Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi
Age 72  Net Worth $17.5 Billion
Born  Thailand   Citizen  Thailand
Self-made in Beverage, founded Chang Beer in 1995

Education:  No High School. He quit school at age 9 

Charoen is the Richest Thai Self-made Billionaire

 
Here is the link to my youtube video 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u26TwOoQtlM 

He was born to poor Chinese immigrants who were street vendors.

Being  6th of 11 children, he quit school at age 9 to work

Thailand is a country famous for coup d'etats. 

Somehow he not only got along with the military, but also the Thai King, who gave him the last name  "Sirivadhanabhakdi'.

His way:  by paying a lot of taxes.  Guess every government likes that 

Charoen became rich by founding Chang Beer in 1995.  Chang is Thai word for Elephant. 

Chang Beer is now part of his empire Thai Beverage

 

His most famous purchase:
In 2013, he paid US$11.2 billion to purchase Singapore's Fraser and Neave (a beverage and property development company)

 

How to Solve the Problem?

The Rich Get Richer,  The Poor Get Poorer 

There are 3 Reasons why this statement is flawed

First, this is the link to my youtube video on the same topic 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMmhVBa2SZU 

Let us look at the data

#1  80% of millioniares are self-made 
       (Source:  Book Millionaires Next Door)

#2 67% of billioniares are self-made 
      (Source:  Forbes Magazine)

#3  The annual turnover rate of self-made billionaires is 16%
       (Source: My own research based on Forbes Magazine data)

So there is a very high level of social mobility

The Majority of the rich were poor or middle class.  They moved up quickly the social ladder and ended up rich
 
 Why do some quickly move up the social ladder while most don't?


The Rich have good habits.  E.g. rich people work long hours every day.  Poor people watch a lot of TV, up to 7 hours a day. (I don't mean to insult anyone here, just showing the stats)

 

Today I try to answer one question:
Is it possible to work for someone else and become a self-made billionaire?

The answer is DEFINITELY

Here is my youtube link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDIfJkn1w18
There are plenty such examples 

About 2% of selfmade billionaires never founded their own business. 

Let's start with 7 famous examples here, in descending order of wealth

Example #1  Steve Balmer (on the right)

CEO of Microsoft 2000 to 2014

Example #2  Eric Schmidt

Eric Schmidt was CEO of Google

Example #3  Joseph Tsai

Joseph Tsai is Chairman of M&A (Merger and Acquisition) of Alibaba

Example #4  Meg Whitman 

She is currently CEO of HP (Hewlett Packard)

She was CEO of eBay for 10 years 

Example #5  Charles Simonyi (on the left)

He is a Hungarian Immigrant who got his PhD in Computer Science from Stanford University

He was Chief Engineer of Window 95,  Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel

Example #6  Jonathan Gray

At age 47, he is Head of Real Estate at Blackstone 
Private Equity

Example #7  Sheryl  Sandberg

At age 47, she is COO (Chief Operating Officer) of Microsoft

Eduardo Eurnekian  
Age 84  Net Worth $2.3 Billion
Born  Argentina  Citizen  Argentina
Self-made in Airports, founded Aeropuerto Argentina 2000

This is my latest youtube link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOgxA3srCyw

Eduardo Eurnekian is one of many Armenian Self-made Billionaires in the world (his picture is on bottom left corner)

His parents are Armenian Refugees who fled the Ottoman Empire to begin a new life in Argentina


He was born in Buenos Aires in 1932

He made his fortune in Airports.  He founded Aeropuerto Argentina 2000 and won concessions to all 33 Argentinian Airport for 30 years. 

After that he made similar concession for airports in Armenia

Today, he runs a total of 76 Airports in 3 continents

Today, Eduardo Eurnekian is the Airport King of the World

Jeff Bezos 
Age  53  Net Worth $84.4  Billion
Citizen  US     Born  Albuquerque, New Mexico 

He was born Jeff Preston Jorgensen 

His mother divorced and remarried Bezos, a engineer when he was 4 year old

Here is his picture 

Here is my youtube link 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9q8P4DBKJ8
 
He is important for 3 reasons
#1  In July 2017,  he is the Second Richest Man on Earth.  He is inches away from Bill Gates

#2 He is an important inventor , here is the Kindle eReader

He also invented AWS (Amazon Web Service) and is a pioneer in selling CLOUD Services

He also invented Alexa and the Amazon Echo (for voice Artificial Intelligence)

#3  In June 2017, Jeff Bezos bought Whole Foods and now competing in the grocery business. 

John Jacob Astor   (1763 - 1848)
Age 84   Net Worth  $116 Billion (in 2017)
Citizen  US    Born  Germany 

Here is a picture of John Jacob Astor 

Here is the link to youtube video on John Jacob Astor 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHy-WSduNWg


With an estimated net worth of $116 Billion, John Jacob Astor was actually richer than Bill Gates today. 



He is important for 4 reasons
1.  He made his fortune in the fur trade.
In early part of 19th century, fur trade is the same as the oil trade today

Empire fought wars over fur trade in 18th and 19th century

2.  He was the first immigrant billionaires in US

3.  When he died in 1848, he was the richest US self-made billionaires 


He was born in Walldorf , Germany 
Here is map of Walldorf, a small town near Heidelberg

He arrived in US at age of 20.  At age 22, he married Sarah Cox Todd, and with $300 dowry (a big sum then) he opened his piano and fur store in New York City 

Here is a picture of Sarah Cox Todd

 

The Astor would be one of the most famous rich family in 19th century, not quite as famous as the Rothchild, but they built or renovated many beautiful castles  in US and England. The Hever Castle near London is one of those renovated by the Astors

Steven Schwarzman  Net Worth $12.4
Age 70,  Citizen  US    Born Philadelphia, US
Self-made in Investment, co-founded  Blackstone with Peter Peterson in 1985

This is a picture of Steven Schwarzman



This is my youtube link to Steven Schwarzman 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaySp_ZwNXY
Steven Schwarzman graduated from Yale University with a degree in cultural anthropology in 1969 and Harvard MBA in 1972.

This is picture of Peter Peterson. 

 He is co-founder of Blackstone in 1985, when he was 59.
An Immigrant from Greece, he arrived in US at age 17 without knowing much English. 


Peterson put in $200,000 and Schwarzman put in $200,000

After 500 rejection, Schwarzman managed to raise $850 million and launched their business of doing mega deals.  

Among their most famous LBO (Leverage Buyout was Hilton $27 Billion in Year 2007)

In 2016, Steven Schwarzman raised $400 Million to set up Schwarzman College at Tsinghua University

and each year, there will be 200 Schwarzman Scholar to study in China.  The Schwarzman Scholar are meant to be an alternative to the Rhodes Scholar

The Schwarzman Scholars will be the bridge between US and China and between China and the Rest of the World
 
In 2017, Blackstone has more than $350 Billion of Asset Under Management, employs 620,000 people and owns the largest real estate in the world. 

The brain behind their Real Esate prowess is Jonathan Gray, who was hired straight out of college by Schwarzman in 1991.  Jonathan Gray owns 4% of Blackstone and is a billionaire. 

Jonathan Gray's net worth is $1.4 B

David and Simon Reuben Brothers
Age 71 -- 74    Net Worth $17.4 Billion
Born  Mumbai, India    Citizen  UK
Self-made in Aluminum, Real Estate  



David finished High School.
Simon never finished High School.


In 2017, David and Simon Reuben are the richest self-made billionaires in England.

This is picture of the Secretive Reuben Brothers 

The Reuben Brothers were born in Mumbai, India

This is youtube link of my videos on the Reuben Brothers 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enIOhBKPyzA

This is Mikhail Chernoy, their partner in Aluminum in Russia in the 1990s, where the Reuben Brothers made their first billion

This is picture of Alexander Mashkevitch, fellow Jewish Aluminum magnate and once partner in Kazakhstan

This is map of Russia and Kazakhstan, where the Reuben Brothers once own 7% of the world's aluminum production

The Reuben Brothers were kicked out of Russia and Kazakhstan in late 1990s.  They invested $1.5 Billion into real estate in London from 2000 to 2014.

Mikhail Chernoy and Alexander Mashkevitch are considered Russian Oligarch, but they have since immigrated to Israel.
 

The Reuben Brothers own the Millbank Tower of London, which is right next to the British Parliament

and other important London Real Estate

Vladimir Potanin
Age 56   Net Worth  $13 Billion
Born  Moscow, Russia        Citizen Russian
Self-made in Nickel Mining

Here is picture of or Potanin

This is the link to my youtube video on Vladimir Potanin, Richest Selfmade Billionaires in Russia

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5uohxBQzaI

The source of Vladimir Potanin's wealth is Norilsk Nickel
the world's largest producer of Nickel and Palladium

Here is picture of Nickel Mine 

And the city of Norilsk

Where is Norilsk?  It is within the Arctic Circle

In 2009, Mikhail Prokhorov left and he was bought out for $7.5 Billion.   Mikhail Prokhorov now owns the Brooklyn Nets, and NBA Team in New York.

In 2014, Potanin was involved in a bitter divorce and almost lost $7B (The Russian Court did not award) 

Vladimir Potanin graduated from Moscow Institute of International Relations , the Harvard of Russia