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6 Indians among college-dropout billionaires
Think about some of the most successful and wealthy people in the world. Chances are you might name Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and Mukesh Ambani.
Other than possession of great wealth, one thing common to all of them - the four business leaders are college dropouts.
Let’s take a look at billionaires globally who left their studies incomplete and still managed to make it big.
Surprisingly, there are many wealthy Indians, who made is big despite not having a formal degree.
The list only includes people who are alive.
Source: Forbes & Wikipedia
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6 Indians among college-dropout billionaires
Bill Gates
Country: US
Global Rank: 2
Networth: $67 billion
Age: 57
Source of wealth: Microsoft
At age 17, Gates formed a venture with Paul Allen, called Traf-O-Data, to make traffic counters based on the Intel 8008 processor.
Around the same time he went to Harvard College but later dropped out to focus on his business.
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6 Indians among college-dropout billionaires
Amancio Ortega
Country: Spain
Global rank: 3
Networth: $57 billion
Age: 77
Source of wealth: Zara
Amancio Ortega is the founder of the Zara stores, the famous clothing retail chain. Barely in his teens, Ortega started working for a local shirtmaker called Gala.
In 1972, when he was 36, he founded Confecciones Goa, selling quilted bathrobes which Ortega produced using thousands of local women by organising them into sewing cooperatives, according to Wikipedia. In 1975, he opened his first Zara store.
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6 Indians among college-dropout billionaires
Lawrence Ellison
Country: US
Global Rank: 5
Networth: $43 billion
Age: 69
Source of wealth: Oracle
Ellison was a bright student. He left his studies (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) when his adoptive mother died.
After spending a summer in Northern California, Ellison attended the University of Chicago for just one term, where he first encountered computer design, according to Wikipedia.
After working for few companies, he went to form a company called Software Development Laboratories (now Oracle) with his former colleagues Bob Miner and Ed Oates.
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6 Indians among college-dropout billionaires
Sheldon Adelson
Country: US
Global Rank: 15
Networth: $26.5 billion
Age: 80
Source of wealth: Casinos
He is the Chairman and CEO of Las Vegas Sands Corporation - one of the biggest casino and resort companies in the world.
He began selling newspapers at the age of 12 and started a candy-vending-machine business at the age of 16. Adelson attended City College of New York, but dropped out.
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6 Indians among college-dropout billionaires
Mukesh Ambani
Country: India
Global Rank: 22
Networth: $21.5 billion
Source of wealth: Petrochemicals, oil & gas
Age: 56
After completing his Chemical Engineering from Mumbai, Mukesh Ambani went to Stanford University but dropped out.
His father, Dhirubhai Ambani, got a license to set up a polyester plant, which was very crucial to the business. He asked his elder son to drop out and help him set up the manufacturing site.
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6 Indians among college-dropout billionaires
Michael Dell
Country: US
Global Rank: 49
Networth: $15.3 billion
Age: 48
Source of wealth: Dell
Michael Dell dropped out of The University of Texas at Austin. While a freshman pre-med student, Dell started an informal business putting together and selling upgrade kits for personal computers.
This informal business grew by leaps and bounds and he decided to quit his studies. The company, Dell Computer, came into existence when he was about 19.
Dell has been the youngest CEO to have his company ranked in Fortune magazine's list of the top 500 corporations. He was barely 27 then.
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6 Indians among college-dropout billionaires
Mark Zuckerberg
Country: US
Global Rank: 66
Networth: $13.3 billion
Age: 29
Source of wealth: Facebook
Zuckerberg dropped out of Harvard in his sophomore year to build Facebook. By the time he began classes at Harvard, Zuckerberg had already achieved a reputation as a programming prodigy. He studied psychology and computer science.
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6 Indians among college-dropout billionaires
Eike Batista
Country: Brazil
Global Rank: 100
Networth: $10.6 billion
Age: 56
Source of wealth: Mining, oil
At the age of 18, Eike Batista began to study metallurgical engineering at the University of Aachen in Germany. Around the same time, his parents returned to Brazil from Germany.
Batista chose to remain in Germany and started selling insurance policies door-to-door to make a living. His business took off once he returned to Brazil in the 1980s to focus on gold and diamond trades.
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6 Indians among college-dropout billionaires
Roman Abramovich
Country: Russia
Global Rank: 107
Networth: $10.2 billion
Age: 46
Source of wealth: Steel, investments
The Russian business tycoon is better known for as the owner of Chelsea Football Club.
Abramovich dropped out of college to join the Russian army. He made a fortune in oil exports in early 1990s.
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6 Indians among college-dropout billionaires
Micky Jagtiani
Country: India
Global Rank: 329
Networth: $4 billion
Age: 61
Source of wealth: Retail
Micky Jagtiani is the owner of multinational retail chain the Landmark Group. He owns retail chains such as Lifestyle Stores, Home Centre Stores and Splash (Fashion).
After his education in Madras, Mumbai and Beirut, his family emigrated to London, where he joined an accounting school but later dropped out.
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6 Indians among college-dropout billionaires
Gautam Adani
Country: India
Global Rank: 437
Networth: $3.1 billion
Age: 51
Source of wealth: Commodities, infrastructure
Adani was doing a bachelor’s in Commerce from Gujarat University but had to drop because of family’s financial problems.
He started out as a diamond sorter in Mumbai and later went back to Gujarat to help his brother in plastic business. He progressed to trading in Polyvinyl Chloride and never looked back thereafter.
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6 Indians among college-dropout billionaires
Ty Warner
Country: US
Global Rank: 589
Networth: $2.5 billion
Age: 69
Source of wealth: Beanie Babies
Ty Warner is the founder, Chairman and CEO of Ty Inc, which manufactures and distributes toys. His famous toys include Beanie Boos, Beanie Ballz, Monstaz, Beanie Babies, and LI'L Ones.
Warner attended Kalamazoo College in Michigan but dropped out after a year to pursue a career in acting, which never took off.
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6 Indians among college-dropout billionaires
Subhash Chandra
Country: India
Global Rank: 613
Networth: $2.4 billion
Age: 62
Source of wealth: Media
The Media Moghul revolutionised the television industry by launching the country’s first satellite television channel Zee TV. He quit studies after completing 12th standard, that is, high school. He started his first business of vegetable oil at the age of 19.
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6 Indians among college-dropout billionaires
Joy Alukkas
Country: India
Global Rank: 1342
Networth: $1 billion
Age: 56
Source of wealth: Jewellery
Joy Alukkas is an Indian entrepreneur, who owns a gold and diamond retail jewellery chain across nine countries.
This successful entrepreneur, quit studies to join his father shop and worked there as a salesperson.
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6 Indians among college-dropout billionaires
Nirav Modi
Country: India
Global Rank: 1342
Networth: $1 billion
Age: 42
Nirav Modi is a third generation diamantaire and jeweller. The little know businessperson came to the limelight when a necklace he created, with a rare 12.29 carat Golconda diamond, was sold at Christie's for $3.56 million.
Modi grew up in Belgium and quit his studies (at Wharton) to work with his uncle in diamond trade in India.