Billionaire college dropouts!
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K.Karthik Raja
Aug 22, 2008, 3:16:36 AM8/22/08
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Billionaire college dropouts!
August 20, 2008
There are many college and school dropouts who have amassed a huge
amount wealth. But good education is never a waste of time, because
there are millions of dropouts, but only a few of them go on to become
billionaires.
The billionaire college dropouts list shows that a combination of
qualities like vision, determination, hard work, business acumen,
ability to spot an opportunity and turn it into a winning venture,
leadership and motivational skills, etc is more important than a
college degree.
Here are some college dropouts who went on to become
billionaires. . .
Dhirubhai Ambani
Dhirajlal Hirachand Ambani (1932-2002) was born into a modest family
of a schoolteacher. When he was 16, he dropped out of school and went
to Aden to work as a gas-station attendant and then later as a clerk
in an oil company.
He returned to India 10 years later and started a business with a
meagre capital. By the time of his demise, his company -- Reliance
Industries Ltd -- had grown into a mammoth business empire! He was one
of India's greatest ever entrepreneurs.
Dhirubhai is credited with having single-handedly breathed life into
the Indian stock markets and bringing in thousands of investors to the
bourses. In the process he became one of the world's richest men.
His modern way of thinking brought into play his second achievement:
the idea that Indian manufacturing could and should be world class.
His sons, Mukesh and Anil are among the top 10 richest persons in the
world, each of them worth over $40 billion.
Gautam Adani
Gautam Adani (1962-) is chairman of the Adani Group, that is one of
India's largest export and trading houses.
He is one of India's richest businessmen with an estimated personal
net worth of $6.7 billion.
The Adani Group, despite a humble beginning in 1988, is one of the
fastest growing enterprises in India. The flagship company, Adani
Enterprises Ltd. (formerly known as Adani Exports Ltd.), was
established by Gautam Adani in 1988 as a partnership firm with a seed
capital of Rs 500,000.
Gautam Adani dropped out of college at the age of 18 and went on to
work in Mumbai at a diamond store. He later set up his own diamond
firm.
Born in a family of modest means in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, Gautam was one
of the seven children of Shantilal and Shantaben Adani.
Later, along with his elder brother Mansukhbhai, he entered into
import of raw materials used for manufacturing plastics. When import
duties on the materials they imported were cut, following
liberalisation, their profits multiplied.
Today, Gautam Adani owns two private jets.
Subhash Chandra
Subhash Chandra, founder of Zee TV and the Essel Group, dropped out of
school when he was only 12.
He started his own vegetable oils and rice trading unit at 19 in
Hissar, Haryana.
He launched Zee Telefilms in October 1992 as a content supplier for
Zee TV -- India's first Hindi satellite channel.
He pioneered new businesses: amusement park (Esselworld), laminated
tubes (Essel Tubes,) satellite television (Zee TV). He has also set up
world class facilities that made quality products at competitive
prices.
His personal wealth is estimated at $2.3 billion.
Bill Gates
For long the world's richest man, till he was upstaged by legendary
investor Warren Buffett recently, Bill Gates wears many a hat:
computer whiz kid, entrepreneur extraordinaire, compassionate
capitalist, top management thinker. . .
Born on October 28, 1955, William H Gates III grew up in Seattle with
his two sisters.
Their father, William H Gates II, is a Seattle attorney. Their late
mother, Mary, was a schoolteacher, University of Washington regent,
and chairwoman of United Way International.
Gates attended public elementary school and the private Lakeside
School. There, he discovered his interest in software and began
programming computers at age 13.
In 1973, Gates entered Harvard University as a freshman, where he
lived down the hall from Steve Ballmer, now Microsoft's chief
executive officer. While at Harvard, Gates developed a version of the
programming language BASIC for the first microcomputer - the MITS
Altair.
In his junior year, Gates left Harvard to devote his energies to
Microsoft, a company he had begun in 1975 with his childhood friend
Paul Allen.
Bill Gates stepped down as chief executive officer of Microsoft in
January, 2000; remained as chairman and created the position of chief
software architect. Gates's last full-time day at Microsoft was June
27, 2008. He remains at Microsoft as a part-time, non-executive
chairman.
Gates married Melinda French from Dallas, Texas on January 1, 1994.
They have three children: Jennifer Katharine Gates (1996), Rory John
Gates (1999) and Phoebe Adele Gates (2002).
Li Ka-shing
Li Ka-Shing, whose net worth is estimated at $18.8 billion, is one of
the richest men in Asia.
The chairman of Hutchison Whampoa and Cheung Kong Holdings was only 12-
years-old when his family fled from China after the Japanese invaded
the country.
They arrived in Hong Kong looking to make a life for themselves.
However, when Li was only 15, his father passed away forcing him to
drop out of school and support the family.
He started off working at his uncle's shop, selling watches. When he
was 21, he established his own plastic manufacturing company that
dealt in high-quality plastic flowers. He also ventured into real
estate development, retail, ports, and power, electronics, and
telecommunications.
Carl Icahn
Carl Icahn, a corporate raider and a private equity investor, was
educated at Princeton University and New York University School of
Medicine, but left prior to graduation.
Not becoming a doctor turned out for the good for Icahn, who is a
billionaire financier with an estimated net worth of $14 billion.
Icahn calls himself an activist investor and is leading a shareholder
revolt at Yahoo hoping that the Internet giant will sell out to
Microsoft. He has launched a proxy fight to unseat Yahoo's board.
Roman Abramovich
Billionaire Russian businessman Roman Abramovich is best known for
owning the United Kingdom's Chelsea Football Club.
He started his business in the late 1980s after the then Russian
President Michael Gorbachev set in motion a few economic reforms.
Abramovich has invested around $500 million into Chelsea Football Club
since buying it in 2003 and transformed the fortunes of the London
team in just two years.
He also owns the private investment company Millhouse Capital, and
with a net worth of $23.5 billion, is one of the richest persons
alive.
He invested around $500 million since taking over the football club in
2003 and transformed the fortunes of the London team in just two
years.
Ralph Lauren
Ralph Lauren was born in a Jewish family in the Bronx. He was so
enamoured of fashion that even as a schoolboy he would work after
school to make money to buy suits.
He went to the City College of New York to study business but soon
dropped out. He joined the army for a while and then began to work for
Brooks Brothers as a salesman.
He started a necktie business under the label 'Polo' in 1967, and then
went on to build a global reputation for himself as a fashion designer
and a formidable businessman.
His net worth is estimated to be around $3.8 billion
David Geffen
David Geffen is the founder of Geffen Records and Dreamworks SKG.
He was born in New York and studied at New Utrecht High School in
Brooklyn before going to University of Texas in Austin. However, he
soon dropped out.
He began his entertainment career in the mailroom working in a talent
agency. In 1971, at the age of 28, which singed on noted artistes such
as Bob Dylan, The Eagles, Linda Ronstadt and Jackson Browne. His
company was acquired by Warner and merged with Elektra Records in
1972, but Geffen remained in-charge of the business till 1975. In
1975, he become the vice chairman of Warner Brothers.
In 1980, he set up Geffen Records. His net worth is estimated at $4.4
billion.
Steve Jobs
Steven Paul Jobs (1955-) and Apple Computer are names that have long
gone together.
Born in the United States to an unknown Egyptian-Arab father, Jobs was
adopted soon after birth. After graduating high school, he enrolled in
Reed College, dropping out after one semester.
In 1976, 21-year-old Jobs and 26-year-old Steve Wozniak founded Apple
Computer Co in the family garage. Jobs revolutionised the industry by
popularising the concept of home computers.
By 1984, the Macintosh was introduced. He had an influential role in
the building of the World Wide Web. He is also the former CEO of Pixar
Animation Studios.
Today, with the iPod and the iPhone, Apple is bigger than ever.
Incidentally, Jobs worked for several years at an annual salary of $1.
It got him a listing in the Guinness Book as 'Lowest Paid CEO.' He was
once gifted a $90 million jet by the company though. And his net
worth? More than $5.4 billion.
Larry Ellison
Lawrence Joseph Ellison (1944-), co-founder and CEO of Oracle
Corporation, founded his company in 1977 with a sum of $2,000.
Once a school dropout, he is now one of the richest people in America
with a net worth of around $25 billion.
As a young man, Ellison worked for the Ampex Corporation, where one of
his projects was a database for the CIA. He called it Oracle, a name
he was to reuse years later for the company that made him famous.
Ellison is quite a colourful man, and has long dabbled in all kinds of
things. Want to learn more? Try his biography, The Difference Between
God and Larry Ellison
Andrew Carnegie
Industrialist and philanthropist, Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919) is
better known, today, as the steel tycoon who started over 2,800
libraries. His rags-to-riches tale is also among the most famous in
American history.
After moving to Pennsylvania from Scotland, at the age of 13 he worked
as a bobbin boy in a textile mill. He invested his money wisely and,
within a span of four decades, managed to gain control of a number of
manufacturing plants that grew to become the Carnegie Steel Company.
He is equally -- if not more -- famous for his donations of over $350
million to further public education: an ironic gesture coming from a
dropout.
The author Dale Carnegie was a distant relative, gaining fame for his
1937 bestseller, How to Win Friends and Influence People. And here's
another titbit to chew on: During the American Civil War, Andrew
Carnegie avoided the battlefield by paying a replacement the sum of
$850.
K.Karthik Raja
Research Analyst.
August 20, 2008
There are many college and school dropouts who have amassed a huge
amount wealth. But good education is never a waste of time, because
there are millions of dropouts, but only a few of them go on to become
billionaires.
The billionaire college dropouts list shows that a combination of
qualities like vision, determination, hard work, business acumen,
ability to spot an opportunity and turn it into a winning venture,
leadership and motivational skills, etc is more important than a
college degree.
Here are some college dropouts who went on to become
billionaires. . .
Dhirubhai Ambani
Dhirajlal Hirachand Ambani (1932-2002) was born into a modest family
of a schoolteacher. When he was 16, he dropped out of school and went
to Aden to work as a gas-station attendant and then later as a clerk
in an oil company.
He returned to India 10 years later and started a business with a
meagre capital. By the time of his demise, his company -- Reliance
Industries Ltd -- had grown into a mammoth business empire! He was one
of India's greatest ever entrepreneurs.
Dhirubhai is credited with having single-handedly breathed life into
the Indian stock markets and bringing in thousands of investors to the
bourses. In the process he became one of the world's richest men.
His modern way of thinking brought into play his second achievement:
the idea that Indian manufacturing could and should be world class.
His sons, Mukesh and Anil are among the top 10 richest persons in the
world, each of them worth over $40 billion.
Gautam Adani
Gautam Adani (1962-) is chairman of the Adani Group, that is one of
India's largest export and trading houses.
He is one of India's richest businessmen with an estimated personal
net worth of $6.7 billion.
The Adani Group, despite a humble beginning in 1988, is one of the
fastest growing enterprises in India. The flagship company, Adani
Enterprises Ltd. (formerly known as Adani Exports Ltd.), was
established by Gautam Adani in 1988 as a partnership firm with a seed
capital of Rs 500,000.
Gautam Adani dropped out of college at the age of 18 and went on to
work in Mumbai at a diamond store. He later set up his own diamond
firm.
Born in a family of modest means in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, Gautam was one
of the seven children of Shantilal and Shantaben Adani.
Later, along with his elder brother Mansukhbhai, he entered into
import of raw materials used for manufacturing plastics. When import
duties on the materials they imported were cut, following
liberalisation, their profits multiplied.
Today, Gautam Adani owns two private jets.
Subhash Chandra
Subhash Chandra, founder of Zee TV and the Essel Group, dropped out of
school when he was only 12.
He started his own vegetable oils and rice trading unit at 19 in
Hissar, Haryana.
He launched Zee Telefilms in October 1992 as a content supplier for
Zee TV -- India's first Hindi satellite channel.
He pioneered new businesses: amusement park (Esselworld), laminated
tubes (Essel Tubes,) satellite television (Zee TV). He has also set up
world class facilities that made quality products at competitive
prices.
His personal wealth is estimated at $2.3 billion.
Bill Gates
For long the world's richest man, till he was upstaged by legendary
investor Warren Buffett recently, Bill Gates wears many a hat:
computer whiz kid, entrepreneur extraordinaire, compassionate
capitalist, top management thinker. . .
Born on October 28, 1955, William H Gates III grew up in Seattle with
his two sisters.
Their father, William H Gates II, is a Seattle attorney. Their late
mother, Mary, was a schoolteacher, University of Washington regent,
and chairwoman of United Way International.
Gates attended public elementary school and the private Lakeside
School. There, he discovered his interest in software and began
programming computers at age 13.
In 1973, Gates entered Harvard University as a freshman, where he
lived down the hall from Steve Ballmer, now Microsoft's chief
executive officer. While at Harvard, Gates developed a version of the
programming language BASIC for the first microcomputer - the MITS
Altair.
In his junior year, Gates left Harvard to devote his energies to
Microsoft, a company he had begun in 1975 with his childhood friend
Paul Allen.
Bill Gates stepped down as chief executive officer of Microsoft in
January, 2000; remained as chairman and created the position of chief
software architect. Gates's last full-time day at Microsoft was June
27, 2008. He remains at Microsoft as a part-time, non-executive
chairman.
Gates married Melinda French from Dallas, Texas on January 1, 1994.
They have three children: Jennifer Katharine Gates (1996), Rory John
Gates (1999) and Phoebe Adele Gates (2002).
Li Ka-shing
Li Ka-Shing, whose net worth is estimated at $18.8 billion, is one of
the richest men in Asia.
The chairman of Hutchison Whampoa and Cheung Kong Holdings was only 12-
years-old when his family fled from China after the Japanese invaded
the country.
They arrived in Hong Kong looking to make a life for themselves.
However, when Li was only 15, his father passed away forcing him to
drop out of school and support the family.
He started off working at his uncle's shop, selling watches. When he
was 21, he established his own plastic manufacturing company that
dealt in high-quality plastic flowers. He also ventured into real
estate development, retail, ports, and power, electronics, and
telecommunications.
Carl Icahn
Carl Icahn, a corporate raider and a private equity investor, was
educated at Princeton University and New York University School of
Medicine, but left prior to graduation.
Not becoming a doctor turned out for the good for Icahn, who is a
billionaire financier with an estimated net worth of $14 billion.
Icahn calls himself an activist investor and is leading a shareholder
revolt at Yahoo hoping that the Internet giant will sell out to
Microsoft. He has launched a proxy fight to unseat Yahoo's board.
Roman Abramovich
Billionaire Russian businessman Roman Abramovich is best known for
owning the United Kingdom's Chelsea Football Club.
He started his business in the late 1980s after the then Russian
President Michael Gorbachev set in motion a few economic reforms.
Abramovich has invested around $500 million into Chelsea Football Club
since buying it in 2003 and transformed the fortunes of the London
team in just two years.
He also owns the private investment company Millhouse Capital, and
with a net worth of $23.5 billion, is one of the richest persons
alive.
He invested around $500 million since taking over the football club in
2003 and transformed the fortunes of the London team in just two
years.
Ralph Lauren
Ralph Lauren was born in a Jewish family in the Bronx. He was so
enamoured of fashion that even as a schoolboy he would work after
school to make money to buy suits.
He went to the City College of New York to study business but soon
dropped out. He joined the army for a while and then began to work for
Brooks Brothers as a salesman.
He started a necktie business under the label 'Polo' in 1967, and then
went on to build a global reputation for himself as a fashion designer
and a formidable businessman.
His net worth is estimated to be around $3.8 billion
David Geffen
David Geffen is the founder of Geffen Records and Dreamworks SKG.
He was born in New York and studied at New Utrecht High School in
Brooklyn before going to University of Texas in Austin. However, he
soon dropped out.
He began his entertainment career in the mailroom working in a talent
agency. In 1971, at the age of 28, which singed on noted artistes such
as Bob Dylan, The Eagles, Linda Ronstadt and Jackson Browne. His
company was acquired by Warner and merged with Elektra Records in
1972, but Geffen remained in-charge of the business till 1975. In
1975, he become the vice chairman of Warner Brothers.
In 1980, he set up Geffen Records. His net worth is estimated at $4.4
billion.
Steve Jobs
Steven Paul Jobs (1955-) and Apple Computer are names that have long
gone together.
Born in the United States to an unknown Egyptian-Arab father, Jobs was
adopted soon after birth. After graduating high school, he enrolled in
Reed College, dropping out after one semester.
In 1976, 21-year-old Jobs and 26-year-old Steve Wozniak founded Apple
Computer Co in the family garage. Jobs revolutionised the industry by
popularising the concept of home computers.
By 1984, the Macintosh was introduced. He had an influential role in
the building of the World Wide Web. He is also the former CEO of Pixar
Animation Studios.
Today, with the iPod and the iPhone, Apple is bigger than ever.
Incidentally, Jobs worked for several years at an annual salary of $1.
It got him a listing in the Guinness Book as 'Lowest Paid CEO.' He was
once gifted a $90 million jet by the company though. And his net
worth? More than $5.4 billion.
Larry Ellison
Lawrence Joseph Ellison (1944-), co-founder and CEO of Oracle
Corporation, founded his company in 1977 with a sum of $2,000.
Once a school dropout, he is now one of the richest people in America
with a net worth of around $25 billion.
As a young man, Ellison worked for the Ampex Corporation, where one of
his projects was a database for the CIA. He called it Oracle, a name
he was to reuse years later for the company that made him famous.
Ellison is quite a colourful man, and has long dabbled in all kinds of
things. Want to learn more? Try his biography, The Difference Between
God and Larry Ellison
Andrew Carnegie
Industrialist and philanthropist, Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919) is
better known, today, as the steel tycoon who started over 2,800
libraries. His rags-to-riches tale is also among the most famous in
American history.
After moving to Pennsylvania from Scotland, at the age of 13 he worked
as a bobbin boy in a textile mill. He invested his money wisely and,
within a span of four decades, managed to gain control of a number of
manufacturing plants that grew to become the Carnegie Steel Company.
He is equally -- if not more -- famous for his donations of over $350
million to further public education: an ironic gesture coming from a
dropout.
The author Dale Carnegie was a distant relative, gaining fame for his
1937 bestseller, How to Win Friends and Influence People. And here's
another titbit to chew on: During the American Civil War, Andrew
Carnegie avoided the battlefield by paying a replacement the sum of
$850.
K.Karthik Raja
Research Analyst.
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