on academic degrees.
These types of people are increasingly less common, especially in tech, as you’ll notice from this list below
#1. Henry Ford ( Ford)
Net Worth $199 Billion – Dropped out at 16.
Henry Ford dropped out at 16 and later founded
Ford Motor Company in 1903. By 1908 he dropped the famous Model T and the assembly line, which has affected all of our lives, literally shaping the world. If he was still alive today, he’d be worth $199 Billion.
#2. Bill Gates ( Microsoft )
Net Worth $78.8 Billion – Dropped out at 19.
Gates attended Harvard in the fall of 1973, only to drop out two years later to found Microsoft with childhood buddy Paul Allen. In 2007, he ended up receiving an honorary degree from
Harvard.
#3. Larry Ellison ( Oracle )
Net Worth $56.6 Billion – Dropped out at 20.
Larry Ellison is a serial entrepreneur, programmer and philanthropist who made a good chunk of his
billions via the multinational tech corp, Oracle. Oh yea, he also own an island in Hawaii named, “Larry Ellison Island.”
#4. Amancio Ortega ( Zara )
Net Worth $66.2 Billion – Dropped out at 14.
At 27, Ortega founded his own company, producing quality yet affordable garments, and in
1975, he opened his first retail store, Zara.
Ortega is now the richest man in Spain.
#5. Mark Zuckerberg ( Facebook )
Net Worth $33.7 Billion – Dropped out at 19.
Surely you’ve heard of Mark Zuckerberg. If not,
he’s the guy who founded the second highest traffic website in the world, Facebook.
Remember the hoodie he wore to all of his press
conferences and public events?
#6. Li Ka Shing ( Cheung Kong Holdings)
Net Worth $33.5 Billion – Dropped out at 15.
Li Ka Shing said “deuces” to school at age 15
and started selling watch bands. Today he’s the
world’s largest operator of container terminals,
world’s largest health and beauty retailer,
Chinese energy supplier and real estate
developer.
#7. Sheldon Adelson ( Las Vegas Sands )
Net Worth $30.2 Billion – Dropped out at 19.
While you may not know his face, you may have partied at one of his Vegas establishments for your 21st. Aside from Sheldon Adelson being a
casino tycoon, he also owns the Israeli Daily newspaper and dabbles in politics.
#8. Larry Page ( Google )
Net Worth $29.1 Billion – Dropped out at 21. Larry page is known for co-founding a little site
called Google. He technically graduated from University of Michigan but later dropped out of
his PhD. program which why he’s on the list.
#9. Michael Dell ( Dell )
Net Worth $21.8 Billion – Dropped out at 19.
Michael Dell truly caught the entrepreneurial bug
in college. Selling upgrade mods for personal
computers from his dorm, ultimately led to him
getting a license from the State of Texas to bid
on (large) contracts. The rest is history.
#10. Paul Allen ( Microsoft )
Net Worth $17 Billion – Dropped out at 20.
This Microsoft co-founder is a sports fanatic,
owning the Seattle Seahawks, and the NBA’s
Portland Trailblazer’s. He’s known for having fun
with his cash thanks to ridiculous toys ranging
from submarines to 400ft yachts.
#11. Azim Premji ( Wipro )
Net Worth $16.4 Billion – Dropped out at 22.
Mr. Premji has been at the helm of Wipro Limited
for four decades. In that time he’s grown them
into one of the Indian leaders in the software industry.
#12. Kirk Kerkorian ( Tracinda)
Net Worth $10 Billion – Dropped out at 12.
Kirk Kerkorian is known as the “father of the
megaresort” and has helped develop, shape and
grow Las Vegas. An 8th grade dropout, Kirk is a
former boxer, WWII fighter pilot and CEO of the
successful investment firm Tracinda.
#13. Steve Jobs ( Apple )
Net Worth $8.3 Billion – Dropped out at 21.
Jobs dropped out of college after one semester
and recycled cans and bottles to make ends
meet. A vegetarian Buddhist who frequently
experimented with LSD, Jobs has been hailed as
the Ford and Edison of our Time.
#14. Dustin Moskovitz ( Facebook )
Net Worth $8.2 Billion – Dropped out at 21.
Forbes reported Moskovitz to be the youngest
self-made billionaire in history. Zuckerberg’s
roommate at Harvard and Facebook’s third
employee, Dustin left Facebook in 2008 to start
hist software firm Asana.
#15. Lex Wexner ( L Brands )
Net Worth $7.7 Billion – Dropped out at 22.
Over the years Lex has built up some of the
most famous brands in the world, including
Abercrombie & Fitch, Lane Bryant, Limited Too
and Express. Btw, he’s the shot caller aka
current owner of Victoria Secret.
#16. Jan Koum ( WhatsApp)
Net Worth $7.2 Billion – Dropped out at 20.
Koum made $6.8 billion when Facebook acquired
his mobile messaging startup WhatsApp for $19
billion. He had originally dropped out of school to
Yahoo, where he oversaw security and
infrastructure for the internet giant.
#17. Ralph Lauren ( Ralph Lauren )
Net Worth $7.1 Billion – Dropped out at 20.
This billionaire fashion mogul studied business
for 2 years before dropping out. In 1967, after
leaving his clerk position at Brooks Brothers,
Lauren sold $500,000 worth of ties. He started
Polo the next year.
#18. David Geffen ( Geffen Records )
Net Worth $6.9 Billion – Dropped out at 19.
This guy founded Asylum Records and Geffen
Records and co-founded DreamWorks. He also
founded Hobby Lobby, a popular American chain
of arts and crafts stores.
#19. Walt Disney ( Disney )
Net Worth $5 billion (2015) – Dropped out at 16.
Walt Disney dropped out of at 16 and founded
Walt Disney; a company which now has an
annual revenue of about $30 billion. He’s
regarded as the most influential animator ever.
#20. David Green ( Hobby Lobby )
Net Worth $4.7 Billion – Dropped out at 18.
Billionaire founder of Hobby Lobby, religious
philanthropist. Did not attend college. Started
the Hobby Lobby chain with a $600 loan.
#21. Richard Branson ( Virgin )
Net Worth $4.7 Billion – Dropped out at 16.
ironically he dropped out to start a youth
magazine called “Student.” After he moved to
London in the 60s, he developed a “mail-order”
record company to fund his magazine, named
Virgin. Branson’s empire includes an airline,
drinks manufacturer and over 400 other ventures.
#22. Elizabeth Holmes ( Theranos )
Net Worth $4.5 Billion – Dropped out at 19.
At 30, Elizabeth Holmes makes her debut on the
Forbes 400 as the youngest self-made woman
billionaire.
#23. Subhash Chandra Goel ( Zee Tv )
Net Worth $4 Billion – Dropped out at 12.
Dr Chandra who is referred to as the Media
Moghul of India, changed the television industry
by launching the country’s first satellite Hindi
channel in 1992. The Zee Network now has over
500 million viewers in 167 countries.
#24. Haim Saban ( Saban Capital )
Net Worth $3.3 Billion – Dropped out at 13.
Saban made it big as the producer of the Mighty
Morphin Power Rangers TV show in the early
90s. And later sold Fox Family to Disney for $5
Billion and made $1.7 Billion on the deal.
#25. Sean Parker ( Facebook )
Net Worth $3 Billion – Dropped out at 14.
He’s the co-founder of the infamous music
sharing service Napster, which changed the music industry forever. He later served as
Facebook’s first president owning 28.2% of B shares.
 
#26. Evan Williams ( Twitter )
Net Worth $2.9 Billion – Dropped out at 19.
Williams is one of the co-founders of Twitter and
the founder of Square, and before each of the
aforementioned companies he co-founded the
successful podcasting company Odeo.
 
#27. Jack Dorsey ( Twitter )
Net Worth $2.5 Billion – Dropped out at 20.
Dorsey, who is now on the board of Disney, is
one of the founding members of Twitter, and
founder and CEO of Square . He’s often referred
to as the “cool” guy in tech.
#28. Hiroshi Yamauchi ( Nintendo )
Net Worth $2.1 Billion – Dropped out at 22.
Yamauchi dropped out to take over the company
his grandfather started in 1889, maintaining his
role as the third president of Nintendo for 55
years, taking them from small card company to
video game powerhouse.
#29. Gabe Newell ( Valve)
Net Worth $1.3 Billion – Dropped out at 20.
Newell co-founded Valve Corporation, a company
famous for the sci-fi video game, Half Life.
Newell claims to be “producer of the first three
releases of Windows.” Like Zuckerberg and
Gates, he was also a Harvard dropout.
#30. Orji Uzor Kalu ( Slok)
Net Worth $1 Billion – Dropped out at 20.
The Nigerian born billionaire and war survivor,
made his billions in television and media after
being expelled from University for leading student
riots and taking a $35 loan from his mother.
We Can’t Gauge Our Success Based on Grades
Not having a college degree will be a hindrance
to some avenues of success, but not all. It does
tend to make it harder to get a job with big companies (in particular) or with companies that
are founded by individuals who place great value
on academic degrees. These types of people are
increasingly less common, especially in tech, as you’ll notice from this list, but there’s still a lot of them.
Of the 30 names on this list, 25 are self made.
And of the 25 that are self made, 10 made their
billions in the last 10 years in the tech space.
What’s also interesting, is that the combined
total of employees that these dropouts employ is
well over 1 million. And of this number of
employees, a vast number of them have college
degrees. Ironic, no?
Don’t Rush to Quit School
Interesting and inspiring selection I think you will
agree. Not all are complete dropouts – some
actually have pretty impressive academic
achievements to their name but alas the call of
their Entrepreneurial Ventures took them to leave
those studies and instead go on to create
considerable wealth plus businesses that in some
case have touched Billions of people.
One entrepreneur who in particular impressed me
was Michael Dell – who started a computer
company called PCs Limited while attending the
University of Texas in Austin. It became so
successful that Dell dropped out of school to
operate it, and the company eventually became
Dell, Inc, with revenues of $56.94 billion in 2013.
In 2006, Dell and his wife gave a $50 million
grant to the University which he attended but
never graduated from.
One remarkable fact I noted when compiling this
list, was the number of businesses that started
of in a garage. Take for example the HP
corporation which started life in a tiny 12×18
foot garage .
And then there is also Google and
Apple who started life in a garage.
And the Most Notable Young Entrepreneurs Of Recent Times?
Well it is Mark Zuckerberg of course.
Facebook Founder, Mark Zuckerberg has an
estimated net worth of nearly $34 billion and
believed by some to be the wealthiest man
younger than 35 in the USA. Mark Zuckerberg,
like Bill Gates, is a Harvard dropout.
After launching Facebook school-wide from his
dorm room at Harvard in February 2004,
Zuckerberg began devoting more and more time
to his program, gradually spreading it to other
schools. By that summer, Zuckerberg and his
roommate Dustin Moskovitz had released
Facebook to nearly 30 schools, and the website
was growing too popular to be run part-time.
No comments:
Post a Comment