Businesspersons
Thomas Edison Net Worth
Thomas Edison's Net Worth as of 2024
$170 Million
Thomas Alva Edison was born on 11 February 1847 in Milan, Ohio USA, to a Canadian-born father of Dutch descent and a New York-born mother. He is credited with, and is probably best known for inventing the light bulb, phonograph and motion picture camera – all among the more than 1,000 patents eventually registered to him – plus founding the General Electric Company, Edison died on 18 October 1931, in West Orange, New Jersey USA.
So just how rich was Thomas Edison? Sources estimate that at the time of his death, Edison’s net worth was over $12 million, at today’s rate about $170 million. His wealth was accumulated over a period of more than 60 years, as a consequence of his inventions and business dealings.
Thomas Edison Net Worth $170 Million
Thomas was the youngest of seven children, and was largely home-schooled by his mother. His business mind and entrepreneurship was demonstrated early, as a young teen selling candy and newspapers on commuter trains around Detroit, until he secured exclusivity selling newspapers on the streets of nearby Port Huron, to where the family had moved when the rail-road by-passed Milan, and also selling his own self-produced newspaper – Grand Trunk Herald. His net worth was beginning to rise.
Edison became a telegraph operator, job training given to him by a grateful J. MacKenzie after Thomas saved his son from a rail accident. He subsequently moved to Louisville in Kentucky in 1866, to work for the Associated Press (AP) bureau of Western Union, but he was fired after an accident with battery acid caused damage to his boss’s desk. Regardless, Edison’s inventive mind saw him register his first patents in 1869, an electric vote recorder and a stock ticker, adding eventually to his net worth.
Thomas built a complex at Menlo Park specifically to invent and improve mostly electrical products, to improve knowledge, and soon followed with registering various improvements to telegraphic equipments, but the first of Edison’s major inventions and patents was the phonograph in 1877, a totally new and unforeseen product, which earned him the nickname of The Wizard of Menlo Park. The quadruplex telegraph followed, bought by Western Union for more than double what Edison thought it might be worth, a significant boost to his net worth.
Many patents ensued, research and development often undertaken by others but invariably at the direction of Thomas Edison. A significant invention of the 1880s was the carbon microphone, so far ahead of its time that it was widely used in telephones, with the Bell receiver, for the next 100 years, and in radio broadcasting until the end of the 1920s. The patent was confirmed as Edison’s in 1892 after a ruling by the federal court. Of course this was a major contributor to Edison’s net worth.
Edison’s next major invention was the incandescent light bulb. Many had tried unsuccessfully to produce one before, but Edison’s research convinced him to use copper filament, which was developed to a manageable size, by drawing a low amount of current. Tests finally arrived at a commercially viable product utilising 110 volts, which could be expected to last for a minimum of 1200 hours, and so he filed for, and was granted a patent in 1880. Of course, this was a further very significant base in adding to Edison’s net worth, as patents were guarded for at least 14 years. However, he formed a company called Ediswan with British inventor Joseph Swan, who had registered a similar patent in the UK before Thomas’s. Thomas perhaps unintentionally advertised his product world-wide, by installing the system on the cruise ship Columbia, and in Europe in the Brno (now Czech Republic) Marien Theater. Of course, Edison then devised and patented a method of power distribution, naturally beginning in New York City, and then opening a power station in London at Holborn Viaduct. After considerable internal disagreement, eventually Edison’s General Electric company(GE) – minus ‘Edison – adopted the AC current system in 1892, ending the ‘battle of the currents’. (It’s worth noting that by revenue GE is still the sixth largest company in the US, and the 14th most profitable.)
Edison’s further inventions were also significant, including what became the basis of the x-ray machine, the fluoroscope. In 1892, using the knowledge of telegraphy, he patented the stock ticker, the first electricity-based broadcast system, and in the same year registered a patent for a two-way telegraph. His net worth benefited accordingly.
Around the same time, Thomas patented a motion picture camera, and the era of film-making was about to begin. A peep-hole viewer – Kinetoscope – was developed for use in the numerous penny arcades of the time, and by the mid-1890s motion pictures could be projected on screens for public viewing, and soon afterwards a synchronised soundtrack on a cylinder heralded the first ‘talkies’, although full development took another 20 years. Still, Edison’s net worth was continuing to rise, and was perpetuated by his film studio ultimately producing more than 1200 films.
Edison continued to develop and refine all his initial inventions until the 1920s, almost all based on electrics and electricity – a short-lived involvement in mining was unsuccessful.
Thomas Edison was rewarded with numerous honours and awards for his work; the most important was the French Legion of Honour(1881). In 1915 he was awarded the Franklin Medal ‘…for discoveries contributing to the foundation of industries and the well-being of the human race…’. The US congress not only bestowed the Congressional Medal on him in 1928, but in 1983 designated his birthday ‘National Inventors Day’. In 1997 “Life” magazine nominated him as ‘the most important person in the last 1000 years’ for his light bulb invention, and he was voted the 15th most important by the American public. Certainly he ranks with John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie as one of the most influential businessmen and entrepreneurs of the industrial era, if not one of the richest.
In his personal life, Thomas Edison married 16 year-old Mary Stilwell from 1871, two months after their meeting, until her death from unspecified causes in 1884, and with whom he had a daughter and two sons. From 1886 until his death, he was married to Mina Miller – 20 years-old to his 39 years at the time of their marriage – with whom he also had a daughter and two sons.
Businesspersons
Charles Saatchi Net Worth
Charles Saatchi is one of the richest and best known businessmen in the world and one of many millionaires. Saatchi’s overall net worth has been stated to be $100 million for 2014. Charles Saatchi was born in Baghdad, Iraq, but later had to move together with his family to London, UK to avoid the persecution of Jews in his home country. He was the second son in the family of four kids. As a teenager Charles was really interested in American pop culture and studied at the London College of Communication. After graduation he began his professional career as a copywriter working for “Benton & Bowles” and later started to work in tandem with an art director, Ross Cramer, and together they formed their own company called “CramerSaatchi”.
Charles Saatchi Net Worth $100 Million
They were successful and took-on employees John Hegarty and Heremy Sinclair, but true success came to Charles later. In 1970 Charles Saatchi started his business together with brother Maurice: they established “Saatchi & Saatchi” agency which had become the largest advertising agency in the world by the mid-80’s with just a huge number of high-profile clients like UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and British Airways. However, Charles and Maurice left the agency and together founded another one called “M&C Saatchi”. They took many of their important clients with them, and one of these was British Airways. Nowadays, thanks to his prosperous business, Charles Saatchi has a net worth of $100 million dollars.
To the rest of the world Saatchi is also known as one of the most famous modern art collectors. He purchased his first art work in 1969 – by Sol LeWitt, a minimalist from New York. His passion for paintings only grew, and in 2009 he even published the book “My Name Is Charles Saatchi And I Am An Artoholic” wherein the author answered many questions and even gave some advice about collectibles. But the book didn’t become as popular as Saatchi expected, so the author asked his personal assistant to buy a huge number of books to help his work hit some positions in bestseller charts. Later in 2009 Saatchi appeared on the BBC program “School of Saatchi” and gave many young artists a perfect opportunity to show their talent and showcase artworks: some artists even painted portraits of Saatchi himself. In July 2010 Charles Saatchi donated his Saatchi Gallery to the British public together with 200 works of art.
Saatchi’s personal life has never been very public, but he married his first wife in 1973. He had met Doris Lockhart Dibley in 1965 while working for “Benton & Bowes”. The couple lived together for the six years before marrying, but divorced in 1990. Saatchi’s second wife was Kay Hartenstein to whom he was married from 1990-2001, and they even had a daughter together. Then Saatchi married for the third time in 2003, to English journalist, food writer, gourmet and television personality Nigella Lawson, but after public disagreements, were divorced 2013.
Businesspersons
Mikey Teutul Net Worth
Michael Joseph was born 26 November 1978, in Montgomery, New York State USA, and widely known as Mikey Teutul, is a reality television personality, the youngest son of Orange County Choppers founder Paul Teutul, Sr. Mikey began his working life at 14, in the family business.
So just how rich is Mikey Teutul, as of late 2017? Authoritative sources estimate that Mikey has a net worth of over $3 million dollars, largely earned by working at his father’s and older brother Paul Jr,’s company Orange County Choppers (OCC), and Orange County Iron Works, and through his TV appearances.
Mikey Teutul Net Worth $3 Million
Little is known of Mikey’s early life or education – it seems to have always revolved around the family business. Helping out his family in his teens, theoretically he worked as Assistant General Manager. but his main duties were to answer ‘phones, and clear-up and take out the trash. He was on rare occasions given the chance to build bikes, until he was competent to build his own. He also attended events for promoting OCC.
In 2002, the family was invited to take part in a reality show, Discovery Channel’s “American Chopper”, and subsequently “American Chopper: Senior vs. Junior”, in the course of which the youngest son was thrown out of the business – the middle son is Daniel, and younger sister Cristin. The reason for Mikey’s exclusion was that Mikey tried to be a mediator between his father and his brother, but his father seemed to be offended that his younger son did not take his side, and so threw him out of the business. During the filming of the show, Mikey was somethoing of a comedy relief to his father’s workers, and that comedy streak helped gain him popularity in TV shows. Mikey then joined his brother’s post-OCC venture, -Paul Jr Designs – along with most of their father’s employees; obviously the work atmosphere with Paul Teutul, Sr. was not a particularly happy one. Mikey’s eldest brother Paul Jr. was the former chief fabricator of OCC.
So actually the main source of Mikey Teutul’s wealth is not his father’s business, but the shows he eventually took part in. These have included ‘The Late Show with David Letterman”, “Late Night with Conan O’Brien”, and also “The Tonight Show” with Jay Leno. The shows became very popular and Mikey’s appearances earned him a significant amount of money. To say the least, the family drama did not go without consequences – according to rumours, Mikey Teutul was suffering from an addiction problem, and consequently admitted himself to rehab, and managed to overcome the bad habits which were apparently hindering his progress in life, obviously including business.
In his life away from the businesses already referred to and the limelight of TV, Michael loves to paint, and is apparently respected for his productions, as he opened “The Wolfgang Gallery” gallery in Montgomery, New York, where he has sold or auctioned his paintings, adding somewhat to is net worth, although rumours suggest that the gallery may now be closed. Most recently, Mikey is now trying to enter the market under the moniker LLC FarQueue Products with his line of gourmet pasta sauces. Good luck, Mikey!
In his less-than-private personal life, Mikey is apparently still single – there aren’t even any rumours of romantic liaisons.
-
Rappers9 months ago
Yung Berg Net Worth
-
Singers1 year ago
Adam Lambert Net Worth
-
Models9 months ago
Kendra Wilkinson Net Worth
-
Producers1 month ago
Teddy Riley Net Worth
-
Lists2 days ago
Where are those from “Yukon Men” today?
-
Singers4 months ago
Justin Bieber Net Worth
-
Celebrity Money10 months ago
The 10 Best-Paid Musicians in the World
-
Rappers1 year ago
Lecrae Net Worth