Biographies of billionaires. The richest people and their success stories
Forbes annually publishes a list of the 400 richest people in the United States. This is not just a list of the rich, it is a story of opportunity. Many of them started out penniless. Stories like these are meant to remind us that with grit and determination, seasoned with luck, we can overcome adversity and achieve incredible success.
1. Jan Kum - from food stamps to WhatsApp
Equity: $7.7 billion.
Now Kumu is 37 years old. At 16 he moved from Ukraine to the USA. His family, trying to make ends meet, sold food stamps just a couple of blocks from WhatsApp's current office in Mountain View.
In 2009, Jan Koum and Brian Acton launched a messaging application that was supposed to replace SMS for people around the world. WhatsApp now has more than 600 million users, and Facebook bought the company for $19 billion earlier this year. This deal turned Koum into a billionaire.
2. Jack Ma - from teaching English to Alibaba
Equity:$20.2 billion.
Ma was born in China, in the city of Hangzhou. He grew up in poverty and was not hired even at the local KFC. Ma failed the government college entrance exam twice, but still managed to study and began teaching English.
In 1995, he first came to the United States and saw the Internet. Realizing that there was still little Chinese content online, he began building the website China Pages, a directory sometimes called China's first startup. He quickly failed.
And in 1999 he founded Alibaba. Today, the online retailer handles twice as many orders as Amazon, and after its September IPO, Ma became China's richest man.
3. Elizabeth Holmes - founded her own blood test processing company at age 19
Equity: $4.5 billion.
In 2003, she was 19 and a sophomore at Stanford University. That's when she founded Theranos, a company that made blood tests much cheaper.
Her Palo Alto-based startup currently employs 500 people. The company has reportedly received $400 million in funding and is valued at $9 billion.
Holmes has always been precocious - as a child in Houston, she taught herself Chinese as a hobby. Before entering Stanford, she worked in a patent office. Now she's a billionaire.
4. Ingvar Kamprad, founder of IKEA, grew up on a farm in Sweden
Equity:$3.9 billion.
As a seven-year-old boy in the early 20s, Kamprad began selling matches to his neighbors.
He soon moved on to pencils, cards and Christmas decorations, and at the age of 17 he founded a company called IKEA (this is short for: Ingvar Kamprad, Elmtaryd Farm, Agunnaryd Parish). The company began selling furniture when the founder was 22 years old - this is how the IKEA empire began.
Today it has 340 stores in 42 countries, annual sales of $36 billion, and New Yorker magazine calls the company "the invisible designer of the hearth."
This does not affect Kamprad's habits. He still lives a modest life and refuses to fly business class.
5. Starbucks founder Howard Schultz grew up in public housing
Equity:$2.1 billion.
In an interview with the British tabloid Mirror, Schultz says:
“As a child, I understood that we lived poorly. I knew that others more money, more things, happier life. And for some reason I wanted to climb to the top, to achieve something that others considered impossible. Don't look at me wearing a suit and tie. I remember where I come from and I remember what it’s like.”
Schultz ended up winning a football scholarship to Northern Michigan University, and after graduation he went to work for Xerox. Soon after, he headed a chain called Starbucks - then it included only 60 coffee shops. Since 1987, he has grown the company into a network of 16 thousand cafes scattered around the globe.
6. Oprah Winfrey was born poor and became the first black correspondent on TV.
Equity:$3 billion.
Born into a poor family in Mississippi, Winfrey won a scholarship to the University of Tennessee and became the state's first black television correspondent at age 19.
In 1983, she moved to Chicago to work on an AM talk show that would later become The Oprah Winfrey Show.
7. Businessman Shahid Khan once washed dishes for $1.20 an hour.
AP Photo/Sang Tan
Equity:$4.4 billion.
He is now one of the richest men in the world, but having come from Pakistan, he worked part-time washing dishes while attending the University of Illinois. He now owns Flex-N-Gate, one of the largest private companies in the United States, and two football clubs: the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars and the Premier League's Fulham.
8. John Paul DeJoria, owner of the hair care empire and Patron Tequila brand, lived in his car.
Equity:$3.2 billion.
DeJoria, a first-generation American, was not yet ten years old when his parents were forced to send him to foster family. Before entering military service, he managed to be a member of a street gang.
With a $700 loan, DeJoria created John Paul Mitchell Systems and peddled shampoo while living out of his car. He then founded Patron Tequila, and now invests in other industries.
9. Forever 21 co-founder Do Won Chang worked as a janitor, at a gas station, and in a cafe after arriving in the United States.
Equity:$5.2 billion.
Life hasn't always been kind to Forever 21 founders Do Won Chang and his wife Jin Sook. After moving to America from Korea in 1981, Do Won had to work three jobs at once to make ends meet. They opened their first clothing store in 1984.
Now Forever 21 is an international empire, with 480 stores and annual sales of $3 billion.
10. Ralph Lauren started thinking about men's ties while he was a clerk at Brooks Brothers.
Anton Oparin/Shutterstock.com
Equity:$7.8 billion.
Lauren graduated from high school in New York, in the Bronx. He later dropped out of college to serve in the military. As a sales assistant at Brooks Brothers, Lauren decided to see if men were ready for wider, brighter ties. In 1967, he decided to make his dream come true and sold $500 thousand worth of ties. The following year he founded the Polo brand.
11. Leonardo Del Vecchio grew up in an orphanage, and then went to work in a factory, where he lost part of a finger
Equity:$18.4 billion.
His mother, a widow, could not raise five children, so Del Vecchio was sent to Orphanage. He later got a job at a factory producing molds for auto parts and eyeglass frames.
At the age of 23, Del Vecchio opened his own molding shop and founded Luxottica, which became the world's largest manufacturer of eyewear, including sunglasses under the Ray-Ban and Oakley brands.
12. Legendary trader George Soros survived the Nazi occupation of Hungary and arrived in London as a penniless college student
Equity:$24 billion.
To survive in Nazi-occupied Hungary, young George posed as the godson of a Hungarian Ministry employee Agriculture. In 1947, he fled the country to London to live with relatives. Entering the London School economy, he simultaneously worked as a porter at the station and as a waiter.
After graduating from university, Soros worked in a gift shop, and only then received a position at a bank in New York. In 1992 he famous game against the British pound sterling brought him a billion dollars.
13. Oracle founder Larry Ellison dropped out of college after the death of his adoptive mother and worked odd jobs for eight years.
Equity:$48 billion.
He was born in New York, in Brooklyn. Ellison grew up with an aunt and uncle in Chicago. After his aunt died, he dropped out of college and moved to California, where he worked odd jobs for the next eight years. In 1977, he founded the software company Oracle. Over time, it has become one of the largest technology companies in the world.
He recently resigned from his post general director, but continues to lead a life full of adventures.
14. Roman Abramovich was orphaned as a child. The Russian tycoon now owns Chelsea Football Club
AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis
Equity: $9.5 billion.
Abramovich was born in Saratov in 1966. When he was one and a half years old, his mother died, and when he was four, his father died. He grew up under the tutelage of his Moscow uncle and grandparents, who lived in the north, in Komi.
After graduating from the Ukhta Industrial Institute, he began trading oil in Western Siberia. The turning point came in 1992, when he met Boris Berezovsky, one of the leading tycoons of the new Russian capitalism.
After accusations of fraud, Berezovsky fled to the UK, and Abramovich took the reins of his empire, which included 80% of the shares of Sibneft, Russia's fifth largest oil company, 50% Rusal, Russian aluminum monopolies and 26% of Aeroflot, the national airline. He then moved into private investment.
Today Abramovich is one of the richest people in Russia. He loves toys: the world's largest yacht, a Boeing 767 and Chelsea Football Club.
Someone is moving millions and billions, but it’s not you yet? To be honest, what do you think when you hear success stories about Her or Him, for whom everything turns out fantastically well: the first million years like this at 25, the most expensive car, luxury home, several operating businesses with impressive assets…. The success stories of rich people, in fact, are too varied to be “combed” with one brush and perceived as stereotyped.
It may often seem that rich people became rich without lifting a finger - after all, such a successful person already had mountains of gold behind him, green rustling bills given by his parents, and not taking advantage of all this is a sin.
So that nothing seems, and finally understand the reality for yourself - that you can sit in the soft leather interior of a car, or open a bottle of the most expensive wine on your own terrace, and all this without being tied to ready-made soil, we will simply demonstrate 10 real stories of formation the richest people in the world from virtually nothing. From scratch, without support and golden diapers.
By the way, not all the biographies of the rich people of the world that we will now tell you about are familiar to you. If you were guided only by Forbes ratings, there will be a discovery. What's not a reason to expand your own borders?
10. Michael Rubin reveals the top ten richest people on the planet. The future billionaire and founder of the Kynetic company sold seeds to neighbors as a child. At the age of 10, the enterprising boy was already hiring 5 guys to remove snow from his neighbors’ lawns for a fee. At the age of 14, Michael already had own store, and at the age of 23 he led a company with a turnover of 50 million dollars. Michael's fortune is estimated at $2.3 billion. Practical always strong personalities they start exactly like this: with the manifestation of an entrepreneurial spirit since early years.
9. Oprah Winfrey will be the only woman in our ranking of the richest people in the world. Yes, not in first place, but if it were a ranking of hard work and determination, she could easily be given the championship. Now she is 62 years old and her path to success has nothing to do with the story of Cinderella. She can answer questions about how rich people got rich based on personal experience: She worked hard and achieved everything herself. Oprah Winfrey was born into a poor family. The mother was a maid, and the father was a miner.
For the first 6 years of her life, Oprah lived with her grandmother in the middle of nowhere. The American TV presenter herself admitted in an interview that she was raped at the age of 9 and became pregnant at 14. The child died shortly after birth. At the age of 17, Oprah began working as a reporter, and in 1986 she created her own program, “The Oprah Winfrey Show.” In 2011, she launched her own TV channel, OWN. The TV presenter's fortune is estimated at $3.2 billion.
8. This guy doesn’t move tens of billions, like some representatives of the rating, but he has something in stock: almost 10 billion dollars of capital earned by his own labor. He owns 7.6% of Facebook shares. Dustin Moskowitz was born into a Jewish family in Washington. His father worked as a psychiatrist, but more information about Dustin's family has not been disclosed.
7. In honorable seventh place in our TOP 10 richest people is Canadian-American engineer Elon Musk. He is 12 years older than Dustin Moskowitz. Elon Musk's capital is $12.3 billion. He founded SpaceX and X.com. The latter, after merging with Confinity, was named PayPal and was sold for $1.5 billion. Musk was born in South Africa. True, the father was a businessman, and the mother was a famous model, so it is difficult to call the family poor. But there is back side medals - Elon was often beaten at school, and this, of course, left a considerable mark on the level of self-esteem.
At age 12, Elon made his first video game and sold it for $500. This was the first independent income on the way to billions. If you look at what such children do from an early age, you can predict for them future success. And success “overtook” Elon.
6. Meet Li Ka-shing – the richest and most influential person Hong Kong and Asia. While Forbes assessed the capital of the Hong Kong “Superman” and counted 25.5 billion dollars, it grew to 34. And this is data for 2015. We think Lee has still done well in 2016. In narrow circles, this enterprising Hong Konger is called “Superman” and is now 87 years old.
Li Ka-shing is the chairman of Cheung Kong Group and Hutchison Whampoa, which account for about 15% of the Hong Kong stock market. Among the stories of rich people who started from scratch, his is one of the most difficult. To understand: Lee was born into the family of an ordinary teacher.
From the fifth grade, Kashin began selling watch straps, and a little later he got a job in a factory producing plastic watches. 16 hours of work in a factory and then attending evening school - this is how the Hong Kong guy Li Ka-shing began his path to his first million. Having gained experience at the factory, he began selling plastic flowers himself, and soon headed own company.
5. The stories of rich people who started from scratch are not similar to each other. Just like the story of Sergei Brin, who also falls into fifth place in our ranking of the richest people in the world. Sergey is nothing at all - 42 years old and he is the co-founder of Google. Sergei was born into a Jewish family of mathematicians who moved to the United States in 1979, and the future billionaire was only 5 years old. In 2016, according to Forbes magazine The fortune of an American entrepreneur with Russian roots was estimated at almost 35 billion dollars.
4. You’ve probably heard about this guy too. Larry Page is an American billionaire who, together with Sergey Brin, made the first search engine, which eventually grew into a powerful tool for searching for any information - Google. Larry was born into a professorial family, and while receiving his education at the prestigious Stanford University, he met Brin. The joint launch of Google, as we see, has become a goldmine for the guys. Larry Page's net worth is now estimated at $32.3 billion, which is 17th in the world. Forbes ranking, however, in 2014. We dare to assume that in 2 years a couple of billions have been added.
Biographies of the world's richest people: TOP-3. Who's in the lead?
3. Another example of crazy success without any seemingly chance of it from birth is American businessman Sheldon Adelson. Sheldon is one of the twenty richest people according to Forbes magazine. Adelson once again proves: the richest people on the planet are not those who were born and immediately fell into golden swaddling clothes. The son of a taxi driver, a newspaper salesman at the age of 12, a court reporter and even a toiletries salesman. Sheldon suffered a lot. The future American billionaire was born into a Jewish family. And, by the way, he is recognized as the richest Jew.
According to the most recent data that was announced, Sheldon Adelson's net worth is $38 billion. Not bad, right? The billionaire receives his main income from his investments in real estate: the construction of casinos, hotels, shops, exhibition centers, etc.
2. We just write “Mark”, and you already understand who we are talking about we're talking about. And yes, you were not mistaken. The founder of the social Facebook networks Mark Zuckerberg. In May, information on Mark’s condition was updated (talking about money), and the capital amounted to $51.6 billion. But the guy is only 32 years old! By the way, like many on the list, he is of Jewish origin. Father is a dentist, mother is a psychiatrist. Mark has 3 sisters. Do you think doctors could provide much for 4 children? While still a schoolboy, Mark developed an online version of the game “Risk”, and while studying at Harvard, an internal social network, which he himself did not bring to mind, but the guys came to the rescue: Dustin Moskowitz, Eduardo Saverin and others.
1. The ex-president of Inditex could not be left out of our list of the TOP 10 richest people in the world. And, you know, we put it first. While many people multiply their income several times, Amancio Ortega, we are sure, is not “lost.” It was he who in October last year received the title of the richest person on the planet according to Forbes magazine. But in May 2016, his fortune was estimated at $72.9 billion. If the name of the company Indetex doesn’t mean anything to you, then you have heard about the Zara brand. Amancio is also the founder of this brand.
Amancio's father was a railway worker, and his mother, even better, was a servant. The family was so poor that the guy did not even graduate from high school, and at the age of 13 he began working as a messenger in a shirt store. Yes, did you think 13 back then? summer guy that in 2015 he will top the ranking of the richest people on the planet? We doubt it. Today, the billionaire invests considerable sums in real estate in Florida, Madrid, London, as well as in banks and tourism.
This is what the ranking of the richest people in the world looks like, who started their path to success from scratch. Are there no boundaries? There really aren't any. Just take action and any goal will be achieved. Who knows, maybe you will end up in the Forbes ranking in a couple of years.
In a time when inequality is rising and the economy is growing at a very slow pace, it is rare to find people who have made their fortunes by rising from the bottom. Indeed, most of the world's richest people were already born into wealthy families.
That is why it is necessary to keep in mind those people who started from scratch and with the help of hard work, talent and luck were able to rise very high. These 20 stories will remind us that there are opportunities to overcome many things in life, including poverty.
1. Maria das Grazas Silva Foster rose from the Brazilian slums to become the first female head of Petrobras.
The current head of Brazilian oil giant Petrobras spent her childhood in the extremely poor Morro do Adeus area, which became a slum. Her mother worked constantly, and her father was an alcoholic. Foster collected aluminum cans and waste paper to earn some money.
She began working as a trainee at Petrobras in 1978 and broke barriers to become the first woman to head the field development division. According to Bloomberg, its hard work Foster earned the nickname Caveirao, Brazilian slang for an armored police car that keeps order in a slum. In February, Foster became the first woman to lead Petrobras.
2. Do Won Chang worked three jobs to make ends meet before launching Forever 21.
Doo Won Cheng and his wife Jin Sook came to America from Korea in 1981. When they arrived, Cheng had to work three jobs to support his family. He worked as a janitor, a gas station operator, and worked part-time in a cafeteria. It so happened that they were able to open their first clothing store in 1984.
That first store grew into the 480-store Forever 21 empire, which generates annual revenues of about $3 billion. It is a family business, with daughters Linda and Esther helping their parents run the company.
3. Harold Simmons grew up in a shack with no electricity and became a billionaire.
Multi-billionaire Harold Simmons grew up in Golden, Texas; he lived in a shack that didn't even have electricity. However, he managed to get into the University of Texas, he managed to get into the privileged society of college students and graduates, receiving a master's degree in economics.
Simmons's first venture was a chain of pharmacies, the first of which he founded almost entirely with loans. As a result, a network of 100 pharmacies was formed. Simmons sold it to Eckerd for $50 million. After that, he became an expert in the field of buying companies. He now owns six companies traded on the New York Stock Exchange, including the world's largest titanium producer, Titanium Metals Corporation.
4. Zdenek Bakala left communist Czechoslovakia with $50 in his pocket and became a coal magnate.
In 1980, at the age of 19, Bakala fled communist Czechoslovakia with a $50 bill hidden in a sandwich. He fled to Lake Tahoe, where he began washing dishes in one of the casinos.
He was lucky enough to get a bachelor's degree from the University of California and an MBA from Dartmouth. He began working in banking and by chance returned to work for a company in his homeland, opening the first office of Credit Suisse First Boston in Prague after the fall of the Wall. He now chairs a coal company with a market capitalization of $2.52 billion and eight production sites in Central Europe.
5. George Soros survived the Nazi occupation of Hungary and became one of the world's most successful investors.
George Soros was able to survive the Nazi occupation of Hungary because his father paid a government employee so he could pose as his godson. After the war in 1947, Soros left communist Hungary and went to live with relatives in London. He began studying at the London School of Economics, working as a waiter and porter. After graduating, Soros worked as a salesman in a gift shop, he wrote to bank directors in London, and was eventually given a job. This was just the beginning of a long and successful career path in the field of finance. In 1992, Soros successfully shorted the pound, earning more than $1 billion.
6. Guy Laliberte earned his living from street performances, drinking fire, before introducing Cirque du Soleil to the world.
A native of Canada began his circus career from street performances: he played the accordion, walked on stilts and swallowed fire. He took a chance when he brought a successful troupe from Quebec to the Los Angeles Arts Festival in 1987 on a one-way ticket. The risk turned out to be justified, and the circus group was transported to Las Vegas, where it became the famous Cirque du Soleil that we know today.
Laliberte is currently the head of Cirque du Soleil, a professional poker player and a space tourist with a net worth of $2.5 billion.
7. John Paul DeJoria lived in his car before John Paul Mitchell Systems took off in business.
DeJoria had a hard time in the beginning. His parents divorced when he was two, and he sold newspapers and Christmas cards to support the family until he was 10. He was then sent to be raised in Los Angeles. For some time in Los Angeles he was a member of a gang, and then went to serve. He then tried working for Redken Laboratories, after which he took out a $700 loan and founded John Paul Mitchell Systems. He distributed the shampoo produced by the company, moving from house to house in a car, he lived in his car. But the quality of the product prevailed, and now the company earns more than $900 million annually. He also created Patron Tequila and works at various industries– from diamonds to music.
8. Ursula Burns grew up in apartment building on the Lower East Side of Manhattan and is now run by Xerox.
The Lower East Side was a haven for gangs before it became good area. Ursula Burns was raised by her mother alone in a housing project in the area. She ironed shirts to earn money for her daughter's Catholic school. Burns then went to New York University and became an engineering intern at Xerox.
She is now the company's chief executive officer and chairman of the board of directors. Burns is the first African-American woman to lead a Fortune 500 company.
9. Howard Schultz spent his childhood in public housing in Brooklyn before becoming the head of Starbucks.
During his difficult childhood, Schultz always wanted to rise above and escape the lifestyle provided by his father as a truck driver. Despite his poverty, Schultz excelled in sports and managed to attend Northern Michigan University. After receiving a degree in communications, Schultz went to work at Xerox, and then he discovered a small Starbucks coffee shop. Being in love with coffee, Schultz left Xerox to become head of Starbucks in 1987. The chain began with 60 stores and now includes more than 16 thousand. retail outlets Worldwide. Schultz's fortune grew to $1.5 billion.
10. Li Ka-shing dropped out of school at 15 to work in a plastics factory and is now East Asia's richest man..
Li Ka-shing's family fled mainland China to Hong Kong in 1940; Li Ka-shing's father died of tuberculosis. Then the boy was only 15 years old. He dropped out of school and began working at a plastics factory to help support his family. By 1950, Lee was able to open his own company, Cheung Kong Industries. Initially, she was engaged in the production of plastics, and then changed her activity profile to real estate. Lee then increased his shares in various companies, and today he owns shares in companies of different profiles: banks, Cell phones, satellite television, cement production, retail stores, hotels, transportation, airports, power generation, steel production, ports, etc.
11. Francois Pinault is a man without a complete secondary education who now heads the PPR group.
Pino left high school in 1947 and began working in family business for timber trade. In 1970, he began buying small companies. He earned the nickname "The Predator" because of his ruthless business tactics, which saw him cut jobs and sell his lumber business, only to buy it back later at a lower price. His personal qualities helped him start the business PPR, a company that sells luxury goods like Gucci and Stella McCartney. Pinault is the richest man in France: his and his family's fortune is estimated at $13 billion.
12. Leonardo Del Vecchio is a factory worker who today owns an eyewear production empire.
Del Vecchio was one of five children whom his widowed mother found difficult to support. He went to work in a factory making molds for auto parts and eyeglass frames, where he lost part of his finger. At 23, he opened his first store, which later grew to become the world's largest manufacturer of sunglasses and medical glasses. Luxottica produces the Ray-Ban and Oakley brands, the company has 6 thousand retail outlets, Del Vecchio’s fortune is estimated at $11.5 billion.
13. Kirk Kerkorian rose from RAF pilot to owner of an entertainment complex in Las Vegas.
Kerkorian, who learned English on the streets, had to leave school in the 8th grade. His family fell victim to the Great Depression, and Kerkorian looked for part-time work to support the family. He became an RAF pilot during World War II, flying supplies across the Atlantic on routes where one in four aircraft was shot down. With the money he earned, he became a gambler and real estate tycoon in Las Vegas. His fortune is estimated at several billion dollars.
14. Sheldon Adelson is another Las Vegas tycoon who has tried his luck in several areas.
Adelson grew up in a poor area of Massachusetts, where he shared a room with his parents and three brothers. His father was Lithuanian and worked as a taxi driver, and his mother owned a knitwear store. At age 12, he began selling newspapers and a few years later operated a vending machine. Adelson has dabbled in several industries, from hotel toiletry packaging to mortgage brokerage. His breakthrough came with the founding of the computer exhibition. He used the money he earned to purchase the Sands Hotel & Casino.
15. Ingvar Kamprad was born in a small village in Sweden and created a business that eventually became IKEA.
Kamprad's childhood was spent in village life, but he always had the makings of a businessman. He bought matches in large quantities in Stockholm and sold them to his neighbors. He then moved on to fish, Christmas decorations and pens. Not content with a small business, he borrowed money from his father and founded a store that eventually grew into IKEA (the name consists of the first letters of his first and last name, the name of his village and his parents' farm). He rose to the title of the richest man in the world, but recently his wealth fell to $3 billion.
16. Roman Abramovich is an orphan who turned an expensive wedding gift into an oil empire.
After his parents died when he was just 4 years old, he was taken in by his uncle and grandmother. Abramovich's first breakthrough came thanks to an expensive wedding gift from his in-laws. He dropped out of school and went into business. In 1995, he managed to acquire ownership of the Sibneft company. He continued to invest in various projects, including RusAl and Evraz. He now owns the largest private yacht in the world, as well as other expensive property. Also owns football club"Chelsea".
17. Richard Desmond lived on the roof of a garage and was able to found an empire publishing magazines like Penthouse.
Desmond was raised by his mother after his parents divorced. They lived on the roof of the garage. Desmond describes himself at the time as "very fat and very lonely." He left school at 14, deciding to become a drummer. Worked as a cloakroom attendant to help pay the bills. His musical talents never helped him become rich, but he later opened a number of music stores. He was able to publish the first magazine, International Musician and Recording World, which later grew to Penthouse and Ok!. Now he owns a number of publications around the world.
18. JK Rowling lived on welfare social security before the creation of Harry Potter.
In the early 90s. Rowling was divorced and living on benefits with her child. She wrote most"Harry Potter" in a cafe. "Harry Potter" received world fame, brought success to Rowling, whose net worth is now estimated at $1 billion.
19. Before Sam Walton founded Wal-Mart, he milked cows and sold magazines in Oklahoma.
The Walton family lived on a farm in Oklahoma during the Great Depression. To make ends meet, he helped his family milk cows and deliver milk to customers. He also delivered newspapers and sold magazine subscriptions. By age 26, after graduating from the University of Missouri with a bachelor's degree in economics, he was managing a store. He received a $20,000 loan from his father-in-law and bought a Ben Franklin store in Arkansas. He expanded the chain and then founded Wal-Mart and Sam's Club. He died in 1992, leaving the company to his wife and children.
20. Oprah Winfrey turned a life of hardship into inspiration for the founding of a multibillion-dollar empire.
Oprah lived with her grandmother for six years and wore dresses made from burlap. After being harassed by relatives and a family friend, she fled home. She was 13 years old at the time. When she was 14 years old, she became pregnant and gave birth to a child who died shortly after birth. Then her upset mother sent her to live in Nashville (Tennessee) with her father.
Oprah was in college, and when she won a beauty contest, that's when she found her first fame on the radio station. This fame remained with her. Oprah Winfrey's net worth, according to Forbes version, is estimated at $2.7 billion.
September 3, 2014Top ten interesting stories about millionaires who became rich thanks to incredible luck
Many people have heard or read at least once in their lives about people who unexpectedly found a suitcase full of money, or hit the jackpot in the lottery. Our review contains the most incredible stories lucky ones, on whom wealth literally fell from heaven.
1. Million in change
One of the most known cases incredible luck happened to US resident Larry Ross. He was never particularly lucky, but, apparently, for good karma, fate generously rewarded him. One hectic workday, Larry, as always, decided to have a hot dog for lunch.
There was no change in my pocket, and the seller refused to give change from a hundred dollar bill. Seeing a kiosk with lottery tickets, Larry bought tickets for $98 so that he could pay the remaining $2 for a hot dog.
The man had a bite to eat and went on to work, not even suspecting that he had become the owner of enormous wealth. It turned out that one of the tickets bought for the exchange of money brought Mr. Ross 130 million dollars! The lucky man could not believe such luck for a long time.
2. Fortune's joke
Everyone knows that luck is fickle and loves to play tricks. It happens that people who least of all believe in luck in the world turn out to be the luckiest. Bright to that An example is the story of American veteran James Wilson.
By the age of 84, he had not saved great wealth, just lived “like everyone else.” Perhaps because he firmly did not believe in luck and considered luck a fiction that only simpletons believe in. Therefore, the veteran avoided lotteries all his life, suspecting each one was a scam, and large winnings were a setup. To prove his point to all his family and friends, the old warrior decided to buy the first one in his life. lottery ticket. Lady Fortune had her own opinion about Wilson. A lucky unbeliever hit the $256 million jackpot!
3. Maternity capital
A successful lawyer and investor, Charles Millar, who died in 1926, was known for his jokes about human greed and hypocrisy. One of these “jokes” was his will, where he indicated that he had no relatives to whom he would like to leave his accumulated wealth. One of the clauses of the will stated that all his real estate was to be sold 10 years after his death, and the proceeds were to be gifted to the woman who would become a mother. the largest number children this year. If there are several of these, the amount is distributed in equal parts.
This competition is known as the Great Stock Derby, and the winners were four women, who split the half-million-dollar prize among themselves. Each of them had 9 children.
4. Deposit in bitcoins
A student from Norway, Christopher Koch, bought the then new virtual currency Bitcoin in 2009 as a joke. The acquisition of the cryptography-based currency was solely for research purposes.
At this time, the student was writing a paper on cryptography and, apparently, needed a clear example. His investment amounted to $27. Having bought 5,000 electronic coins, Christopher safely forgot about them for 4 years.
When numerous publications on the topic of bitcoins began to appear in the media in the spring of 2013, a Norwegian student remembered his electronic wallet and decided to check its status.
Imagine Christopher’s surprise when, instead of the original twenty-seven, he found 886 thousand dollars in his account. Moreover, at present the amount has already exceeded a million.
5. Homeless millionaires
Brothers Zolt and Geza Peladi lived in the slums outside Budapest and sold whatever junk they found on the streets in order to survive. But when their grandmother from Germany, whom they did not know, died, the brothers immediately became millionaires - they were left more than 100 million dollars. According to German law, direct heirs - which turned out to be brothers after the death of their mother - automatically inherit property, regardless of their place of residence. As a result, after the death of their grandmother, the entire inheritance went to them and their sister living in the USA.
6. Lucky phone number
Luis Carlos de Noronha Cabral de Camara chose unusual way wills of his estate: he simply took the Lisbon telephone directory and randomly selected 70 unfamiliar names from there, bequeathing equal shares of the inheritance to these people after his death. All of them were truly chosen by chance, and after that the aristocrat lived for another 13 years.
By the way, in Portugal it is generally not customary to draw up a will. So the 70 lucky ones still had to be convinced that they were not being pranked.
7. Feng Shui for a million
This unusual story proves that professions that at first glance seem useless can bring enormous wealth. Asia's richest woman, Nina Wang, left her entire fortune - $4.2 billion - to her personal Feng Shui master Tony Chan Chun-chuen, who decorated her mansion. He also helped her lead litigation“according to science” with relatives dead husband Nina, who left 3 different wills. The will, according to which all the property of the rich husband went to Nina, was wanted to be declared fake in court. But the master persuaded the woman to continue the litigation, and she was eventually recognized as the legal heir.
8. Happy black cat
Incredible luck smiled on a stray cat who had recently been walking along the narrow streets of the Eternal City. Tramp Tommasino lived like thousands of street animals live - he hunted birds, dined in garbage cans and courted neighborhood cats. But one fine day he met a sweet old millionaire.
Maria Assunta, born in 1917, had no relatives left, she was deeply lonely and found solace in her four-legged friends. The kind grandmother Maria sheltered Tommasino.
In the fall of 2009, sensing imminent death, a wealthy Italian woman wrote a will. According to the document, her entire fortune, including apartments in Rome and Milan, lands in Calabria and bank accounts, goes to the handsome Tommasino and other homeless animals. The total amount of the inheritance is approximately 10 million euros.
Maria Assunta died at the end of November 2011. According to the newspaper La Repubblica, Tommasino's money will be managed by the nurse Stefania, who cared for Maria Assunta in last years her life.
9. Tax trouble
This is the story of another lucky animal. Leona Helmsley, a former hotel owner in New York, nicknamed the “Queen of Misers,” bequeathed her entire fortune to a lapdog named Trouble. The dog's inheritance was $12 million. Out of thirst for profit, they threatened to kill the dog more than once, so the dog and his guardian had to run away from their pursuers more than once. Because of this, the richest lapdog was nicknamed the “homeless millionaire.”
10. Exchange for pensioners
Old lady Frau Ingebor Motz earned $1 million by buying and selling currencies on the Forex exchange. “The Forex market gave me the opportunity to earn good money - now I earn about 5-10 thousand dollars a day on Forex, and I think that this is far from the limit. And I won’t stop there,” says old lady Frau Motz.
It turns out that there is something to master new profession, make a career and become successful person, - is quite possible at any age, and the example of Frau Motz is a living confirmation of this! Even if you are in your ninth decade, it is still too early to retire - everything is just beginning.
Now the old woman rightfully bears the title of the most successful private investor in Germany. And young brokers can only envy her professionalism and continue to work.
The TOP 10 richest people in the world in 2016 were determined by Forbes magazine.
TOP 10 richest people on the planet in 2017
On March 1, Forbes published its ranking of dollar billionaires. In total, there were 1810 people on the list of names; the size of their capital was estimated by the volume of assets as of January 2017.
- Bill Gates, net worth: $75 billion.
- Amanisio Ortega, his assets are $67 billion.
- Warren Buffett, owner of $60.8 billion.
- Carlos Slim Helu, with $50 billion in personal property.
- Jeff Bezos, owner of $45.2 billion.
- Mark Zuckerberg with a capital of $44.6 billion.
- Larry Ellison, worth $43.6 billion.
- Michael Bloomberg, owner of $40 billion.
- Charles Koch with $39.6 billion.
- David Koch, brother of Charles Koch, with a similar capital of $39.6 billion.
What do people who handle billions and invest tens of millions in the development of new projects do?
Rating leader - Bill Gates
Bill Gates heads the TOP 10 richest people in the world this year. His income increases not only thanks to the activities he founded Microsoft, which once made a revolutionary breakthrough in the market software, but also through investing in developing projects, such as:
- mechanical engineering;
- railway companies;
- development and disposal of industrial waste.
The biography of Bill Gates is one of the stories of rich people who started from scratch. While still a student, he devoted a lot of time to studying and developing programming languages and writing programs for various tasks.
A kind of breakthrough in his career and in the fate of the Microsoft company he founded was the development of the MS-DOS operating system and a contract with IBM. Further expansion led to the development of the Windows OS, which allows the company to still dominate the software market.
Successful businessmen are always strong personalities, and the famous rules formulated by Gates confirm this. Here are the most valuable and meaningful of them:
- "Life is unfair - get used to it."
- “Change the way you think about failure and learn from your mistakes.”
- “Before you criticize your parents, start with yourself.”
- "You won't become vice president with personal driver until you deserve one and the other.”
This year it turned out that among the TOP 10 richest people in the world there were several people who earned multi-billion dollar capital thanks to computer and network technologies.
In 5th place among the ten richest people on the planet was Jeff Bezos, head of the Amazon online store. He also owns the aerospace company Blue Origin and publishing house The Washington Post.
Bezos, like many influential businessmen, actively invests funds without stopping at the achieved figures. He invests in projects such as Twitter, UBER, AirBNB, Rethink Robotics and promising startups.
Interesting facts about Amazon and Jeff Bezos himself (pictured):
- The company prohibits the use of color printers and all information is printed in black and white to save money.
- The size of the teams working on a project is determined using the “2-pizza rule.” If a group at lunchtime does not have enough 2 pizzas to eat lunch, then the group size is too large.
- Special robots are used to sort goods in Amazon warehouses.
- Bezos personally designed the boxes in which orders are packaged so that they can then be used in everyday life rather than thrown away.
- In 2015, the company was allowed to deliver goods by drone in some states.
Mark Zuckerberg has raised many eyebrows with his presence in 6th place among the 10 richest people in the world. Founder social network Facebook made it to the TOP of the rankings for the first time. His interest in programming began with computer graphics and creating simple computer games. School friends brought him primitive pictures from which he copied future game characters.
At the moment, Zuckerberg is the youngest billionaire in the world (his age is 31 years old), and he can rightfully be called a businessman who is rapidly increasing his capital. While Bill Gates is for last year lost $4 billion, and Warren Buffett, who is in third place in the ranking - almost $12 billion, Zuckerberg increased his capital by $11 billion in 2015.
Brief biographies of the richest people in history
The most successful entrepreneurs in human history laid the foundations for doing business in modern civilization. Some of the names have become household names, and aspiring businessmen take their cues from the rich themselves. How did those whose biographies later become models of entrepreneurial thinking get rich? The capitals of outstanding businessmen throughout history have been adjusted to modern levels taking into account inflation.
- The most successful entrepreneurs in history are the Rothschild family, whose fortune is now estimated at $350 billion. Mining enterprises, winemaking, investing money in banks, agricultural land and private assets helped them accumulate such capital.
- John Rockefeller, who earned $340 billion (in today's dollars) during his lifetime. The areas of his business involved oil refining - he founded the company Standard Oil, also invested in railroads, steel mills, shipping companies, and real estate firms.
- Andrew Carnegie - industrialist with American and Irish roots, owner of a steel company Carnegie Steel, whose assets would now be $310 billion.
- Henry Ford, the American automaker, left his mark on history as successful businessman And a wise man of its time. The company he founded, Ford Motor, which has many branches in various countries around the world, brought him billions. His capital would be $199 billion by today's standards.
- Cornelius Vanderbilt, who also founded a dynasty of entrepreneurs, actually changed the course of American history. His main profitable business was investing in the railway, which was actively developing at that time. In total, during his life he earned 185 billion dollars in terms of the level of our days.
How did rich people become rich? This question haunts many people and it is almost impossible to give a definite answer to it. A promising businessman who feels the so-called “vein” in himself acts simultaneously with cold calculation and relying on intuition in making important decisions.
One of the main features noticeable in many biographies of rich people is the ability and desire to take risks. The Rockefeller quote, “Whoever works all day has no time to make money,” reflects the state of mind of a successful entrepreneur - at a certain point, you need to be able to quit one activity and switch to another in order to achieve success in it.
Successful people and charity
Many of the success stories of wealthy people include lines about charitable donations and sponsorship of organizations that do not generate significant profits. Charity as an activity for successful people deserves special attention. What makes rich people donate their capital and for what purposes?
- educational programs;
- vaccine development and vaccination in developing countries;
- AIDS research;
- assistance to refugees;
- fight against polio.
Michael Bloomberg, who is in 8th place in the Forbes top ten, has currently donated about $4 billion to charity. The main areas of his assistance are contributions to the development of art, educational goals and medical research, in particular, cancer therapy and diagnosis.
The Koch brothers, co-owners of the Koch Industries holding, actively donate funds to the development of education in the United States, and in 2014, one of the areas of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York was named after David Koch in gratitude for the funds allocated for its reconstruction.