The 10 Most Successful Entrepreneurs in the World

Success stories of entrepreneurs - We believe money isn’t the correct parameter to judge if an entrepreneur is rich. At the end of the day what matters is the impact, the social impact.

The objective of this article is to list the names of billionaire entrepreneurs in monetary terms.

Unfortunately, entrepreneurship hasn’t picked pace like other professions due to various business factors like increased competitiveness. As per a study conducted by CNN, number of Startups in the United States had hit a forty year low in the year 2016.

Top 10 World Richest Enterpreneurs

So, here is a list of top 10 richest entrepreneurs (as per Forbes latest report)

1. Jeff Bezos, with a net worth of $131 Billion

 Jeff Bezos, founder & CEO of Amazon (the e-commerce giant)

Jeff Bezos first got the idea to start an Internet enterprise in 1994. He immediately recognized the expansive possibilities of selling online and began exploring the entrepreneurial possibilities of developing an Internet business.

After reviewing the list, books were the obvious choice, primarily because of the sheer number of titles in existence. He passed up a fat bonus, packed his wife, MacKenzie, and their dog, Kamala and headed for Seattle.

Seattle was the ideal city for Bezos' new business. With $1 million raised from family and friends, Jeff Bezos rented a house in Seattle and set up his business in the garage.

For nearly a year, Jeff Bezos and a crew of 5-employees worked out of the garage, learning how to source books and setting up a computer system that would make Amazon.com easy to navigate.

Amazon.com opened its virtual doors in 1995, calling itself “Earth’s Biggest Book Store,” with more than 1 million titles to choose from.

Fueled by word of mouth, word of e-mail, Amazon.com rocketed off the line like a nitro-burning dragster.

Just 4-years after Jeff Bezos created Amazon.com, the virtual bookstore became the template for how e-commerce businesses should be run, with sales of more than $610 million and more than thirteen million customers worldwide.

Bezos is one of the founding fathers of e-commerce, and part of a select group of entrepreneurs in that field who managed to survive the dot-com bubble without losing control of their companies.

Today, Amazon.com is an Internet goliath that sells everything from books to laptops to gift baskets.

2. Bill Gates, with a net worth of $97 billion

Bill Gates, founder of the PC software firm Microsoft Corporation

Bill Gates studied how to program a teletype Model 33 offered by his school, at 13 years-old.

Bill Gates' first creation; the tic-tac-toe game earned him the trust of his teachers and also bought him more to develop his skills in the computer lab.

In 1968, Bill Gates and his peers came together for the love of computer and they formed “Programmers Group”.

Together they found new methods on how to apply their computer skill in university of Washington. Later they all departed to pursue a career in programming.

While in Havard Bill gates created Microsoft, in 1975. Bill Gates and his acquaintance Allen developed a computer to measure traffic flow but it ended when Gates left college.

After he enrolled in Harvard university in 1973, he signed up for mathematics courses but it wasn’t interesting to him. Bill Gates was more passionate about computers, so most often he found himself stocked in the computer lab rather than in class.

Within a year, he dropped out from Harvard. Then Bill Gates formed Microsoft.
Microsoft’s vision is “A computer on every desk and Microsoft software on every computer”.

As of 2015, Microsoft ranked in 31st-place on the Fortune 500 list.

Today Bill Gates is known as the co-founder of Microsoft Corporation, one of the most recognized brands in the computer industry; nearly every computer has at least one Microsoft product installed.

Started in 1975, Microsoft now has diversified interests in various companies including Skype, LinkedIn, Yammer, Microsoft Mobile (Earlier known as Nokia).

3. Warren Buffett, with a net worth of $82 billion

Warren Buffet, Berkshire Hathaway's owner

As of 2019, Warren Buffett has an estimated total net worth of $86.8 billion USD, making him the 3rd-richest person in the world, behind Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates.

Warren Buffett first became a millionaire in 1962 as a consequence of his investments in 7-different partnerships.

Warren Buffett’s first foray into Berkshire Hathaway came in 1962. That foray quickly amounted into an aggressive addiction and contrary to his principles of today, Buffett started to demand a switch of leadership.

Despite admitting to his regrets around the Berkshire acquisition, Buffett used the rich cash flow of the business to force some acquisitions.

Several of which, led him to his Insurance companies. Buffett has forever been about cash-rich businesses and he decided acquisitions of insurance companies – where the cash they take to cover future pay-outs would provide the perfect launchpad for further acquisitions.

When Buffet acquired Berkshire Hathaway for the first time, he was not interested in the product or the production. Buffet was interested in its valuation and its ability to deliver returns.

At the time Buffet has a total net worth of approximately $1,025,000. It was around this time that Buffett acquired and became CEO of Berkshire Hathaway which was at the time a textile manufacturing firm.

By the 80s, Buffet had moved the entire business into the insurance sector and closed the last few textile mills still in operation.

During the fiscal year of 2013, Warren Buffett was estimated to have earned about $37 million per day. This comes out to 1.54 million per hour (even counting hours when he's sleeping) and comes out to a bit over $25,694 a minute. In other words, in 2013, Buffet made more than the average American made all year in just two minutes.

Even at the 88 years old, Warren Buffett still manages the day-to-day operation of Berkshire Hathaway. The top stocks for Buffet of 2019 include:

• Apple Inc (249.59 million shares)
• Bank of America (896.17 million shares, up from 19 million the previous year)
• Coca-Cola (400 million shares)
• Wells Fargo (426.77 million shares); and
• Kraft Heinz Co. (325.63 million shares).

4. Bernard Arnault, with a net worth of $76 billion

Bernard Arnault, Chairman & CEO of the fashion conglomerate LVMH

Bernard Arnault is a French business magnate and investor, currently the richest person in France and one of the richest in the world.

Bernard Arnault has been serving as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton Company since 1989, and is also the main shareholder in the company.

He was born as the son of a businessman, and was blessed with sharp business acumen from a young age.

After completing high school Arnault enrolled at the prestigious Ecole Polytechnique and received a degree in engineering.

Upon his graduation the young man joined his father’s civil engineering business as an engineer and also started planning for the company’s growth and expansion.

Arnault convinced his father to change the focus of their business to the booming real estate sector, and found significant success in the field. He eventually started acquiring other companies and became the owner of Christian Dior brand and Le Bon Marché department store.

When LVMH was created as a result of a merger between 2-companies, he invested millions in the shares of the new company and became LVMH's first shareholder.

Eventually Arnault was selected chairman of the executive management board and in this position he led an extensive expansion plan and transformed the company into one of the largest luxury groups in the world.

Arnault's company LMVH is engaged in a number of philanthropic activities. It supports humanitarian, scientific and medical research organizations, such as Save the Children, the Foundation for Hospitals in Paris and the Princess Grace of Monaco Foundation.

5. Carlos Slim Helu, with a net worth of $64 billion

Carlos Slim Helu, America Movil's owner

Carlos Slim Helu is the owner of América Movil, formerly Teléfonos de Mexico, or Telmex. Telmex was the old telephone monopoly in the country, akin to America’s AT&T Inc. (T).

In the '90s, the government privatized the company, and Carlos Slim was one of the initial investors, via Grupo Carso (the other members of the consortium were France Télécom and Southwestern Bell Corporation). The price: $1.8 billion, half of which was put up by Grupo Carso, for a 20 percent stake. He was at the helm of Grupo Carso and, as such, took over at Telmex.

By 2012, América Movil had taken over Telmex and made it into a privately held subsidiary. América Movil, via the subsidiary Telcel, has a market share approaching 70 percents of the mobile phone line market, and 80 percents of the landlines in Mexico.

Now the company is poised to sell assets to bring its market share below 50 percents, in the wake of new anti-monopoly regulations in Mexico. But Carlos Slim is probably not upset that the various assets, such as cell phone towers, could easily bring in $8 billion or more – quite a profit on the original investment.

América Movil, through various subsidiaries, is not just in Mexico. In the U.S., the most visible brand is TracFone, a low-cost cellular phone operator.

In Austria, the company owns a majority stake in Telekom Austria. Carlos Slim's telecom empire reaches almost every country in Latin America.

Carlos Slim's strategy has been to buy up sometimes troubled companies and try to turn them around. The advantage of that model is that it doesn't necessarily require a specific knowledge of any given sector – just a keen sense of what is undervalued and what isn't.

Carlos Slim's fortune is more like that of the old Rockefeller family than that of Bill Gates.

Instead of building an empire on a few great innovations in a particular field, Slim did so through acquisitions and building a nearly unassailable market share.

6. Amancio Ortega, with a net worth of $63 billion

Amancio Ortega, Co-founder of Inditex which runs the popular fashion chain Zara

Barely in his teens, Amancio Ortega found a job as a shop hand for a local shirtmaker called Gala, which still sits on the same corner in downtown A Coruna.

In 1972, Ortega founded Confecciones Goa (his initials in reverse), selling quilted bathrobes which Ortega produced using thousands of local women organized into sewing cooperatives.

Ortega left his studies and entered the world of clothes and fashion and in 1972, he started co-operative of tailoring.

In 1975, Ortega opened his first Zara store, so called because his preferred name Zorba was already taken.

Today Zara is one of the biggest names in the fashion industry and as a part of the Inditex group (Industries de Diseno Textii Sociedad Anonima), of which Ortega owns 59.29 percents, and aside from over 6000 stores includes the brands Zara, Massimo Dutti, Oysho, Zara home, Kiddy’s Class, Tempe, Stradivarius, Pull and Bear, bershka and has more than 92,000 employees.

Zara provides a clothes at a cheap rate, but its quality is too good. And the reason behind this is that company produces the clothes from handmade clothing industry.

In 2011, Ortega announced his imminent retirement from Inditex, stating that he would ask Inditex Vice president and CEO Pablo Isla to take his place at the helm of the textile empire.

Zara founded in 1975 by Amancio Ortega and Rosalia Mera. It's a Spanish clothing and accessories retailer based in Arteixo, Galicia.

It's the flagship chain store of the Inditex group, the world’s largest apparel retailer. The fashion group also owns brands such as Massimo Dutti, Pull and Bear, Uterque, Stradivarius, Oysho and Bershka.

This has increased the idea of Zara as a “fashion imitator” company and low-cost products. Lack of advertisement is also in contrast to direct competitors such as Uniqlo and UCB (United colors of Benetton).

Zara has closed with a turnover of 963 million euros, at the end of 2014.

7. Larry Ellison, with a net worth of $62 billion

Larry Ellison, Co-founder of the software company Oracle

Larry Ellison becomes a CEO of Oracle Corporation from 1978 to 2014. Following success racing Maxi yachts, he was founded BMW Oracle racing to compete for the 2003 Louis Vuitton Cup.

Ellison started his elementary school education at Eugene Field Elementary School in Chicago.

After that, Ellison joined the Sullivan High School in 1959. He was very intelligent but he never takes a concentration in subjects which were skilled at school.

Later than completing his high school education, Ellison joined the University of Illinois, but he didn't present his final year exam because of the sudden death of his adoptive mother.

After the summer holiday, Ellison attended the University of Chicago, where he showed his interest in computer design subject.

In 1970, Ellison was started work in Ampex Corporation. He has an opportunity to work on a project for a CIA and creating a database of their project.

In 1977, Ellison and his 2-partners started a company and name it Software Development Laboratories with investments of $2000.

At last, in 1982, they give the company name officially “Oracle Systems Corporation” later than their main product “Oracle Database”.

Ellison required Oracle to achieve compatibility with the IBM system or database, but unfortunately, IBM refused to share the system’s or code with Oracle.

Ellison sees the opportunity to dominate the market in the mid-range system and microcomputers group When IBM delayed its way into the relational database market.

In 1997, he was complete a director of Apple Computers. In 2009, Ellison made around $52 million.

Ellison made a little role in the movie Iron Man 2, in 2010. On September 14, 2014, he resigns from the CEO of the Oracle And become an executive Chairman of the STO.

8. Mark Zuckerberg, with a net worth of $62 billion

Mark Zukerberg, Co-founder & CEO of the social network Facebook

Got a hand on mediocre computer games, Zuckerberg mastered programming and created Facebook, without which it's impossible to imagine the modern world.

At the 12-years old, Zuckerberg wrote an instant messenger program, which he called Zucnet. Later, Mark’s father, a dentist, began to use it, so that the assistant at the reception wouldn't shout to the entire office about incoming clients, but simply notify him in electronic format. The messenger was useful for family communication.

In 2002, when Zuckerberg entered Harvard, he already had a reputation as a talented programmer. Soon, Zuckerberg created the Course Match application, where students could publish exactly what classes they go to.

Then Mark Zuckerberg made an application that showed a randomly selected item from the collection and allowed to leave comments about it.

After Zuckerberg completed a few more tests, he thought that it would be nice to make an application in which people can share their thoughts about everything they want – it was the first version of Facebook.

Facebook is actively investing in startups and technologies. The number of companies acquired by Facebook is over 50.

In June 2012, the company Zuckerberg bought Face.com – an application that allows us to recognize faces in images.

In the same year, Facebook acquired Instagram for $ 1 billion, which was already incredibly popular and could be a serious threat to Facebook – which is why the company decided to buy its competitor.

In 2014, Facebook spent $2 billion on the developer of virtual reality devices Oculus Virtual reality (VR). VR can allow not only to share memories and events with friends, but also to convey their feelings to them.

And finally, Facebook’s biggest investment is WhatsApp (WA) messenger. This purchase cost $19 billion.

Facebook’s own instant messenger was released as a separate application only in 2015, that is, after the acquisition of WhatsApp.

By the way, despite the global success of WhatsApp, in the USA it's used by only a few percent. The main way of American communication is SMS (more than 60 percents), then Facebook Messenger (15 percents) and only last of all WhatsApp 2 percents.

9. Michael Bloomberg, with a net worth of $ 55 billion

Michael Bloomberg, Co-founder & CEO of the media giant Bloomberg

After college, Michael Bloomberg attended Harvard Business School and in 1966 was hired by a Wall Street firm, Salomon Brothers, for an entry-level job.

Not wanting to be an average person, he quickly rose through the ranks at Salomon, overseeing equity trading and sales before heading up the firm’s information systems.

When Salomon was acquired in 1981, Bloomberg was fired from the firm, with a severance cheque to the tune of $10 millions.

With the vision of having an information technology company that would bring transparency and efficiency to the buying and selling of financial securities, Bloomberg set up his own company in a room, called Innovative Market Solutions.

The company aimed to make it easier for traders to wade through data and eventually debuted the Bloomberg Terminal (first known as the MarketMaster terminal).

A bigger company, Merrill Lynch, thereafter purchased 22 of those terminals, investing $30 millions in the company.

The company, renamed Bloomberg LP, became widely successful throughout the ‘80s and was worth $2 billions by 1989.

Eventually, Bloomberg began branching out into other forms of media, including Bloomberg News and Bloomberg TV.

Today, Bloomberg LP is a global company that has more than 15,500 employees and offices in 73-countries around the world.

Already a billionaire, Bloomberg collected only $1 a year throughout his 12 years as the mayor, while still doling out $650 millions of his own money along the way.

Michael Bloomberg controls an impressive real estate portfolio as he owns about 14 properties worldwide, with homes everywhere – from New York, to London, to Bermuda.

When Bloomberg is home in New York, he relaxes in his five-storey mansion on 79th Street, which he recently renovated at a cost of $1.7 millions.

10. Larry Page, with a net worth of $ 50 billion

Larry Page, Co-founder & CEO of Alphabet Inc., the holding company of Google

Larry Page is an American entrepreneur and computer scientist who co-founded 'Google' - the colossal search engine.

Google - The super company was co-founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin in 1998 - has become an essential part of millions of people’s everyday lives and offers numerous internet products and services.

Larry Page's parents were both computer science professors, and as a child, his home was always filled with computers science magazines. At the age of 12 years old, Larry realized that he wanted to establish his very own company.

During his time at Stanford, Larry met Sergey Brin, a researcher working on a project in 1995.

By 1996 Larry and Sergey had constructed their very first search engine called ‘BackRub’ which was solely operating on Stanford servers for several months.

They want to bring their idea to life and the co-founder of Sun Microsystems, Andy Bechtolsheim played a considerable role in this process as he wrote them a check for $100,000.

The company became a reality in 1998, and the name was respectively changed to the iconic name, Google.

In 2001 Eric Schmidt became the CEO, and the others leveled all the way up to presidents of technology and products.

Larry Page is an extremely wealthy man today because he created Google which is used by millions of people every single day.

Google also runs a bunch of popular digital services like YouTube, Maps, Drive, Cloud, Gmail etc. Alphabet is also taking various innovative initiatives in health and smart home appliances sectors.