Sheldon Gary Adelson was born on 4 August 1933, in Boston, Massachusetts USA, of Ukrainian and Lithuanian-Jewish(fathwer) and English(mother) ancestry. He is a businessman, investor and philanthropist, probably best known for being a casino magnate, specifically of the resort giant Las Vegas Sands Corp, but generally for being one of the richest people in the world.
So just how rich is Sheldon Gary Adelson? Authoritative sources estimate that Sheldon boasts a net worth of $30 billion, as of mid-2016 – given the nature of his investments, the amount varies from day-to-day – but he is consistently ranked by “Forbes” as in the world’s 20 richest people.
Sheldon Adelson Net Worth $30 Billion
Sheldon Adelson’s family wasn’t rich – his father drove taxis and his mother ran a haberdashery store. However, Sheldon showed a spark for business from a very young age. When the future business magnate was just twelve, he borrowed two hundred dollars from his uncle to start a small business selling newspapers in his native Boston. Afterwards, Sheldon Adelson would go on to work in various fields – from selling candy, to reporting from a court of law, to selling a windshield cleaning solution. By the 1960s, Adelson had already become a millionaire twice, having lost his first fortune. As the wildly successful magnate has been quoted saying, however, the true marks of an entrepreneur were courage, self-confidence and an ability to keep picking yourself up even after failing – and so Sheldon Adelson never stopped picking himself up.
Come the 1970s, Sheldon Adelson was already an established figure in the world of business. Adelson’s first huge success, however, was the decision to help develop “COMDEX” – a trade show for the computer industry, among the first of its kind. “COMDEX” would go on to become one of the largest computer trade shows in the world, rivalling even the German international computer expo “CeBIT”. When “COMDEX” was sold to the Japanese telecommunications and internet corporation “SoftBank Corp.”, Sheldon Adelson claimed more than half of the enormous $862 million deal – his part was reportedly $500 million, a huge boost to Adelson’s net worth.
Adelson was not content to rest on the laurels of this transaction, however, and used his newfound massive wealth to acquire Las Vegas’ famous “Sands Hotel and Casino” in 1988. This was still not enough for Sheldon Adelson, however, and three years later, he decided to demolish the property entirely, and replaced it instead with a Venetian-themed resort and casino – “The Venetian”, of which he is still CEO and Chairman of the multi-billion dollar business. The hotel would be a huge success, and Adelson’s Venetian chain would expand with the construction of another resort in Cotai, China. Since then, Sheldon Adelson has remained interested in his new investment in China, and plans have been announced to construct an array of other hotels, resorts and casinos in the area, building it up into a so-called “Cotai Strip”.
Over the course of his life, Sheldon Adelson has opened over 50 varied businesses, and many have found huge success in their respective areas. Among current assets are his ownership of “Israel Hayom”, an Israeli daily newspaper, and the “Las Vegas Review-Journal”. His net worth has multiplied accordingly.
In his personal life, Sheldon Adelson now lives in Las Vegas with his second wife, Miriam Ochsorn(m. 1991). Adelson has three adopted children from his first marriage to Sandra – which ended in divorce in 1988 – Shelley, Gary and Mitchell. Mitchell died of a drug overdose in 2005.
Adelson is well known for giving back, using his enormous wealth to support various charitable causes and foundations – including his own “Adelson Foundation”. He is also a strong supporter of the Republican Party.
