5 Billionaires Who Came From Nothing

In this article we are going to list the 5 Billionaires Who Came From Nothing. For a detailed coverage of this topic and a more comprehensive list please head on over to 15 Billionaires Who Came From Nothing.

5. Shahid Khan

Current net worth according to Forbes (in billions of dollars): 7.9

Shahid Khan emigrated to the US from Pakistan and in his childhood, actually washed dishes at a restaurant for $1.2 an hour while studying at university.

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4. George Soros

Current net worth according to Forbes (in billions of dollars): 8.6

George Soros has been derided by conspiracy theorists as a puppet master behind conspiracy theories, but has actually donated $32 billion, even though his current worth is just around a fourth of that. He is popularly known as the Man Who Broke The Bank of England, when his shorting of sterling pound earned him a billion dollars in profit while collapsing the price of the GBP. He survived the Nazi occupation of Hungary as a Jew child.

George Soros of Soros Fund Management

3. Roman Abramovich

Current net worth according to Forbes (in billions of dollars): 14.4

The owner of Chelsea Football Club, Abramovich had lost both of his parents before turning four years old, and was raised by relatives. He even worked as a street-trader as well as a mechanic at a factory, and selling retreaded tires, before finding significant success.

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2. Thomas Peterffy

Current net worth according to Forbes (in billions of dollars): 23.9

You know your life isn’t going to be easy when you’re born in a hospital basement in Hungary during a Russian air raid. When he moved to the US, after his father did initially, he was given $100 by his father as he couldn’t allow him to live together. He started as an architectural draftsman working on projects, before becoming a billionaire through major shareholding in Interactive Brokers (NASDAQ:IBKR).

1. Larry Ellison

Current net worth according to Forbes (in billions of dollars): 88.4

Larry Ellison, the founder of Oracle (NYSE:ORCL), easily tops the list of the 5 billionaires who came from nothing. Ellison had a really tough childhood, starting from being born to an unwed woman, who gave him up for adoption when he contracted pneumonia at the age of 9 months. His adoptive father had lost a fortune in the Great Depression, and even had to drop out from college as his adoptive mother passed away. He then worked multiple odd jobs, before finally creating Oracle, and is now easily among the richest people in the entire world.

See also: 25 Highest Earning Billionaires in 2020 and 25 richest cities in the world with most billionaires per capita

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