Poverty did not prevent them to succeed.
According to “Forbes” for the year 2016, the world’s only billionaires 1810. Some of them you heard (bill gates or mark Zuckerberg, Creator of Facebook). And others you probably don’t know, even if I use their products (for example, David Murdock, owner of Dole Food Company). What they did to get so damn rich? Of course, some of them inherited a fortune, but our list of 15 lucky don’t miss a chance and make billions yourself.
15. Ralph Lauren
If you ever in your life been in a Mall or watched a fashion magazine, then you have heard the name Ralph Lauren. He had more than a modest start to a career. He was born in new York Bronx in a poor family of immigrants from Belarus, his name was Livshits (the subject of constant ridicule from peers, Ralph changed it at the first opportunity).
Ralph dropped out of College and served in the army for several years. Then he began to work as the seller of clothes from Brooks Brothers, and later transferred to company “Rivetz&Co” designer ties. Inspired by “the Great Gatsby,” Ralph came up with a new model of the tie and began to look for ways of selling their ideas. The first model he made from scraps, he transported them to stores, and eventually sold to the Department store, “Bloomingdale”, earned for the year your first $ 500 000. Later, he found an investor and things went uphill. Today he has more than 100 stores worldwide, a net worth of over $ 5 billion.
With a personal fortune of $ 7.5 billion, Ralph Lauren included in the list of the 200 richest people in the world; it is listed on the 57 line rating of the richest people in the U.S. and 165 in the world according to the magazine “Forbes”.
14. Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey — American TV host, actress, producer, social activist and host of the talk show. Forbes named her the ninth most powerful woman in 2005 and the first in 2007, the most powerful man in show business in 2009, the most influential celebrity in 2010 and 2013. In 2013, as Oprah Winfrey was estimated at $ 2.8 billion — more than any other woman in show business. She was the first black female billionaire in history. Her record for the duration of being in the list of 100 most influential people of the year (according to Time magazine). Winfrey owns the film Studio, magazine, resource Oprah.com a radio network, cable channel, OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network.
Her childhood was not easy: Oprah was raised by a mother and grandmother, both not too good and wise. Oprah says that at age 9 she was raped, and at 14 became pregnant and lost the baby. Then mother sent her to live with her father in Nashville, Tennessee. There, her life drastically changed: the strict father had removed a huge emphasis on education and discipline, and Oprah started to seriously engage. At age 17, she was already studying at the University, and soon became the youngest reporter and the first black female TV reporter Nashville. In 1976, she moved to television of Baltimore assistant six o’clock news, and became one of the leading morning talk show, “Says Baltimore.” Then and came to her first glory — and the subsequent history of its success known all over the world.
13. Joanna Rolling
Only a small percentage of writers are millionaires, and only one of them is a billionaire is George.To. Rowling. If you are not familiar with her books, you probably lived in the woods for the last two decades. But Rowling didn’t always enjoy life as it is now (you know, now she buys all these expensive shoes and gives you a lot of money to charity). The first marriage of the writer ended in divorce, and she was left alone with his little daughter. Rowling struggled with depression and sat on the Dole trying to feed themselves and their daughter. One day she decided to start writing — she always wanted to do. She sat down and started writing, and it so happened her first book about Harry Potter. After she was finished, the book was rejected by many publishers, but in the end, a gifted writer tore his jackpot, and in the literal sense. Her story is truly amazing, she is an inspiration to millions of people — writers, depressed women, single mothers and anyone else who wants to succeed.
12. Jack MA
Jack MA is founder of Alibaba, the online store. But before it reached its capitalization in excess of $ 25 billion, he was just an ordinary guy. Jack was born in China and his parents were performers of “ping tan” (sang songs and told stories). He twice failed to pass the entrance exams in College were not good at math (we can’t help but wonder whether this changed the situation billions on his Bank accounts). Anyway, he eventually finished College and became a teacher, earning about $ 12 per month. Yes, this is roughly the price of two cups of coffee at Starbucks. Oddly enough, the billionaire says he would like to return to the old life, when he earned $ 12 per month, because right now he doesn’t know how to spend their billions. We would have its problems!
11. Kevin Plank
You probably know the brand Under Armour (gear), especially if you are familiar with hashtags #LegDay and #WorkoutWednesday. Kevin plank has used personal savings in the amount of $ 16,000 to start a business. He created a special synthetic fabric for sportswear, and in 1996 he founded Under Armour. And the first year sold goods to his teammates and other athletes out of College, driving around the countryside on an old Ford Explorer and offering your innovative product.
But he almost blew it, losing all your money gambling. He lost everything. Fortunately, Kevin plank has received quite a large check from the Georgia Institute of Technology, to cover the bills. He took advantage of a second chance, and have worked long and hard: now Planck has equity capital of $ 3 billion, revenue of Under Armour is valued at $ 1.8 billion, and the stars of American football to sign sponsorship contracts with his company.
10. Jan Koum
Many of us use WhatsApp messenger to communicate with family and friends, being on distance of thousand kilometers or more blocks. It may surprise you, but its Creator, Jan koum, who is now “worth” more than $ 8 billion, was once very poor. Ian B. was born in Ukraine and grew up in Fastiv, Kiev oblast, Ukrainian SSR. In the house, Kuma had no electricity and hot water. Emigrated to U.S. with mother at age 16, they lived very modest they are — on welfare, using food stamps. Self-taught, having mastered computers, koum got a job at Yahoo, which gradually made a career of the programmer. After he was denied a job at Facebook, Ian has come up with WhatsApp (which ultimately, and Facebook acquired in 2014 for an astounding $ 16 billion). After this record deal 36-year-old Jan koum joined the Facebook Board of Directors and became the largest individual shareholder in Facebook after Mark Zuckerberg. Forbes estimated personal fortune of Jan B. $ 8 billion Inspiring example of a native of the city of Fastov!
9. Howard Schultz
Despite the fact that the price of their coffee is clearly too high, many of us each morning look into your local Starbucks. In the end, perhaps there is no better place where such a variety of delicious flavors of frappuccino. But the man responsible for our morning coffee, Howard Schultz, grew up in a challenging environment in the quarter of public housing in Brooklyn. When he was only seven years old, his father was injured and unable to work, while having no medical insurance. This left the family without means, and Howard had from a very young age to take out loans, earn money and even to donate blood to pay for their College education. Sounds horrible to sell their blood for money. Today Howard doesn’t need to sell anything, the net value of its assets of about $ 3 billion.
8. John Paul Dejoria
John Paul Dejoria one of the founders of the brands Paul Mitchell (products line to ox), and Patrón. Before he became a multi-billionaire, he even had to sleep in the car. His German-Italian parents divorced when he was two years and up to 10 years, he sold Newspapers and Christmas cards to help his family. He was subsequently sent to live in foster care in Los Angeles. Some time Dejoria was one of the street gangs of Los Angeles, and then went into the army. After serving in the army, he took a loan of $ 700 and founded the company John Paul Mitchell Systems. He pestered and it was suggested my shampoo, and was living in his car. But the quality of his product was undoubtedly high, and sooner or later is appreciated: now the annual turnover of his company is $ 900 million. That’s really really — from rags to riches!
7. François Pinault
What have in common the brands Gucci, Yves-Saint and Alexander McQueen, besides the fact that it was the stamps. Turns out they all belong to the company called Kering (formerly PPR), owned by Francois Pinault. You can imagine how rich he is. And once it is so teased by the poverty that he chose to leave high school. François started to work in lesotorgoviy and succeeded, and in periods of falling market he started buying small firms at a low price. Today’s net value of its assets is about $ 15 billion, and his story is one of the clearest examples of true determination and perseverance, like many others in this list. Imagine what idiots feel like those bullies that teased him at school!
6. Shahid Khan
A native of Pakistan, Shahid Khan came to the US at 16 years of age, and began learning the profession of engineer in College. After receiving academic degrees from the University of Illinois Khan decided to engage in the creation of automotive components. A revolution in this industry made developed bumper design for trucks — detail was able to make cars lighter, and thus gave them stability on the roads. The idea have adopted manufacturer Flex-N-Gate, and the sales volume today is estimated at $ 3.4 billion.
5. David Murdock
The head of Dole Food Company, owning a fortune of $2.4 billion, he confidently takes its place in the Forbes list of billionaires for many, many years. Although today David Murdock heads the largest company in the world for production of fruits and vegetables, his path was thorny. Leaving school in ninth grade, he went to work at a petrol station, and in 1943 enlisted in the U.S. army. After the war, Murdock settled in Detroit, Ohio, and he had no money. The future billionaire was able to sleep and the abyss, but someone took pity and lent $ 900. Murdoch bought a small diner, and less than a year later sold it at exorbitant prices. He used the profits to buy a car and move to Arizona, where he began to build houses and founded a real estate Empire, which later included the Dole Food Company. To be considered he studied at the profits from its rapidly growing business school or College he never graduated. Today David Murdoch don’t need anyone to borrow money. He donates a lot of research on healthy eating. He believes in healthy food that is actually going to live up to 125 years!
4. Karl Berg
Well-known California entrepreneur, talented businessman, investor, multi-millionaire — his net worth is approximately $ 1.2 billion. Carl Berg, CEO of Mission West Properties. This person is completely self-made, as they say in America. The father died when Carl was only 10 years old, leaving him in the care of his mother. He worked two jobs to pay my way through College, including working in the hotel and was hoping to find a job in investment banking. Fortunately for him he met the right people, and got a job at a mortgage company. Carl used the knowledge gained in the mortgage company to start his own Empire and, eventually, became one of the richest men in America.
3. Li Ka-Shing
Li Ka-Shing quit school at 15 to start work in a factory of plastic — and now is the richest man in East Asia. The family of Li Ka-Shing moved from mainland China to Hong Kong in 1940. His father died of tuberculosis when he was only 15 years old. Leaving school to start work and support his family, Lee did plastic flowers for export to the United States. He worked 100 hours a week. By 1950 Lee was able to found his own company Cheung Kong Industries, and today, his fortune exceeding $ 20 billion.
2. Harold Simmons
Harold Simmons is a businessman, who used the concept known as the leveraged buyout funds (LBO) for the acquisition of corporations. This means that it has attracted significant funds (those terrible loans) for the acquisition of companies and assets to Finance business growth. The first time he tested this concept in practice, she brought him $ 50 million. Fast forward a few decades — and now Harold Simmons is already the owner of the state $ 10 billion by 2013, when he died. He practically grew up in the barn, where there was no running water, no electricity. But his parents found the opportunity to send him to school, and Harold earned a master’s degree in Economics.
1. Walt Disney
Walt Disney, obviously, is a household name, as most of us grew up on such classics as “the lion King” “Aladdin” or “beauty and the Beast” (just to name a few examples), begging their parents to go to Disneyland, buy suit someone from disney characters and so on. Today, the company has total assets of nearly $ 90 billion, But what do we know about the man who started it all? Walt was one of five children in a poor family. In his youth he sold his drawings to support themselves. In 1918, Walt began his career in commercial art. He founded a company called Laugh-O-Grams, but it soon went bankrupt. Having only $ 20 (which is about $ 400 today), he came to Hollywood. It was there that his talents were recognized and he began to work, creating his Empire, with the success of the movie “Alice Comedies”(animated series about a girl and a cat).
