Rich people with higher education. Billionaires without a college degree

1.Leonid Mikhelson, co-owner of Novatek and Sibur (net worth: $14.4 billion). Graduated in 1977 Kuibyshev Civil Engineering Institute majoring in civil engineering.

I didn’t want to be a builder - I dreamed of becoming a pilot. They didn’t take it, it didn’t pass in terms of vision,” Mikhelson said in one interview. - Then I wanted to become a professional athlete, I was fond of volleyball. I almost went to Tashkent to play. But my parents asked me to get an education first - I entered the construction institute. I had to forget about my sports career after I received a severe shoulder injury. I was worried then, but now I understand that it’s for the best: few professional athletes after 40 years are in demand and find themselves in a different capacity.

2.Mikhail Fridman, the main owner of Alfa Group and LetterOne Holdings (net worth: $13.3 billion). Graduated MISiS in 1986 with a degree in alumina.

I chose the institute for one reason - it was a fairly fashionable building at that time with “legs”, in the center of Moscow, with a wonderful - as it was listed in the prospectus - House of Culture,” Friedman joked in one of his interviews.

The Institute of Steel and Alloys, I must say, was a wonderful university in many respects. Firstly, stray refuseniks from the best universities in the country studied there. People who were extremely far from metallurgy also ended up there. For example, parodist Misha Grushevsky studied in my course.

3.Alisher Usmanov, the main shareholder of USM Holdings (net worth: $12.5 billion). Graduated MGIMO in 1976 with a degree in international law, and in 1997 from the Financial Academy under the Government of the Russian Federation with a degree in banking.

When I left to study in 1971 (Usmanov is originally from Uzbekistan. - Note by Life.), my grandfather did not understand why Moscow was needed when there was Tashkent, and I explained to him that I was going to study to become an ambassador - who enters MGIMO without this dream? - Usmanov recalled.

4.Vladimir Potanin, co-owner of MMC Norilsk Nickel (net worth: $12.1 billion). In 1983 he graduated from the Faculty of International Relations MGIMO.

In the 1970s, MGIMO was not just a place of nomenklatura. In principle, people were accepted there only through great connections. But I say without any complexes that I was a “thieves” because I worked off my cronyism,” Potanin later said.

The university, of course, is of great importance - the brand, the atmosphere. In this sense, MGIMO stimulated learning. Firstly, he left a lot of free time for independent studies. Secondly, it provided very good opportunities for learning the language - there was an excellent language laboratory there,” the billionaire concluded.

5.Gennady Timchenko, co-owner of Novatek, Sibur, Stroytransgaz group, Transoil (net worth: $11.4 billion). Graduated Leningrad Military Mechanical Institute in 1976. Specialty - electrical engineer.

I graduated from the Military Mechanical Institute in St. Petersburg. I won’t say that the choice was conscious - my dad was just a military man. Because of this, we moved often - at the age of six he took me from Armenia to the GDR, and I finished school in a small town near Odessa. After college, I was assigned to work at the Izhora plant near St. Petersburg. It was at that time that the Soviet Union placed emphasis on the construction of nuclear power plants, and Ryzhkov (Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR Nikolai Ryzhkov. - Note by Life.) I decided that young specialists in specialized production should be paid double salary. I, the shop foreman, was paid 280 rubles a month, a university professor then received 300 rubles. But I worked for almost two years in a terrible regime - four days in the morning, four in the evening and four at night, with a day and a half weekend between them. I had to sleep on the bus, holding on to the handrail: I had to travel from St. Petersburg with three transfers, Timchenko said in an interview.

6.Alexey Mordashov, co-owner of Severstal, Nord Gold, owner of Power Machines (net worth: $10.9 billion). Graduated in 1988 Leningrad Engineering and Economic Institute them. Tolyatti majoring in economics and engineering.

At the institute, Mordashov was an excellent student, a Lenin scholarship recipient and a Komsomol leader, according to his biography, which he personally edited. He started earning money while studying at university:

– I received my first income as a student, working at the department of student science. I was the chairman of the scientific student society of the institute and was engaged in student science, and we were paid a little extra money for all sorts of things. scientific works which we did with our teachers. So I received my first money then,” he said.

7.Victor Vekselberg, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Renova, co-owner of UC Rusal, Oerlikon and Sulzer. Graduated in 1979 MIIT by specialty automated systems management.

Of course, I wanted to go to Moscow State University. Living in Drohobych (in Ukraine. - Note from Life.), I even studied at the correspondence school of the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics - they sent you problems, you solved them and sent them back. Exams for Mechanics and Mathematics, Physics and Technology and MEPhI were held earlier than all other universities, so you could try to get into them, and if it didn’t work out, go to a simpler university. But my teachers and senior comrades dissuaded me from this “exercise” and said: “If you don’t want to ruin your psyche and get very upset, go straight to MIIT,” he recalled in an interview.

8.Vladimir Lisin, co-owner of NLMK, owner of UCL Holding (net worth - $9.3 billion). Graduated in 1978 Siberian Metallurgical Institute majoring in metallurgical engineering. In 1990 he graduated from the Higher Commercial School at the Academy of Foreign Trade. In 1992 he graduated from the Academy of National Economy with a degree in economics and management.

It so happened that in our city the construction profession was fashionable, everyone was eager to enroll in the construction department. I went there too. As I remember now, the passing score was 21, and I scored 19.5 or something like that, up to 20. I didn’t pass. After this, the rector gathered everyone who did not get the points and offered them a choice of taking exams for three faculties: metallurgical, foundry and mining. My dad was a miner, he took me to the mine, and by the time I entered I already understood that I was not interested in this. From the metallurgical and foundry areas, I chose foundry: it seemed more interesting, a broader approach - not only to the metallurgical industry, but also to the mechanical engineering industry. And, in general, I was not mistaken,” said Lisin.

9.Vagit Alekperov, co-owner of Lukoil (net worth: $8.9 billion). Graduated in 1974 Azerbaijan Institute of Oil and Chemistry specialty: mining engineer in technology and integrated mechanization of oil and gas field development.

I've always been an oil man. All these years I have had no other specialty. And my son followed in my footsteps, he also graduated from the Moscow Gubkin Institute. He is currently working in fields in Western Siberia. I want him to go this route. And I am not preparing it as a replacement for myself. He may have a different fate. I devoted myself to one type of business, and he can devote himself to another. But he must go the distance, he must see how people work in the fields, Alekperov is convinced. - He was a worker, now he is a technologist. He will walk this path, and then let him choose his fate himself.

10.German Khan, co-owner of Alfa Group, A1, Rosvodokanal, LetterOne Holdings, Turkcell (net worth: $8.7 billion). In 1982 he graduated from the Industrial Pedagogical College, and in 1988 - MISiS.

It was easy and interesting for me to study at the technical school, and I graduated with honors, and then decided to enter MISiS. After technical school there were no problems with admission, and I successfully started studying. In Moscow, at first I lived with my aunt, and then my parents rented a room for me from an elderly woman, in the Novoslobodskaya metro area. The first year after studying at the technical school seemed very difficult to me. I had to study a lot, go to electives in order to catch up with my peers who entered MISiS immediately after finishing tenth grade. But I passed the first session with almost all A's, with only one B'. This was my first triumph, especially in the eyes of my father! They wrote about me in the institute newspaper, which I proudly brought with me when I arrived on vacation. It was then that I was already welcomed home as a folk hero.

I really liked student life; from the first year I was a prefect and was involved in social work. It was at the institute that I wanted to become the best and strived for this in every possible way. But at school, on the contrary, it was cooler to be the worst, which is probably why I behaved this way. In general, I always try to evaluate myself soberly, -

1. Mary Kay Ash attended college for a while, but left after she got married. She pursued a career in direct sales and retired in 1963. In the same 1963, she, realizing her dream of her own company for women, opened the doors of a small Mary Kay Cosmetics office in Dallas. Mary Kay Ash spent $5 thousand to launch this business.
Now Mary Kay Inc. Ranked one of the 100 Best Companies to Work for in America and Fortune's 10 Best Companies for Women.

2. Michael Dell, founder and CEO of Dell Inc., dropped out of college at age 19. He created his computer company in his own room in a college dorm, and he used the income from the company's activities to expand it. In 2008, Forbes ranked Dell 11th on its list of the 400 richest Americans. His capital is $12.3 billion.

3. Henry Ford never went to college or even completed high school. But this did not stop him from founding the Ford Motor Company, one of the largest automakers in the world. Ford pioneered the use of an industrial assembly line for mass production of automobiles. This allowed Ford to sell cars at a lower price, but the company's profits continued to rise because sales continued to increase. Time magazine named Henry Ford one of the most influential people of the 20th century.

3. Bill Gates, a college dropout, was named the richest man in the world 27 times by Forbes magazine. He left Harvard in 1973 to start his own firm with classmate Paul Allen. The firm became known as Microsoft. In 2007, Bill Gates finally received an honorary doctorate from Harvard University.

4. Mark Zuckerberg, founder of the social network Facebook, was born in 1984 and is the youngest person to appear on the Forbes list of billionaires. His net worth was estimated at approximately $1.5 billion in 2008. Zuckerberg attended Harvard but did not graduate. And in 2004, together with classmates and dorm neighbors Dustin Moskowitz, Eduardo Saverin and Chris Hughes, he created Facebook, which became the most popular social network in the world.

5. John Rockefeller didn't graduate high school, but became the first American billionaire and is said to be the richest man in history. In 1870, he founded Standard Oil, the first multinational corporation. In 1911, the Supreme Court ordered the company to be broken up on the grounds that it had violated antitrust laws. So Standard Oil broke up into thirty-four companies (virtually all of today's major American oil companies are descended from Standard Oil).

6. Coco Chanel, leading French fashion designer, one of the most important figures in fashion history, founder of the world famous Chanel brand. An orphan, Gabrielle Coco Chanel studied to become a seamstress. Determined to make her way in life, she cast aside the idea that world fashion should be ruled by femininity and boldly began to use fabrics and cuts that were usually considered masculine.

7. Michael Dell. With $1,000 in his pocket, faith in God and a lot of desire, Michael Dell dropped out of college at age 19 to start his company PC's Limited, later named Dell, Inc. Dell has become the most successful PC manufacturer in the world. In 1996, the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation awarded $50 million to the University of Texas at Austin to develop children's health care and education in the city.

8. Having dropped out of school at the age of 16, Walt Disney achieved unprecedented success and made a brilliant career. The most influential animator, Disney has a record number of the most prestigious awards and nominations. Disney's imagination finds outlet in cartoons and theme parks. The Walt Disney Company's annual revenue today is $30 billion.

9. James Cameron, born in Canada and moved with his family to California, entered the university there. However, he soon married a waitress, simultaneously quitting his studies. After watching George Lucas's Star wars“He decided to become a director, and became famous throughout the world by directing one of the highest-grossing films in the history of cinema, “Titanic.”

10. Tom Hanks, known to everyone from the movie “Forrest Gump,” left his studies to join a group of actors who performed in Cleveland.

11. The world-famous Lady Gaga, aka Stefani Joan Angelina Germanotta, dropped out of the Sacred Heart Convent School in Manhattan after a year of study. As a result, she became one of the most famous singers.

12. Buckminster Fuller, an architect, inventor and philosopher whose creative ideas brought him untold wealth, was twice expelled from Harvard.

The natural mind can replace any education, but no education can replace the natural mind. - A. Schopenhauer.
via: Alex Yanovsky

Sometimes you look at famous millionaires who became famous thanks to their knowledge and talents, and you can’t help but think about how much they had to study to reach such heights. But that was not the case! It turns out that many people who created financial empires did not even graduate from university, but even from high school! In no case do we encourage you to quit your studies - knowledge has never harmed anyone. But it’s still very interesting to see who these lucky ones are.

Coco Chanel

Coco Chanel− one of the most important figures in the history of fashion, founder of the world famous brand Chanel. Being an orphan, young Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel studied to be a seamstress. Determined to find her place in life, she cast aside the idea that world fashion should be ruled by femininity, and boldly began to use fabrics and cuts that were usually considered masculine. It all started small - with hats, and then Coco made a real revolution in the history of fashion, but no one even mentioned its formation. So much for your great desire to conquer the world!

Walt Disney

If it weren’t for him, we would never have seen so many wonderful cartoons and would not have known our favorite childhood heroes by sight. Having left school at 16, Walt Disney achieved simply unprecedented success and made a brilliant career. At the age of 14, he worked as a newspaper delivery boy. During World War I Disney spent a year driving an ambulance International Red Cross in France. And in 1920, he got a job as an artist in a film advertising studio, where he began to create his first advertising films - at the same time he had a desire to continue his experiments in the world of animation, although he never studied this professionally. Most Influential Animator Walt Disney has a record number of prestigious awards and nominations. Today's annual income Walt Disney Company is $30 billion.

Henry Ford

Henry Ford never went to college or even graduated from high school. But this did not stop him from founding Ford Motor Company− one of the largest automakers in the world. Although he did not succeed on the first try. However Ford did not stop, and his persistence was eventually rewarded. Ford for the first time began to use an industrial conveyor for the continuous production of cars. This allowed him to sell cars at a lower price, and the company's profits continued to grow because sales volumes continually increased. Magazine Time named Henry Ford one of the most influential people XX century.

Mary Kay Ash

Mary Kay- an excellent example of how you can find yourself even in old age. Mary Kay Ash studied at college for some time, but left after marriage. She pursued a career in direct sales and retired in 1963. That same year, realizing her dream of owning her own company for women, she opened the doors of a small office "Mary Kay Cosmetics" V Dallas. To start this business Mary Kay Ash I spent $5 thousand that I had been saving for a long time. Now Mary Kay Inc. one of the top 100 best companies to work for America and in the top ten best companies for women, according to Fortune. And are you still worried that you haven't found your calling?

Mark Zuckerberg

Mark Zuckerberg, founder of the social network Facebook, born in 1984 and is the youngest person to make the list of billionaires Forbes. His capital in 2008 was estimated at approximately $1.5 billion. Zuckerberg entered Harvard, but did not finish it. And in 2004, together with classmates and dorm neighbors Dustin Moskowitz, Eduardo Saverin and Chris Hughes he created Facebook, which has become the most popular social network in the world!

John Rockefeller

John Rockefeller did not graduate from high school, but became America's first billionaire and is said to be the richest man in history. From the age of 16 he had to work, as he was the eldest son in the family. He started with a small transportation company, and even then showed an incredible knowledge of mathematics - he was born to calculate everything in advance. What industries have you worked in? John. Having accumulated money and experience, in 1870 he founded Standard Oil− the first transnational corporation. In 1911 Supreme Court ordered the company to be broken up on the grounds that it had violated antitrust laws. So Standard Oil broke up into thirty-four companies (virtually all of today's major American oil companies descended from Standard Oil).

Bill Gates

George Lucas' Star Wars, he decided to become a director. In 1978, together with two school friends, William Wisher and Jason Fessenden, he's making a short science fiction film "Xenogenesis" and, having attracted the interest of the master of low-budget films Roger Corman, starts working in his film studio New World Pictures. His first full-length film was "Piranha 2: Spawning"- sequel to the famous horror film. But real fame Cameron brings "Terminator". He later made one of the highest-grossing films in the history of cinema - "Titanic" and then "Avatar", the box office for which amounted to $2.8 billion, which is an absolute record in the entire cinematic history Cameron.

What are the richest and most successful businessmen without higher education? Why did they end up going to college or dropping out? What is the importance of a diploma in achieving business success?

Higher education. How necessary is it to become a successful and wealthy entrepreneur? Discussions regarding this issue periodically flare up on Internet forums and in the minds of novice businessmen.

On the one hand, knowledge economic theory, finance, management fundamentals and strategic management, marketing, international economics, theory of transnational corporations, etc. could clearly be useful for creating a future billion-dollar company.

But on the other hand, you can always hire highly specialized experts who will work for the benefit of the company. What is higher education after all - wasted 5 years or a reasonable investment in your knowledge and competence? In our opinion, there is no clear answer to this question. Everyone decides for himself whether to get a diploma or immediately go into business. However, higher education is not a necessary condition for success in business. This is evidenced by the experience of the 25 most successful entrepreneurs listed below.

Henry Ford ran away from home at the age of 16 and founded his own company, the Ford Motor Company, in 1903. Great success came to him in 1908 with the release of the legendary Model T. In 1913, Henry Ford began introducing such an innovation as the assembly line, which literally changed the world of industry. If Ford were still alive, he would be “worth” $199 billion. Ford did not have a higher education, but he had a passion for inventing and creating cars.

Bill Gates enrolled at Harvard in the fall of 1973, only to drop out after two years. Instead of higher education, Bill chose to found Microsoft with his childhood friend Paul Allen. Gates demonstrated excellent entrepreneurial flair and was one of the first to recognize the possibility of widespread distribution of computers, and as a result, the opening of a free market niche for operating systems for home PCs. Subsequently, giving advice for achieving success, he repeatedly emphasized the need to start as early as possible. This is understandable - it takes years of hard work to found and put a company on its feet.

The third richest man in the United States (after Bill Gates and Warren Buffett) has a college education of two years at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a semester at the University of Chicago. The development of database management systems brought Larry Ellison a fortune of more than $40 billion.

The richest man in Spain, Amancio Ortega, became the richest man in the world in 2015. Forbes experts estimated his assets at $79.7 billion. The founder of the Zara chain of stores not only did not graduate from university, he does not even have a secondary education. Due to the poverty of his family, Amancio worked as a messenger in a store from the age of 13. However, this did not become an obstacle for the enterprising Spaniard and future fashion industry tycoon.

The co-founder of the most popular social network in the world entered Harvard in 2002 to study psychology, where he studied until 2004. Obsessed with the idea of ​​​​creating a network for communication and sharing photos, he abandoned his studies and plunged headlong into writing program code. His calculation turned out to be correct. At the moment, Mark Zuckerberg's capital exceeds $30 billion.

Asia's largest entrepreneur, with a fortune of more than $30 billion, was forced to go to work in a factory at age 15 after his father died of tuberculosis. The lack of education was more than compensated for by the tenacity with which Lee climbed to the top of wealth. Having accumulated a small start-up capital, he quit the factory and began selling flowers, gradually gaining momentum and expanding his business. It is curious that in business circles Li Ka-shing is called superman.

The owner of a number of casinos and other real estate (including in Las Vegas), Sheldon Adelson grew up in a poor family Jewish origin. He earned his first money at the age of 12 as a street newspaper seller. According to 2014 data, his fortune is estimated at approximately $38 billion.

The Google co-founder, whose fortune is estimated at almost $30 billion, graduated from the University of Michigan. And he ended up on this list because he quit his doctorate and focused on working at Google.

I literally became infected with entrepreneurship as a student at the University of Texas at Austin. In fact, the beginning of Dell Inc. was placed in the dorm room where Michael began selling computer components. At the age of 19, he gave up higher education and plunged headlong into business. The rest was history.

Microsoft co-founder, sports fanatic, and owner of his own, Paul Allen, dropped out of college in 1974 and took a job at Honywell. Already in next year he and Bill Gates founded Micro-Soft (the hyphen in the name was later removed). In 2015, Forbes ranked Allen as the 51st richest person in the world with a net worth of $17.5 billion.

Azim Hashim Premji is often called the Indian Bill Gates because... he heads Wipro Limited, India's largest manufacturing company software. Azim studied electrical engineering at Stanford University, but dropped out at the age of 21 and took over the family business due to the death of his father.

One of the founders of Las Vegas, who came from a family of Armenian immigrants, Kirk Kerkorian left school after 8th grade to work as an auto mechanic and practice boxing.

The co-founder of Apple, NeXT and Pixar dropped out of college after the first semester, which came as a real shock to his adoptive parents, because higher education in the United States is not cheap. Jobs later collected and returned bottles and cans to earn money and make ends meet.

After two years at Harvard, he moved with Mark Zuckerberg to Palo Alto to focus on working on Facebook. Forbes named Moskowitz the world's youngest billionaire in 2010.

Leslie Wexner is known for the fact that over many years of his entrepreneurial activity created and promoted a number of brands in the field of clothing and fashion - Abercrombie & Fitch, Lane Bryant, Limited Too, Exprexx. He is also the owner trademark Victoria Secret.

American entrepreneur Ukrainian origin(born in Kyiv, then lived in Fastov) Jan Koum earned 6.8 billion dollars from the sale of the mobile messenger WhatsApp to Facebook for 19 billion. He does not have a higher education (he entered San Jose State University, but then dropped out and left to work at Yahoo).

Knight of the Legion of Honor and one of richest people in the world he studied for some time at the Talmudic Academy in New York, but after two years of study he left it and joined the army. Ralph Lauren is the founder famous brand Polo.

Hyper-aggressive and assertive, David Geffen was never particularly keen on university lectures. He never graduated from any of the higher educational institutions which he attended: Santa Monica College, Brooklyn College and the University of Texas at Austin. But a career in the music industry (as a producer) allowed Geffen to enter the list of the 400 richest people in America.

One of the most influential animators of all time did not have a higher specialized education, but this did not stop him from making a career in animation and founding a company whose annual revenue averages $30 billion.

Founder of a chain of stores retail Hobby Lobby David Greene is known for his religiosity and philanthropic activities. He didn't go to college. Opened his first store with a $600 loan.

As a child, Branson had dyslexia, so he had difficulty studying at school. It is not surprising that after graduation, he did not even think about going to university, but started his own business. Over the decades, about 400 companies emerged under the common Virgin brand.

One of the most influential female entrepreneurs in the United States dropped out of university at 19 to found a biotech company that would become Theranos. At the age of 30, she entered the list of the 400 youngest female billionaires.

Mark has been interested in programming since childhood, and quite successfully. Even while he was in high school, computer giants such as AOL and Microsoft offered the young talent a place in their companies, and for quite a long time. good conditions. But Zuckerberg chose to continue his studies and entered the psychology department at Harvard, which he dropped out 2 years later, after he came up with social network Facebook. It is worth noting that this did not affect his successful career: Already in 2010, Times magazine named Mark “Person of the Year.”

STEVE JOBS

Another genius of the computer industry who never received a higher education diploma is Steve Jobs. The future founder of Apple entered Portland's Reed College, one of the most expensive private educational institutions in America in 1972, but instead of attending classes, he devoted most of his time to Eastern spiritual practices and dreams of his own computer company, which he brought to life 4 years later.

ROMAN ABRAMOVICH

One of the most successful Russian entrepreneurs, Roman Abramovich, was for some time a student at the forestry engineering department of the Ukhta Industrial Institute, but the desire to earn money overpowered the thirst for knowledge, so after a couple of years the future governor of Chukotka left the university and devoted himself entirely to business. As we now know, not in vain!

BILL GATES

The founder of Microsoft was considered the richest man on the planet for many years. Moreover, in 1975, the future owner of a multibillion-dollar fortune was disgracedly expelled from Harvard Law School for poor academic performance. Well, in Bill’s case, this played into his hands: he was finally able to fully devote himself to his favorite programming.

HENRY FORD

Henry Ford founded his first company when he was 36 years old. And if you think that until this time he diligently learned the basics of entrepreneurship, then you are deeply mistaken. Henry graduated from a rural school and from the age of 16 worked as a mechanic at an ordinary factory, without even thinking about a diploma from a higher educational institution.

INGVAR KAMPRAD

The name Ingvar Kamprad may not mean anything to you, but his company IKEA definitely needs no introduction. In fact, the future billionaire began his entrepreneurial career while still in school, when he began selling pencils, notebooks and other stationery to his classmates. Having matured, Ingvar switched to selling cheap furniture and then launched his own production. Well, everyone already knows the ending of this story.