Thursday, May 31, 2018

THESE FIVE BILLIONAIRES MADE THEIR FORTUNES AFTER 40

  • LATE BLOOMERS
    NOT EVERYONE IS A ZUCKERBERG. THESE FIVE BILLIONAIRES MADE THEIR FORTUNES AFTER 40.
    • SHELDON
      ADELSON, 84
      NET WORTH: $43.3 BIL
      The gambling kingpin didn’t get his start in casinos until 55, when he bought the Sands Hotel & Casino on the Las Vegas strip for $128 million. He was no stranger to Sin City, though: Earlier, he had organized and run a computer trade show there.
    • DAVID
      DUFFIELD, 77
      NET WORTH: $8.9 BIL
      The former IBM employee started two business software companies after turning 40. At 47 he started PeopleSoft, which he sold to larger rival Oracle nearly two decades later for $10.3 billion. Soon after the sale, he started Workday, the HR and financial management software company.
    • DIETRICH
      MATESCHITZ, 74
      NET WORTH: $24.7 BIL
      After marketing goods like shampoo and toothpaste as a corporate shill, he cofounded Red Bull at 42. The master salesman pitched the energy drink as fuel for accomplishing daring feats (famous tagline: “Red Bull gives you wings”) and emblazoned the brand on skydivers, motorcyclists and big-mountain skiers.
    • JAMES
      DYSON, 71
      NET WORTH: $5.5 BIL
      When his family’s refurbished hoover vacuum gave him grief (it seemed to just push the dirt around), Dyson set about creating a better vacuum. Fifteen years and 5,127 prototypes later, at age 46, he brought the world’s first bagless vacuum to market. Now he has more than 60 products—from hair driers to fans.
    • DAVID
      CHERITON, 67
      NET WORTH: $6 BIL
      In 1998, the 47-year-old Stanford professor wrote a $100,000 check to two Ph.D. students named Larry and Sergey who came to his house and pitched him on a company called Google. Cheriton also cofounded three technology companies after his 40th birthday that were sold or taken public.

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