Richest woman in U.S. cuts sales price on Texas ranches
FORT WORTH, Texas -- Wal-Mart heiress Alice Walton is rolling back prices -- not in stores, but on two luxury Texas ranches she's struggled to sell.
The billionaire -- the wealthiest woman in the U.S., according to Forbes -- is slashing millions of dollars from the listing price of two picturesque ranches she owns west of Fort Worth. Both have languished on the market since being put up for sale in September.
Walton is now seeking $16.5 million for her Rockin W Ranch and $22.1 million for her 4,400-acre Fortune Bend ranch. That's a nearly $10 million combined price cut.
Real estate broker Mac Coalson tells the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that sagging oil prices have deterred wealthy buyers but that interest is picking up since the price dropped.
Coalson says Walton is selling the ranches to devote more time to her art philanthropy. Her most prominent art endeavor is the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, which opened in 2011 in her hometown of Bentonville, Ark.
Forbes latest ranking of the world's billionaires lists her as the 16th wealthiest person on the planet and the wealthiest woman in the U.S., with a fortune estimated at $32 billion.