25 billionaires who have achieved everything on their own

There are two types of billionaires - those who inherited their wealth, and those who built it from scratch. We have compiled a list of the world's richest billionaires who have been able to achieve everything themselves.

Len Blavatnik (20.1 billion)

Although he is known as the richest inhabitant of England, Blavatnik is from Ukraine. He received a degree in Moscow State University, as well as at the Harvard Business School. In 1986, he began to invest in chemical companies, as well as in the production of aluminum. In recent years, he started investing in technology. Blavatnik also owns Warner Music, which he bought in 2011 for 3.3 billion dollars.

Li Ka-Shing (20.1 billion)

Ka-Shing is one of the richest people in Asia, but his power far exceeds wealth. He is known for investing in new, thriving technological stratapes and was one of the first patrons of Facebook. Recently, the company, which he heads, bought the second largest mobile phone operator in the UK.

Patrick Drahi (21 billion)

This is the third richest man in France. He founded the telecommunications holding Altis, which operates in France, Belgium, Israel, Portugal and the Dominican Republic. In the near future he is going to buy the American company Suddenlink.

Phil Knight (21.6 billion)

Knight, along with an old friend, invested $ 500 to found a sports shoes company, now known as the Nike. Today, after almost 50 years, the company is worth 86.2 billion. Knight still remains its chairman.

Steve Ballmer (22.4 billion)

Known for his life energy, Ballmer was the CEO of Microsoft for 14 years before his retirement in 2014. Despite this, it remains the largest shareholder of Microsoft. After leaving the world of technology, Ballmer acquired the "Los Angeles Clippers" for a record $ 2 billion. This is the highest price ever paid for an NBA team.

Karl Aikan (22.8 billion)

Even in his 80th Aikan remains a powerful player in the world of finance. He founded a diversified holding company, and in 1987 he invested in a variety of industries, including technology and energy. He also owns a large stake in Apple.

Leonardo del Vecchio (23 billion)

Del Vecchio founded the company Luxottica in 1961, which is now the world's largest selling points. Today the company produces spectacles for such luxury brands as Prada and Versace. The Italian businessman is still the chairman of the company, and recently he also showed his generosity, giving the company employees its shares worth $ 10 million. So he celebrated his 80th birthday.

George Soros (24.8 billion)

He is widely known as a man who is hacked into an English bank. In 1973, he founded Soros Fund Management. In 1992, for one day, he earned a billion dollars. The hedge fund he created became the most successful in the world.

Sheldon Adelson (26 billion)

After selling COMDEX Trade Shows in 1995, Adelson used profit to create the company Las Vegas Sands. Today, he remains its chairman and chief executive officer, and, despite the setbacks, the casino industry has become successful for him. He is the richest man in Nevada and one of the 20 richest people in the world. Adelson is known for his political views. In 2012, he gave 100 million dollars to the Republican Party of America.

Jack Ma (26.7 billion)

Last year, the commercial company Ma became public, raising $ 25 billion. Despite the fact that he started as an English teacher, Ma was carried away by the Internet during his visit to the USA in 1995. In it, he saw business opportunities and founded his own electronic commercial site in 1999.

Jorge Paulo Lehmann (27 billion)

The richest man in Brazil, Lehmann founded the financial company 3G Capital, which owns shares of companies such as Anheuser-Busch InBev, Burger King, Tim Hortons. In March, 3G Capital, together with the brainchild of Warren Buffett, teamed up to create the fifth-largest food company in the world.

Al-Walid ibn Talal (28.3 billion)

The grandson of the first ruler of Saudi Arabia, Prince Al Walid is the richest man in his country. He founded the investment company Royal Holding in 1980 and invests in a number of large companies in the Middle East and the US, including Twitter and the Four Seasons hotel chain.

Lee Shaucky (28.3 billion)

Li was born in Guangdong in China. In Hong Kong, the future billionaire moved shortly before Mao Zedong announced the establishment of the People's Republic of China. Lee founded his own company in 1973 and today is its chairman and director.

Sergey Brin (29.1 billion)

Bryn emigrated to the United States from Moscow as a child with his parents. Prior to meeting with Google's co-founder Larry Page at Stanford University, Brin received a degree in computer science and mathematics from the University of Maryland. Today he works in Google X. This is a semi-secret department of the company dedicated to the main technological innovations.

Larry Page ($ 31.3 billion)

Page and Sergey Brin organized the project while studying at Stanford University. For more than one year the search engine began to work on all servers of the university before the traffic became too large. Page and Bryn left the university to start a company that is now known as Google.

Michael Bloomberg (33.7 billion)

The richest man in New York, Bloomberg began his career at Salomon Brothers, where he joined as a trader, and then became a partner. In 1981 he founded his own company Bloomberg LP. Bloomberg was the mayor of New York for three terms and was mentioned as a possible candidate for the presidency of America.

Wang Jianlin (35.2 billion)

Wang Jianlin served in the army for 18 years before he became interested in real estate. He became the richest man in China because of luck. After leaving the army, he joined the construction company Dalian Xigang Residential Development, which preceded the state company Dalian Wanda, in which Wang became chairman. In 2012, the company acquired MC Entertainment - the second largest network of cinemas in North America.

Mark Zuckerberg (35.3 billion)

Zuckerberg founded Facebook on his second year at Harvard University. After that, along with co-founders, he moved to California to develop his company. In 2006, he rejected the offer from Yahoo to sell the company for $ 1 billion, which was quite reasonable, given that now its cost equals 16 billion.

Carlos Slim Elu (35.4 billion)

Slim studied at an engineer at the National Autonomous University of Mexico before joining the companies that have interest in the finance, industry, telecommunications and media sectors. Today, he controls more than 200 companies in Mexico and is one of the largest shareholders of The New York Times.

Jeff Bezos (39.8 billion)

Bezos wrote the original Amazon business plan in the passenger seat while he and his wife moved from the East Coast to Seattle, where he planned to found the company. Now he owns 18% of Amazon.

Ingvar Kamprad (48.1 billion)

At 17, Kempard founded the Swedish furniture company IKEA, using the money that his father gave him as a reward for academic achievement. IKEA is an abbreviation that combines the name of the founder, the name of the farm that belongs to his family, and the name of the nearest village. At present the company is an international furniture salesman.

Larry Ellison (51.5 billion)

Ellison went from programmer to entrepreneur to achieve success. Together with colleagues, he developed a database management system, which is used by the CIA. Since 2014, he has been chairman and chief technology officer for Oracle. He also owns real estate, which includes most of the Hawaiian Islands.

Amancio Ortega (65 billion)

In 1975, Ortega founded Zara - a chain of designer clothing stores that practice prudent pricing. His company Inditex is the largest in the world in the fashion market. Ortega was able to avoid the financial crisis in Spain, and with the growth of the company, its wealth increased by 45 billion between 2009 and 2014.

Warren Buffett (70.1 billion)

Buffett started earning a stock investment in 11 years. By 13 he had a small business to deliver newspapers. Now he is chairman and chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway.

Bill Gates (85.7 billion)

Gates started programming when he was only 13 years old. In 1975, together with childhood friend Paul Allen, he founded the company Microsoft. Like many billionaires, Gates promised to give half his fortune to charity after his death. Now he supports numerous charity projects all over the world.