping
46	Andrea Pignataro	$42.6 billion	55	Italy	Financial software
47	Klaus-Michael Kuehne	$41.9 billion	88	Germany	Shipping
48	Thomas Frist, Jr. & family	$41.1 billion	87	United States	Hospitals
49	Alain Wertheimer	$39.4 billion	77	France	Chanel
49	Gerard Wertheimer	$39.4 billion	75	France	Chanel

See billionaires: Forbes releases the richest people in America list

To see the full list, go to https://www.forbes.com/billionaires/.

Gayle Eubank contributed to this story.

Kate Perez covers national trends and breaking news for USA TODAY. You can reach her at kperez@usatodayco.com or on X @katecperez_.

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