Wondering about most successful immigrant in USA and their companies? Great, you’ve come to the right page.
A few days ago, Forbes published its annual Forbes 400 list, featuring the richest people in the U.S. The podium did not offer any surprises, as Bill Gates occupied the top spot for the 23rd year in a row, followed by Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)’s Jeff Bezos and Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A)’s Warren Buffett.
One of the most interesting aspects of this year’s list was the number of immigrants it included. “More Than 10% Of The Forbes 400 Are Immigrants, 14 Of Whom Are Richer Than Trump,” a Forbes article’s title read. In fact, 42 out of the 400 richest Americans were not born in the land of opportunity, but in 21 other countries instead. Six of them came from Israel; five, from India; four, from Taiwan; and four, from Hungary.
Source: Forbes
As per Forbes’ calculations, these immigrants’ combined net worth stands around $250 billion, definitely not a figure to scoff at. But, how did they get so successful?
A recent report from the Kauffman Foundation explained that, “Immigrants are twice as likely to become entrepreneurs as native-born Americans. Immigrant entrepreneurs have begun and lead some of the world’s most successful and innovative companies. The risk-taking that defines an immigrant’s experience in starting anew in a new country often continues to benefit immigrant entrepreneurs as they channel a healthy appetite for risk in a way that leads to new business ideas.”
“In the United States, immigrants tend to be unusually entrepreneurial: available data suggest immigrants are over-represented within the group of business founders and innovators,” contributor Sari Kerr added, pointing out that the highest rates of immigrant ownership were seen in the engineering and technology sectors.
So, in this article we will take a look at the 10 most successful immigrant in USA and their companies.
#10. Micky Arison
Net Worth: $7.3 billion
Country of Origin: Israel
Company: Carnival Corp (NYSE:CCL)
Arison emigrated from Israel in the 50’s, and spent more than 30 years serving as CEO at the company his father had co-founded, helping it become the largest cruise ship operator in the world. While he stepped down from the role in 2013, he remains the Chairman of the Board at Carnival, and now owns the NBA’s Miami Heat.
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#9. Pierre Omidyar
Net Worth: $8.1 billion
Country of Origin: France
Company: eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY)
Up next in our list of most successful immigrant in USA and their companies we have Omidyar who arrived to the U.S. in 1973, at the age of six, and became a billionaire in 1998, aged 31, when the company he founded, eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY) went public. He then served as the Chairman of the Board from 1998 to 2015. He still remains a Director at the company, as well as at its spin-off Paypal Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PYPL). The entrepreneur also founded First Look Media and, most recently, a venture capital firm named Omidyar Technology Ventures.
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#8. Jan Koum
Net Worth: $8.8 billion
Country of Origin: Ukraine
Company: WhatsApp
Born in Kyiv, Ukraine, Koum arrived at the U.S. in 1992. After working for Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) and Ernst & Young, the young programmer and Brian Acton co-founded WhatsApp in 2009. The app would later become the most popular mobile messaging service in the world, and would be acquired by Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) for roughly $22 billion in cash and stock in 2014. Koum now holds a position in the social media behemoth’s Board of Directors.
#7. Patrick Soon-Shiong
Net Worth: $9 billion
Country of Origin: South Africa
Companies: American Pharmaceutical Partners, Abraxis BioScience, NantHealth Inc (NASDAQ:NH)
We are continuing our list of most successful immigrant in USA and their companies with Patrick Soon-Shiong who is known as “America’s richest doctor.” Born in South Africa to Chinese parents, he was a physician by the time he reached 23 years old, and immigrated to the U.S. in 1980, at 27. After becoming a respected surgeon, he founded drug companies Abraxis and American Pharmaceutical Partners, which he then sold for a combined price of more than $9 billion. The physician took Nantkwest Inc (NASDAQ:NK) public last year, and, earlier this year, did the same with NantHealth Inc (NASDAQ:NH), a biotech startup he had founded.
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#6. Rupert Murdoch
Net Worth: $11.4 billion
Country of Origin: Australia
Company: News Corp (NASDAQ:NWSA), Twenty-First Century Fox Inc (NASDAQ:FOX).
World-famous media mogul Murdoch was born in Australia and by age 22 (1952) owned a newspaper, which he inherited after his father passed away. Over time, he transformed this local company into a worldwide corporation, which would later become News Corp (NASDAQ:NWSA) and Twenty-First Century Fox Inc (NASDAQ:FOX). Murdoch acquired U.S. citizenship in 1985.
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#5. Elon Musk
Net Worth: $11.5 billion
Country of Origin: South Africa
Company: Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA)
Media darling Elon Musk arrived in the U.S. in the 90’s, and since then, founded and run SpaceX, and co-founded and run Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA), co-founded and served as the Chairman of SolarCity Corp (NASDAQ:SCTY). However, the company that made him his first fortune was Paypal Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PYPL), which, in a way, he co-founded, after his online financial services company X.com merged with Confinity. Elon Musk proudly takes the 5th place on this list of 10 most successful immigrants in USA and their companies.
#4. Thomas Peterffy
Net Worth: $12.6 billion
Country of Origin: Hungary
Company: Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:IBKR)
Hungary-born Thomas Peterffy ranks 4th in our list of most successful immigrant in USA and their companies. He first arrived to West Germany fleeing the Soviets, before moving to the U.S. in 1965. He has said he arrived with a single suitcase and no knowledge of the English language, but still managed to make it big. Many say he was “an original flash boy, one of the first to pioneer electronic trading” (Forbes). “To start, he built trading models for other Wall Streeters before founding market-maker Timber Hill in 1982.” Peterffy then turned to the brokerage business and founded Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:IBKR), where he now serves as CEO and Chairman of the Board.
#3. Len Blavatnik
Net Worth: $18.5 billion
Country of Origin: Ukraine
Company: Access Industries
Len Blavatnik was born in the Ukraine, raised in Moscow and schooled in the U.S. since he arrived in 1978. He earned his fortune through diversified investments, which he made via his conglomerate, Access Industries. The privately-held conglomerate owns large stakes in LyondellBasell Industries NV (NYSE:LYB), Rocket Internet and Warner Music, among several other companies.
#2. George Soros
Net Worth: $24.9 billion
Country of Origin: Hungary
Company: Soros Fund Management
One of the best-known money managers in the world, Soros fled Hungary after the Second World War, and established in England, before moving to New York, where he started his own investment firm in 1969, with $12 million. Soros currently manages his investments through his family office, Soros Fund Management, which has about $30 billion in assets under management.
#1. Sergey Brin
Net Worth: $38.6 billion
Country of Origin: Russia
Company: Google
The richest immigrant in the U.S. is none other than Google co-founder Sergey Brin, born in the former Soviet Union, in Moscow. In 1979, aged six, his parents took him to the U.S. as escaped fled anti-Semitism. Brin now serves as Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s President. Sergey Brin easily tops this list of 10 most successful immigrant in USA and their companies.
Disclosure: Javier Hasse holds no interest in any of the securities or entities mentioned above.
