Companies & Businesses

Who wants to be a Billionaire? I don’t…

Published

7 mins ago

April 18, 2024

Daniel Wanburg

Bill and Melinda Gates created the “Gates Foundation” in 1994, and with Warren Buffett “The Giving Pledge” in 2010, both with the express purpose of distributing a sizeable percentage of their net worth philanthropically. Since 2010, around 200 potential benefactors have signed-up to “The Giving Pledge”, but to what exactly? Firstly there is no legal requirement to actually contribute anything, and so secondly, there is no compulsion regarding amounts or percentages of wealth – the arrangement is entirely voluntary.

“The Giving Pledge” is an idea of very rich philanthropists to, in theory, do something positive with their spare cash – well, none of them will go broke as a result of their donations, however generous. To the average person, $1 billion will always be out of reach, but most of those signing “The Pledge” are multi-billionaires, so even donating 99% of their wealth should still leave them comfortable financially, enjoying life in the manner to which they have become accustomed, but necessarily allowing them to continue their good works.

Taking one of the youngest but richest billionaires to sign-up as an example, Mark and Priscilla Zuckerberg(Chan) indicate that they will eventually contribute 99% of their wealth, but since currently this consists of around $47 billion, the vast majority in Facebook shares, this will be difficult unless the shares are cashed-in, not necessarily a good idea. The same applies to other prospective contributors; the words ‘eventually contribute’ obviously become important. The Gates‘ Foundation has current assets of around $45 billion, invested to produce maximum dividends which are then distributed to charitable causes. “The Giving Pledge” likely operates in a similar manner.

Regardless, these promises are obviously well-intentioned, and rarely for personal aggrandisement, even if the commitment still leaves the contributor well-off by any standard. So who are these people? Following is a list of the more well-known celebrities in no particular order, who have promised to commit various amounts or percentages from their wealth through various channels, but at least half of their net worth over time.

Mark and Priscilla Zuckerberg – the founder and Facebook has set-up his/their own foundation, with a promise to contribute 99% of his current $47 billion net worth over time. They joined “The Pledge” in 2015.

Richard Branson – best known as being the creator of various businesses under the Virgin brand, initially created Virgin Unite in 2004 with wife Joan, to encourage entrepreneurial endeavours particularly in poorer countries, and tackle environmental issues. He also signed “The Pledge” in 2013. Current net worth is estimated at $5 billion.

George Soros – the world-respected investor and hedge fund manager, founded in 1979 and is still the chairman of Open Society, providing scholarships to South Africans when still struggling under apartheid. He is known to have given over $11 billion to charitable causes already, and has a current net worth estimated at $25 billion.

Sara Blakely – the founder of lingerie company Spanx, has her own foundation committed to assisting female education and entrepreneurship, as well as contributing to other causes. She signed to “The Pledge” in 2013, and has a current net worth estimated at $1.2 billion.

John Arnold – with wife Laura, he created the Arnold Foundation in 2011, focusing on education, public accountability and criminal justice. He is a former hedge fund manager concentrating on oil and gas, and has a current net worth estimated at $2.6 billion.

Larry Ellison – the creator of Oracle, he has donated millions already to education and medical research. He signed to “The Pledge” in 2010, and has vowed to donate 95% of his estimated wealth of $50 billion to charitable causes.

Oprah Winfrey – the media mogul and highly respected talk show host consistently donates many millions to humanitarian causes, partly through her Foundation, and particularly for the betterment of black people, including in South Africa. Her current net worth is estimated at over $3 billion, but such is her generosity that that could change significantly.

Bill & Melinda Gates – the Microsoft founder and his wife are probably the most generous benefactors. It’s unclear whether the $45 billion assets of their Foundation are included in their estimated net worths of $79 and $70 billion respectively, but there is no doubting their intent to distribute the vast majority of their wealth among needy causes and some individuals.

Bernard Marcus – founder of the US DIY store chain Home Depot, he and wife Billi are determined that their offspring will understand what work means, and so created The Marcus Institute to distribute their wealth, currently $4 billion, to more needy causes. They also signed to “The Pledge” in 2010.

Warren Buffett – the “Oracle of Omaha’ and owner/manager of Berkshire Hathaway needs little introduction. With an estimated current net worth of $73 billion, he is one of the three richest persons in the world, regardless that he has contributed huge sums to charities, including $30 million to the Gates’ Foundation in 2006, and is one of the founder members of “The Pledge”, determined to divest himself of 99% of his wealth..

Chuck Feeney – the co-founder of Duty Free Shoppers Group (DFS), Chuck is another determined to ‘bring his kids up right’, and transferred most of his wealth to his Atlantic Philanthropies as long ago as the 1980s. He joined “The Pledge” in 2011, despite having committed most assets to his Foundation. His current personal net worth is estimated at $2 million.

66ème Festival de Venise (Mostra)

George Lucas – the highly successful and popular film director/producer joined “The Pledge” in 2010, despite already having created his own Educational Foundation in 1991, particularly promoting the idea of free wireless broadband educational network in more recent years. His current net worth is estimated at $5 billion.

Michael Bloomberg – financial data and media mogul, as well as serving three terms as Mayor of New York, Bloomberg took “The Pledge” in 2010, despite having formed Bloomberg Philanthropies years earlier, and given away large chunks of his personal wealth. He is particularly interested in environmental issues such as climate change, but also public health and education overall. His current net worth is still estimated at $38 billion, the majority of which he has vowed to donate to charitable causes through the two mentioned Foundations.

Pierre Omidyar – this Iranian-born Frenchman became a billionaire at 31, from the success of the auction web site eBay. However, within six years he had established the Omidyar Foundation, in 2004, a philanthropic organisation assisting innovation particularly in developing countries. He joined “The Pledge” in 2010, and is another not to waste his wealth by dying wealthy! His current net worth is estimated at close to $9 billion.

Ted Turner – the developer of CNN, the media mogul is another to set-up his own foundation, in 1990, determined to give away his wealth to worthwhile causes. He also signed to “The Pledge’ in 2010, and his current net worth of around $2.5 billion has diminished considerably as a consequence of his on-going philanthropic generosity.

Daniel Wanburg

As the Managing Editor at Net Worth Post, I lead a talented team in delivering compelling content on the lives and achievements of influential figures. With a keen eye for detail and a passion for storytelling, I oversee the production of insightful biographies that resonate with our audience. My role involves not only managing the editorial process but also conducting research, crafting engaging narratives, and ensuring the accuracy and quality of our publications. At NetWorthPost, we strive to provide our readers with in-depth profiles that offer valuable insights into the worlds of business, entertainment, and beyond. Through meticulous research and captivating storytelling, we bring to light the remarkable journeys and successes of individuals who inspire and captivate us.

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Companies & Businesses

World’s Worst Business Decisions

Published

7 mins ago

April 18, 2024

Daniel Wanburg

The Great Financial Crisis of 2008 is by no means the first such event, as collapses and depressions in companies, businesses, industries – even countries and effecting the world – have occurred at almost regular intervals throughout history. The difference now is that such financial disasters are covered in depth almost instantly, and certainly graphically, by the media, and the sums of money involved appear ever more enormous and the effects often even more wide-ranging.

However, there have been many such calamities on a personal, and /or singular basis which bear mentioning, where decisions made, or in some cases not made at all, have been seen to be huge mistakes, sometimes because of lack of experience which can seldom be bought, and of course with the wisdom of hindsight. In some cases the specific monetary loss is impossible to evaluate, since popular TV shows also draw increased advertising revenue, but the red faces of some decision makers can well be imagined – perhaps as they were shown the door!

Following in chronological order is a list of 15 of the worst business decisions of the last 150 years, most of them far more recent than that, and identifying that not only do you need to know your business, but also that you are able to recognize where the business or industry is headed, work out the best way of getting there, and in particular stay ahead of the competitive field, especially when the pace of IT research and development is proceeding at such a pace and effecting almost everyone in today’s world.

Table of Contents

Edwin Drake – Oil drill patent

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There must be some sympathy for Edwin Drake, a name you may not have seen before? He was employed by Seneca Oil in the late 1850s, initially to explore Pennsylvania for oil deposits, and then to try and invent a way of retrieving it from depths, as opposed to surface seepage. This he eventually did, by shoring the drilling shaft with a metal pipe to prevent earth collapsing into the bare shaft, a system still utilized to this day. However, not being a businessman, Drake didn’t realize the significance of his invention, and so failed to patent his oil drill, even though by this time he was continuing as an individual. He was eventually granted a stipend of $1,500 by Pennsylvania, but compared with what he might have had… oh dear!

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Western Union – The telephone system

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In the 1870s, Western Union was so confident of their monopoly in the telegraph system that they didn’t see the need to invest in the growth – if any, in their opinion – of the telephone system. An offer of sale of his patent for $100,000 from Gardiner Greene Hubbard was rejected by president William Orton, and of course AT & T (an American multinational telecommunications corporation) subsequently became very rich from this drastic oversight!

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Decca Records – The Beatles

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In 1961, the still relatively unknown Beatles were keen to find a record label, but Decca were less than impressed, especially with a group from Liverpool! Director Mike Smith preferred instead to sign London acts, maybe a more secure move, except that The Beatles became the best-selling band ever in world music, and revolutionized entertainment in the process; EMI (Electric and Musical Industries) signed the group, and rejoiced all the way to the bank!

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NBC and CBS – “Monday Night Football”

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With the legendary Howard Cosell in commentary, how could “Monday Night Football” fail to be a winner – well, neither NBC nor CBS were buying it, literally. In the 1960s, TV and sports entertainment were still developing, usually on a local basis or with news-type programs such as “The Wide World of Sports”. The NFL had only merged with the AFL in 1964, and was nowhere near as commanding an attraction as it is today, still second in popularity country-wide behind baseball. NBC and CBS preferred to stick with the tried and tested “Doris Day Show” and “Laugh-In” programs respectively, however, with ABC third in the rankings, president of sports Roone Arledge saw the potential of American football as a prime-time spectacle. Debuting in 1970, “Monday Night Football” is now the longest-running program on American TV, and consistently at the top of the rankings, a big coup for ABC. More importantly for advertising, young male viewers are firm watchers, a key demographic for advertisers. Now on ESPN, the Super Bowl is the most watched single program on TV in the US, with advertising costs set appropriately!

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Kodak – Digital

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Despite Kodak’s corporate dominance in the 1970s, engineer Steve Sasson began experimenting with a charge-coupled device (CCD), eventually working out how to use it converting light into the digital language of 1s and 0s; the first digital camera was the result, producing a 100,000-pixel image. Although Kodak saw the potential and invested heavily in development, management were too conservative to take the plunge, forces within the company stalled the release of a digital camera, preferring to stick with their comfortably profitable film-and-paper product. Not until almost 20 years later did Kodak finally move to digital, far too late to match the competition. The inevitable happened – over the next 10 years, 50,000 employees were made redundant, and in 2012 the company founded in 1888 filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Now it produces only printer cartridges and film for motion pictures.

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Ross Perot – Microsoft

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Ross Perot is known as a (generally) successful US businessman, and a sometime politician, however, he has not been immune from making mistakes in both fields of endeavour. In 1979, his Electronic Data Systems company needed to acquire computer software, and looked at the possible acquisition of Microsoft, then valued by (23-year-old) Bill Gates at a minimum of $40 million, Although Perot’s company was valued at around $1 billion, he thought this was too expensive, however, he later admitted in an interview with the Seattle Times that this was “possibly the biggest business mistake I’ve ever made.” As often the case, easy to be wise after the fact.

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IBM – Microsoft

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Microsoft has been smart and lucky twice; in 1980, IBM contracted Bill Gates for just $80,000 to develop an operating system, the result being PC-DOS. However, Microsoft was to retain the copyright, and subsequently the MS-DOS system was created by the company. This was such a gigantic step forward that Microsoft was able to dominate the computer software industry for the following 30 years, while IBM was … just OK!

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E.T. – M&Ms “colorful button-shaped candies”

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Another example of hindsight proving invaluable – in fact of course it cannot be bought! – is the decision by Mars refusal to allow M&Ms to feature in the movie “E.T”. Although director Steven Spielberg had had an enormous success with “Jaws”, apparently in 1982 no-one thought that “E.T.” would become one of the most iconic movies in film history. Similarly, on-line streaming rapidly overtook videos. The result? Hershey’s Reese’s Pieces were used, free, in “E.T.”, but mutual advertising was agreed, and Rease’s Pieces are reputed to have tripled in sales in the first week of the film’s release. M&Ms eventually recovered a portion of the lost market share, but at what cost?

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ABC – The Cosby Show

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Regardless of legal proceedings in 2016, “The Cosby Show” was top of the ratings on US TV for five seasons in the late 1980, ensuring that NBC was also in the network top spot. ABC – so quick to adopt the almost instantly popular “Monday Night Football” – had been given first refusal, but apparently president of entertainment Lewis Erlicht didn’t like the concept, and turned it down. Supposedly ‘you can’t win them all’, but what a chance gone begging.

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Coke – ‘New Coke’

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The Coca-Cola company was founded in the 1880s, and 100 years later, ‘Coke’ had become the dominant soft drink world wide, and also a significant marketing tool. However, in an attempt to widen the drink’s popularity even further, in 1985 “New Coke” was introduced, apparently confusing many “Coke” drinkers. The distinct taste was one thing, but supposedly an emotional bond had been formed with adherents which was lost, and caused millions of nostalgic complaints to the company. Eventually the mistake was acknowledged – despite the fact that research showed a mild preference for the new product – and Coca-Cola Classic was released, ‘Classic’ supposedly referring to the original, genuine article. Sales lost in the intervening three months are incalculable.

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Excite – Google

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Although, back in 1999, Google was still based on largely unproven algorithms, even today Excite still categorises the internet by subject, and posts the weather as well as the news. No wonder it is now a subsidiary of Ask.com. Conversely, if Excite had seen the real worth, value, potential of Google back then, it would now be valued somewhere in the region of $350-400 billion. Instead, the offer by start-up kids Larry Page and Sergey Brin to sell their company to Excite for $1 million – later reduced to $750,000 – was almost totally ignored by the Excite board. The title of the company certainly doesn’t reflect the actions it has taken over the last 20 years.

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Blockbuster – Netflix

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In the 1990s, Blockbuster had almost 10,000 stores, and revenue was close to $6 billion a year, quite a percentage earned from late returns! Efficient use of computers to ensure stores had ‘the latest’ and most popular movies. blinded executives to the growing influence of Netflix with its DVD-by-mail service. So much so that in 2000 when Netflix offered a joint venture to Blockbusters for $50 million based on their growing business, CEO John Antioco literally waved them away. Subsequently Netflix subscription and delivery service became so popular, that as of early 2016 it is valued at almost $25 billion. Blockbuster? It closed its last store and its attempted service a la Netflix in 2013, having filed for bankruptcy in 2010. If only ….

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The AOL – Time Warner Merger

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Having grown with the fledgling internet to command 35 million dial-up subscribers in the US by 2002, AOL was looking to flex its financial muscles. However, nothing is guaranteed in the business world – although money can still ‘talk’ – and AOL’s decision through CEO Steve Case to merge with Time Warner in an agreement with CEO Gerald M. Levin in 2000, was both ill-timed and ill-advised. The amalgamation of new with old media – at $350 billion the largest in the business world at that time – was decidedly lop-sided: as the majority shareholder, AOL needed to perform, in particular by attracting advertising revenue. Unfortunately, what is now referred to as ‘the dot-com bubble’ burst, internet stocks fell alarmingly wiping $100 billion off the merged value, and on-line advertising dried-up. Additionally, high-speed internet access rapidly overtook AOL’s now outdated dial-up offering. Subsequently, in 2009, Time Warner discarded AOL to become a separate company again. This ill-fated merger has become standard case study, as the worst merger ever, for today’s business schools.

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Rupert Murdoch – MySpace

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MySpace was actually the first social network, preceding Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and even YouTube, even registering over one million users in its first month of operation in 2004, in a very similar way to its eventual successors, becoming the fifth largest internet domain in the US. However, along came new owner Rupert Murdoch came along, buying the company for $580 million in 2005, and attempted to make even more millions by over-doing the advertising on-site. This one mistake lead to subscribers exiting in droves, to the aforementioned rivals with far less advertising. MySpace traffic actually peaked in 2008 with almost 80 million visitors, but then declined very rapidly, such that Murdoch sold it for $35 million in 2011. He even had the grace to use Twitter in admitting that “we screwed up in every way possible, learned lots of valuable expensive lessons”.

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J.C. Penney – ‘Fake Prices’

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Everyone has wondered, when shopping in the seeming plethora of retail ‘sales’ these days, what the real price of an article is. In 2012 the more than 100 year-old department store J.C. Penney’s newly appointed CEO Ron Johnson decided to ‘tell it like it is’, in an attempt to win back business from the likes of Wal-Mart, was to upgrade the stores, and do away with sales and coupons and advertise products at ‘everyday low prices’. Unfortunately, customers who had remained loyal to J.C. didn’t take to this psychology: apparently they liked the old system of believing that they were getting bargains at sale-reduced prices, and missed the ‘sales’ and coupons too. Internet complaints sky-rocketed, sales fell, and the old way of marketing was resumed. CEO Johnson left after just 17 months, and Sergio Zyman – the man who had set Coca-Cola right – was hired to restore customers faith in the old firm.

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Billionaires

The World’s Richest Self-Made Billionaires

Published

7 mins ago

April 18, 2024

Daniel Wanburg

History is full of people who were self-made, becoming rich by fair means or foul – in many cases the latter – but the assumption today is that people with, to most of us, such a huge sum of money must have had a leg-up somehow; not so – research and development of, and demand for technological accessories is one big reason, world wide, so IT features prominently in the list. Since around 80% of billionaires are actually self-made, what are the rest of us waiting for!?

The following list comprises the richest in the self-made club, a snap-shot as of early 2016, acknowledging that the day-to-day volatility of share markets can have a significant effect on total wealth and therefore ranking; eg Mark Zuckerberg apparently gained over $6 billion on 27 January alone, while Carlos Slim went the other way! Perhaps unsurprisingly, 12 who make the list are either American-born or now American citizens, and no women make the top 20!

20. Phil Knight: $22 billion

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Born: 28 February 1938, Portland, Oregon, USA
Nationality: American
Residence: La Quinta, California
Start in Business: 1962

Quickly switching from marketing Tiger sports-shoes to founding Nike in 1964, Phil ‘retired’ as CEO in 2006 to become Chairman until 2015 of one of the most profitable companies in the world. However, concurrently he became immersed in Laika (previously Vinto Studios), firstly as an investor and then CEO and Chairman, turning it into a successful film-making company today.

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19. Steve Ballmer: $22.5 billion

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Born: 24 March 1956, Detroit, Michigan USA
Nationality: American
Residence: Washington State
Start in Business: 1978

To identify the source of Steve’s wealth, one only has to say that Steve was the very successful CEO of Microsoft from 2000-14, and remains the largest shareholder. However, he is still improving his net worth as the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers NBA team, which also enables him to indulge in his keen interest.

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18. Carl Ichan: $23 billion

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Born: 16 February 1936, Queens, New York City, USA
Nationality: American
Residence: New York City
Start in Business: 1961

Carl began work as a ground-floor stockbroker, formed securities firm Icahn & Co in 1968, and subsequently Icahn Enterprises in 1987. He controls significant investments across many industries, including in Apple the value of which rose $8 billion in one day just from an Icahn comment! Other interests include PayPal, Xerox, and holding company Gannett. However, resource price declines saw Icahn’s wealth slip somewhat in 2015.

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17. Leonardo Del Vecchio: $23.5 billion

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Born: 22 May 1935, Milan, Italy
Nationality: Italian
Residence: Milan, Italy
Start in Business: 1961

Versace, Burberry, Prada, Ray-Ban, Oakley and Sunglass Hut are just a few of the brands owned by Leonardo through Luxottica, founded in 1961 and which has become the world’s biggest eye-wear retailer, and of which he is still chairman. Considering that he was effectively orphaned, and began work at the bottom as a tool-making apprentice, Del Vecchio is an outstanding example of the self-made billionaire.

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16. George Soros: $25 billion

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Born: 12 August 1930, Budapest, Hungary
Nationality: dual Hungarian-American
Residence: Bedford, New York State
Start in Business: 1954

A (Jewish) refugee with virtually nothing after the Battle of Budapest in 1945; graduating with a PhD from the London School of Economics – the leading ‘producer’ of billionaires in the UK – while working at any jobs he could get; securing a position in the London finance industry; moving to the USA in 1956; subsequently founding Soros Fund Management in 1970; becoming a billionaire by 1980; a real ‘rags-to-riches’ story. Along with Warren Buffett, he is recognised as an extremely knowledgeable investor, even ‘breaking the Bank of England’ through currency speculation in 1992.

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15. Sheldon Adelson: $26 billion

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Born: 4 August 1933, Dorchester, Massachusetts, USA
Nationality: American
Residence: Boston, Massachusetts
Start in Business: 1979

Sheldon is still the CEO and chairman of his beloved Las Vegas Sands casino, plus owning casinos in Singapore and Macao. Not bad for a youngster who started by borrowing a couple of hundred dollars from an uncle to buy a newspaper round when he was just 12 years old. He moved up to candy-machines when he was 16, and has seldom looked back, although not all of his 50-plus businesses have proved as successful as his current interest.

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14. Jack Ma: $27 billion

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Born: 10 September 1964, Hangzhou, China
Nationality: Chinese
Residence: Hong Kong/Hangzhou
Start in Business: 1995

Visiting the USA in the mid-90s, Jack Ma was astounded to find virtually no information about China anywhere on the internet. He scraped together $20,000 and began developing web sites for Chinese companies – the beginning of the Alibaba group, and the start of his road to becoming the richest man in China. There are now nine companies under the Alibaba umbrella, which raised $25 billion, the largest amount ever, at its IPO on the New York Stock Exchange in 2014. Jack now serves as the chairman.

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14. Jorge Paulo Lemann: $27 billion

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Born: 26 August 1938, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Nationality: dual Swiss-Brazilian
Residence: Rapperswil-Jona, Switzerland
Start in Business: 1966

Although beginning his working life with Credit-Suisse as a trainee, such companies as Burger King, Anheuser-Busch and Tom Horton’s, as well as a large stake in Kraft-Heinz through 3G Capital are now the bases of Lemann’s wealth. His financial background has helped Jorge survive several reverses in the business and financial world, and maintain his position as the richest (half-) Brazilian.

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12. Lee Shau-kee: $28 billion

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Born: 29 January 1928, Shunde District, Guangdong, China
Nationality: Chinese
Residence: Hong Kong
Start in Business: 1950s

Lee was wise enough to move to Hong Kong before the communists took over in mainland China, and becoming involved in real estate in a place where land is in short supply was an even smarter move. Today he is chairman and MD of Henderson Land Development Company which he founded in 1973, but also has interests in gas and internet services. Lee is sometimes referred to as “Hong Kong’s Buffett”, a compliment indeed.

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11. Sergey Brin: $29 billion

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Born: 21 August 1973, Moscow, Russia
Nationality: American
Residence: Los Altos, California
Start in Business: 1997

A co-founder of Google (now a part of Alphabet) with Larry Page in 1998, Sergey has utilised his computer science degree well to help build the company into the most used search-engine on the internet. Sergey now heads Google X, and his net worth continues to increase, although already having reached a position he is unlikely to have imagined when migrating with his (Jewish) parents from the Soviet Union in 1980, where their personal advancement was stymied under communism.

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10. Larry Page: $31 billion

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Born: 26 March 1973, East Lancing, Michigan, USA
Nationality: American
Residence: Palo Alto, California
Start in Business: 1997

Moving on from BackRub to co-found Google with Sergey Brin was Larry’s real starting point to financial success, as the change was from university-orientated to offering their product to the world – and what a world it has turned out to be. Larry had some start in that his father was a computer scientist, but was certainly not rich, and Larry became a totally self-made billionaire before the age of 30.

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9. Michael Bloomberg: $34 billion

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Born: 14 February 1942, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Nationality: American
Residence: New York City
Start in Business: 1969

From his start in 1967 as a trader with Salomon Brothers to Mayor of New York is not a normal career progression, but Bloomberg first made his wealth through becoming a partner in 1973, and then developing his own market information service via Bloomberg L.P founded in 1981. As with most successful entrepreneurs, Bloomberg spotted a niche which needed to be filled, but then also believed that he could manage a major city, and served three terms as mayor from 2002-2013. He is now back as CEO of his own company.

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8. Carlos Slim Helú: $37 billion

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Born: 28 January 1940, Mexico City, Mexico
Nationality: Mexican
Residence: Mexico City
Start in Business: 1962

Carlos has made most of his wealth from developing telecommunications companies in Mexico, particularly in mobile ‘phones, but as befits an engineering graduate, also has other manufacturing interests and a wide variety of companies. His net worth began when he bought bonds at the age of 11, and has been known as a hard-worker and very capable financial manager ever since – “The Buffet of Mexico”.

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7. Jeff Bezos: $40 billion

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Born: 12 January 1964, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
Nationality: American
Residence: Seattle, Washington State
Start in Business: 1992

Jeff’s background was in finance and computing, until he put the two together in 1994 to found on-line merchandiser Amazon, identifying an opening concurrent with the rapid growth of internet use. Still no other company approaches Amazon’s volume of business, now world-wide. Jeff is also known as the proprietor of “The Washington Post”, although his interest in editorial comment is apparently minimal.

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6. Mark Zuckerberg: $47 billion

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Born: 14 May 1984, White Plains, New York State, USA
Nationality: American
Residence: Palo Alto, California
Start in Business: 2004

The co-founder of Facebook is a voluntary drop-out from Harvard, a university second on the list for billionaire alumni, but seems to have done alright for himself, accumulating his present fortune in just 12 years, and one of the youngest to reach the billionaire mark at 27 – nothing else needs to be said!

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5. Ingvar Kamprad: $48 billion

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Born: 30 March 1926, Agunnaryd, Sweden
Nationality: Swedish
Residence: Smaland, Sweden
Start in Business: 1943

Given a small amount of money by his father for doing well at school, Ingvar established IKEA when he was 17, originally sold by mail order and therefore flat-packed, and building it into the largest retailer of furniture in the world, selling over $25 billion in stock in 2015. At current rates, Ingvar became a member of the billionaire’s club by the time he was 30.

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4. Larry Ellison: $52 billion

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Born: 17 August 1944, Manhattan, New York City, USA
Nationality: American
Residence: Woodside, California
Start in Business: 1977

Beginning working life as a programmer, Larry was knowledgeable enough to identify the need for a relational data base management system; Oracle was originally written specifically for the CIA, which with two colleagues was developed and released in 1979. With that significant reference, the company has generally prospered since, except for a difficult period when sales were over-stated, and spread widely into Europe. Ellison was CEO until 2014, when he became chairman and CTO. He also has significant real estate holdings, part of which is an Hawaiian island. Larry was adopted from his single mother, and never graduated from university, as his interest in computing wasn’t catered for – as with others on this list. Lack of a degree doesn’t seem to have been a hindrance!

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3. Amancio Ortega: $65 billion

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Born: 28 March 1936, Leon, Spain
Nationality: Spanish
Residence: La Coruna, Spain
Start in Business: 1972

Zara, a fashion designing and retailing company, was founded by Amancio in 1975 – it’s reputation is that it is all things to all people, a novel idea which has certainly hit the mark ever since, including promoting Ortega to be the richest person in Spain.

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2. Warren Buffett: $73 billion

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Born: 30 August 1930, Omaha, Nebraska, USA
Nationality: American
Residence: Omaha, Nebraska
Start in Business: 1970

It’s hard to believe, but “The Sage of Omaha” began trading shares at the age of 11, with money saved from his newspaper round, which he subsequently bought. Now he is accepted as perhaps the most knowledgeable investor in the world, with shares in his Berkshire-Hathaway fund trading at over $200,000 each, by far the highest on the NYSE. Regardless of his current wealth, Warren clearly appreciated the value of money from a very early age, and even now recognises that you still need to work to get it!

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1. Bill Gates: $86 billion

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Born: 28 October 1955, Seattle, Washington State, USA
Nationality: American
Residence: Medina, Washington State
Start in Business: 1975

Another Harvard drop-out, but an entrepreneurial designer from that time, Bill has been at the head of research and development in IT as the founder of Microsoft, and at its head for more than 40 years. He has been at the top of this list for most years in the last 20, despite now committing most of his, and his wife’s wealth to philanthropic activities.

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