Craig McCaw – $1.9 billion After graduating from Stanford, Craig McCaw decided to focus on rebuilding his family’s struggling broadcasting company. He rebuilt their broadcasting network, and by the 1980s, his family’s firm was the 20th largest cable carrier in the United States. He also began to invest in the cellular industry in the 80s and went on to sell portions of MCI to Comcast, and his own cellular company to AT&T. He also pulled Nextel back from the brink of failure and went on to sell it to Sprint. Each sale was a multi-billion dollar transaction. Jim Sinegal – $2 billion Jim Sinegal co-founded Costco with Seattle retailer Jeff Brotman in 1983. Sinegal turned Costco into one of the most popular discount warehouse stores in the U.S. Costco offers a wide range of services that span from selling fresh fruits to offering eye care, clinics, and pharmacies. Costco services also expand to gas stations, offering low-priced gas across the United States. Bill France – $2 billion Bill France took over NASCAR from his father when it was a regional stock-car racing attraction, and transformed it into a multibillion-dollar enterprise with a national presence. France, Jr. had been in declining health since having a heart attack in 1997 at a NASCAR race in Japan. He turned over his roles as chairman and chief executive of NASCAR to his son Brian in 2003. Howard Schultz – $3 billion While working for a Swedish coffee company, Howard Schultz was introduced to a group of Seattle-based coffee makers that had started a company called Starbucks Coffee Company. He became their Director of Marketing. He suggested that they take their coffee company in the same direction as the coffee shops in Italy, but they were not interested in creating a “café-like” culture. He started his own coffee shop, Il Giornale, and ultimately bought Starbucks from the original owners. He grew the company to the billion-dollar industry it is today. James Jannard– $3.1 billion James Jannard founded Oakley in 1975. The company was originally devoted to selling rubber grips for BMX bikes and motorcycles. He launched the company from the trunk of his car. Nine years later, he began making sunglasses. In 2007 Jannard sold Oakley to an Italian company, Luxxotica for $2.1 billion. He did not sell 100% of the company. He reportedly maintains a significant stake and continues to earn dividends from Oakley’s profits. In 2005 Jim Jannard founded the digital camera company, RED. RED has gone on to become a very successful company, with its cameras used to shoot such feature productions as “The Social Network,” “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” and “The Hobbit,” among many others. Gabe Newell – $4.1 billion Gabe Newell left Microsoft to found the game development company Valve in 1996. He used his own money to fund Valve through the development of the video game Half-Life and the GoldSrc game engine. Valve has gone on to produce such other popular video games as Counter-Strike, Day of Defeat, Portal, and others. Mackenzie Scott – $65 billion Steve Ballmer – $81 billion Steve Ballmer is best known for his association with Microsoft and for owning the Los Angeles Clippers. The vast majority of Steve Ballmer’s net worth is derived from his 333.3 million shares of Microsoft stock. Over the years he has sold $3.4 billion worth of stock and collected roughly $4.5 billion from dividends. Despite being a multi-multi-billionaire, Ballmer still drives a Ford in honor of his father who was a Ford manager. Bill Gates – $125 billion Bill Gates co-founded the software company Microsoft with the late Paul Allen. He is one of the pioneering entrepreneurs of the personal computer revolution. Today he owns less than 1.3% of Microsoft. Over much of the last 20 years, Bill Gates has been the richest person in the world. Jeff Bezos took over this title in July 2017. He is one of the founders of The Giving Pledge. Jeff Bezos – $200 billion
