List of college dropout billionaires
Encyclopedia
This list of college dropout billionaire
s is based (where not otherwise noted) on an annual ranking of the world's wealthiest people compiled and published by Forbes
magazine on March 11, 2009. The listed net worth represents the estimated value of assets less debt as of February 13, 2009. The list does not include heads of state whose wealth is tied to their position (see List of heads of state and government by net worth). College dropout refers to a person who has dropped out from a college or university before completing his/her degree. Some of the world's most famous and richest billionaires (including the second richest man of the world, Bill Gates
) are college dropouts. The combined net worth of these dropouts is USD 246 billion
. This list is not exhaustive.
The average net worth of billionaires who dropped out of college, $9.4 billion, is more than double that of billionaires with Ph.D.s, $3.2 billion. Even if you remove the world's second richest man, Bill Gates, who left Harvard University and is now worth $53.0 billion, college dropouts are worth $5.3 billion on average, compared to those who finished only bachelor's degrees, who are worth $2.9 billion. According to a recent report from Cambridge, Mass.-based Forrester Research, 20% of America's millionaires never attended college.
founders Sergey Brin
and Larry Page
though also technically college dropouts, as they dropped out of their PhD programmes, are not included here as this list includes only those who have not completed a Bachelor's degree.
Billionaire
A billionaire, in countries that use the short scale number naming system, is a person who has a net worth of at least one billion units of a given currency, usually the United States dollar, Euro, or Pound sterling. Forbes magazine updates a complete list of U.S. dollar billionaires around the...
s is based (where not otherwise noted) on an annual ranking of the world's wealthiest people compiled and published by Forbes
Forbes
Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...
magazine on March 11, 2009. The listed net worth represents the estimated value of assets less debt as of February 13, 2009. The list does not include heads of state whose wealth is tied to their position (see List of heads of state and government by net worth). College dropout refers to a person who has dropped out from a college or university before completing his/her degree. Some of the world's most famous and richest billionaires (including the second richest man of the world, Bill Gates
Bill Gates
William Henry "Bill" Gates III is an American business magnate, investor, philanthropist, and author. Gates is the former CEO and current chairman of Microsoft, the software company he founded with Paul Allen...
) are college dropouts. The combined net worth of these dropouts is USD 246 billion
1000000000 (number)
1,000,000,000 is the natural number following 999,999,999 and preceding 1,000,000,001.In scientific notation, it is written as 109....
. This list is not exhaustive.
The average net worth of billionaires who dropped out of college, $9.4 billion, is more than double that of billionaires with Ph.D.s, $3.2 billion. Even if you remove the world's second richest man, Bill Gates, who left Harvard University and is now worth $53.0 billion, college dropouts are worth $5.3 billion on average, compared to those who finished only bachelor's degrees, who are worth $2.9 billion. According to a recent report from Cambridge, Mass.-based Forrester Research, 20% of America's millionaires never attended college.
List of college-dropout billionaires
- Bill GatesBill GatesWilliam Henry "Bill" Gates III is an American business magnate, investor, philanthropist, and author. Gates is the former CEO and current chairman of Microsoft, the software company he founded with Paul Allen...
- US - Mark ZuckerbergMark ZuckerbergMark Elliot Zuckerberg is an American computer programmer and Internet entrepreneur. He is best known for co-creating the social networking site Facebook, of which he is chief executive and president...
- US - Lawrence Ellison - US
- Eike BatistaEike BatistaEike Fuhrken Batista , is a Brazilian entrepreneur and president of the EBX Group , which includes five companies that trade on the BOVESPA´s Novo Mercado, a special segment of the São Paulo stock market where enterprises with the highest standards of corporate governance are listed...
- Brazil - Michael DellMichael DellMichael Saul Dell is an American business magnate and the founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Dell Inc. He is the 44th richest person in the world, with a net worth of US$14.6 billion in 2011, based primarily on the 243.35 million shares of Dell stock worth $3.5 billion that he owns,...
- US - Marc RichMarc RichMarc Rich is an international commodities trader and entrepreneur. He is best known for founding the commodities company Glencore. He was indicted in the United States on federal charges of illegally making oil deals with Iran during the late 1970s-early 1980s Iran hostage crisis and tax evasion...
- US - Ty WarnerTy WarnerH. Ty Warner is an American toy manufacturer and businessman. He is chairman, CEO, sole owner and founder of Ty Inc., which manufactures and distributes Beanie Babies, Beanie Baby 2.0s, Ty Girlz, Pluffies , LI'L Ones, Beanie Boos and other plush items...
- US - Gautam AdaniGautam AdaniGautam Adani , is an Indian businessman. He is the chairman of the Adani Group, a leading trading and export company of India. In March, 2011 Forbes magazine announced that Adani is the 6th richest person in India with a personal wealth of US $10 billion...
- India - Micky JagtianiMicky JagtianiMicky 'Mukesh' Jagtiani is an Indian businessman who owns the Dubai-based Landmark retail-stores group, with over 600 stores in the Gulf, India, Pakistan, China and Spain.-Early life and education:...
- India - Azim PremjiAzim PremjiAzim Hashim Premji is an Indian business tycoon and philanthropist who is the chairman of Wipro Limited, guiding the company through four decades of diversification and growth to emerge as one of the Indian leader in the software industry...
- India - Shahid BalwaShahid BalwaShahid Usman Balwa is an entrepreneur based in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. He is one of the Promoters of Mumbai-based DB Group which runs DB Realty India's 3rd largest realtor, DB Hospitality and Swan Telecom .-Early life:...
- India - Subhash ChandraSubhash ChandraSubhash Chandra is a onetime rice exporter-turned media baron and Chairman of Essel Group, that launched India's satellite television revolution. The Zee chairman dropped out after standard 12. His pioneering channel Zee TV competes with, among others, Sony Entertainment Television and STAR Plus...
- India - Vinod Goenka - India
- Jayasankar Krishna Prasad - India
- PNC Menon - India
- Roman AbramovichRoman AbramovichRoman Arkadyevich Abramovich is a Russian businessman and the main owner of the private investment company Millhouse LLC.In 2003, Abramovich was named Person of the Year by Expert, a Russian business magazine. He shared this title with Mikhail Khodorkovsky...
- Russia - Li Ka-shing - Hong Kong
- Sheldon AdelsonSheldon AdelsonSheldon Gary Adelson is an American casino magnate. Adelson is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Las Vegas Sands Corp., the parent company of Venetian Macao Limited which operates The Venetian Resort Hotel Casino and the Sands Expo and Convention Center...
- US - Amancio Ortega - Spain
- Kirk KerkorianKirk KerkorianKerkor "Kirk" Kerkorian is an American businessman who is the president/CEO of Tracinda Corporation, his private holding company based in Beverly Hills, California. Kerkorian is known as one of the important figures in shaping Las Vegas and, with architect Martin Stern, Jr...
- US - Donald NewhouseDonald NewhouseDonald Newhouse is one of the owners of Advance Publications. He has three children: Kathy, Michael, and Steven. He also has six grandchildren: Robert, David, Andrew, Sarah, Alex, and Kate...
- US - François PinaultFrançois PinaultFrançois Pinault is a French businessman who runs the retail company PPR. He is a friend of former French President Jacques Chirac....
- France - Jack TaylorJack C. TaylorJack Crawford Taylor is an American businessman and the founder of the Enterprise Rent-A-Car Company. With an estimated net worth of around $7.4 billion, he is ranked by Forbes as the 18th-richest American and the 40th-richest person in the world.Taylor enrolled in the Olin Business School at...
- US - Joaquín Guzmán Loera (Mexican drug lord) - Mexico
- Dawood IbrahimDawood IbrahimDawood Ibrahim , also known as Dawood Ebrahim, and Sheikh Dawood Hassan, is the head of the organized crime syndicate [[D-Company]] in Mumbai. He is currently on the wanted list of Interpol for organised crime and counterfeiting. He was No. 4 on the Forbes' World's Top 10 most dreaded criminals...
(Indian crime-boss) - India - Hasan Ali KhanHasan Ali KhanHasan Ali Khan is an Indian billionaire businessman. In 2007, authorities began investigating Khan for suspicion of money laundering. Khan was arrested by India's Directorate General of Economic Enforcement under suspicion of money laundering, and was in court in July 2011 for that case...
(Money-launderer) - India - David GeffenDavid GeffenDavid Geffen is an American record executive, film producer, theatrical producer and philanthropist. Geffen is noted for creating Asylum Records in 1970, Geffen Records in 1980, and DGC Records in 1990...
- US - David Murdock - US
- Ted TurnerTed TurnerRobert Edward "Ted" Turner III is an American media mogul and philanthropist. As a businessman, he is known as founder of the cable news network CNN, the first dedicated 24-hour cable news channel. In addition, he founded WTBS, which pioneered the superstation concept in cable television...
- US - Henry FokHenry FokHenry Fok Ying Tung was a Hong Kong businessman. He has ancestral roots in Nansha, Panyu, now part of Guangzhou, Guangdong). Fok was the vice-chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference of PRC since March 1993, and was possibly the most powerful...
- Hong Kong - Ralph LaurenRalph LaurenRalph Lauren is an American fashion designer and business executive; best known for his Polo Ralph Lauren clothing brand.-Early life:...
- US - Micky ArisonMicky ArisonMicky Arison is an Israeli-American businessman of Romanian Jewish ancestry, and Chief Executive Officer of Carnival Corporation, the world's largest cruise operator, and owner of the NBA's Miami Heat....
- US - Mohammed Al AmoudiMohammed Al AmoudiSheikh Mohammed Hussein Ali Al Amoudi Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Ali Al Amoudi Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Ali Al Amoudi (Ge'ez: ሞሓመድ አልአሙዲ, Arabic: محمد حسين العمودي; is a Saudi Arabian/Ethiopian businessman and billionaire who lives in Ethiopia and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. As of 2011, his net worth has...
- Saudi Arabia - Stanley HoStanley HoStanley Ho, GBM, GLM, GBS, GML, OBE , also known as Ho Hung Sun, Stanley Ho Hung Sun, is an entrepreneur in Hong Kong and Macau. Ho is sometimes nicknamed "The King of Gambling", reflecting the government-granted monopoly he held of the Macau gambling industry for 40 years...
- Hong Kong - Andrew Lloyd WebberAndrew Lloyd WebberAndrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber is an English composer of musical theatre.Lloyd Webber has achieved great popular success in musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of...
- UK
Historical figures
- John D. RockefellerJohn D. RockefellerJohn Davison Rockefeller was an American oil industrialist, investor, and philanthropist. He was the founder of the Standard Oil Company, which dominated the oil industry and was the first great U.S. business trust. Rockefeller revolutionized the petroleum industry and defined the structure of...
- American oil magnate - Howard HughesHoward HughesHoward Robard Hughes, Jr. was an American business magnate, investor, aviator, engineer, film producer, director, and philanthropist. He was one of the wealthiest people in the world...
- American aviation engineer and movie maker - Pablo EscobarPablo EscobarPablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria was a Colombian drug lord. He was an elusive cocaine trafficker and rich and successful criminal. He owned numerous luxury residences, automobiles, and even airplanes...
- Colombian drug lord - Amado Carrillo FuentesAmado Carrillo FuentesAmado Carrillo Fuentes , was a Mexican drug lord who seized control of the Juárez Cartel after assassinating his boss Rafael Aguilar Guajardo. Amado Carrillo became known as "El Señor de Los Cielos" because of the large fleet of jets he used to transport drugs...
- Mexican drug lord - Dhirubhai AmbaniDhirubhai AmbaniDhirajlal Hirachand Ambani also known as Dhirubhai, was an Indian-Gujarati business magnate and entrepreneur who founded Reliance Industries, a petrochemicals, communications, power, and textiles conglomerate and the only privately owned Indian company in the Fortune 500. Ambani took his company...
- Indian business tycoon - Adnan KhashoggiAdnan KhashoggiAdnan Khashoggi is a Saudi Arabian arms-dealer and businessman. He is also noted for his engagements with high society in both the Occident and Arabic-speaking worlds, and for his involvement in the Iran–Contra and Lockheed bribery scandals, and numerous other affairs...
- Saudi-Arabian arms dealer - Steve JobsSteve JobsSteven Paul Jobs was an American businessman and inventor widely recognized as a charismatic pioneer of the personal computer revolution. He was co-founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Apple Inc...
- co-founder of Apple - Paul Anthony Alcordo - Action Star
Others
GoogleGoogle
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
founders Sergey Brin
Sergey Brin
Sergey Mikhaylovich Brin is a Russian-born American computer scientist and internet entrepreneur who, with Larry Page, co-founded Google, one of the largest internet companies. , his personal wealth is estimated to be $16.7 billion....
and Larry Page
Larry Page
Lawrence "Larry" Page is an American computer scientist and internet entrepreneur who, with Sergey Brin, is best known as the co-founder of Google. As of April 4, 2011, he is also the chief executive of Google, as announced on January 20, 2011...
though also technically college dropouts, as they dropped out of their PhD programmes, are not included here as this list includes only those who have not completed a Bachelor's degree.
External links
- The Most Successful College Dropouts in History
- College Dropouts Hall of Fame - To see full list of other successful college-dropouts
- Details the level of education of billionaires