Self-Made Billionaires

When you think of a billionaire, you might automatically picture someone who was born into a life of luxury and privilege. The word billionaire might instantly trigger thoughts of a person who inherited his or her wealth instead of having to work for it. However, a surprising many of the world’s 1,125 billionaires were not born into money. In this post, we’ll give you a list of self-made billionaires. All net worth figures are taken from the Forbes’ March list of the wealthiest people in the world.

• Leonardo Del Vecchio of Milan, Italy. Net worth: $10 billion. Leonardo was sent to an orphanage at age seven. He soon began working as an apprentice in an eyeglass factory. He founded his own eyeglass company, Luxottica, which is now the world’s largest retailer and manufacturer of high-quality sunglasses and eyeglasses.
• John Menard, Jr. of Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Net worth: $7.3 billion. Menard built barns to put himself through college at the University of Wisconsin. He founded the hardware store chain Menard’s in 1972. Menard’s is now the number-three home improvement store in the U.S., behind Home Depot and Lowe’s.
• Harold Hamm of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Net worth: $4.4 billion. The youngest of 13 children, Hamm was the son of poor cotton pickers who raised their entire family in a one-bedroom house. Hamm’s first job was as a gas station attendant. He began his oil and gas exploration and production outfit, Continental Resources, in 1967.
• Dennis Washington of Missoula, Montana. Net worth: $3.4 billion. Washington was a construction worker in Alaska before he borrowed a bulldozer on credit and founded his own company in Montana. Washington rescued the bankrupt Morrison Knudsen in 1996, reorganized, and renamed his company the Washington Group International in 1998.
• Kjell Inge Rokke of Norway. Net worth: $2.9 billion. Rokke is dyslexic and used to be a fisherman. He was once told by a teacher that we would never amount to anything. He began his fortune by selling fish off his boat in Seattle and later returned to Norway to build up a fleet. Now owns Aker ASA, a conglomerate that operates offshore drilling, shipyards, shipping, and seafood.
• Glen Taylor of Mankato, Minnesota. Net worth: $2.7 billion. Taylor grew up on a farm in Minnesota and paid his way through school working at a print shop. He eventually persuaded the shop’s owner to sell the store to him for $10 million over two years. Taylor paid the debt off early and built Taylor Corp. by selling invitations, stationery, and books. Taylor is a former state senator and also owns the Minnesota Timberwolves basketball franchise.