He is considered by most sources to be the richest person in modern history. His peak net worth was estimated to be $336 billion in modern US dollars. He co-founded Standard Oil in 1870 and ran it until his retirement in 1897. At his peak, he controlled 90% of oil and oil production in the United States.
In 1911, the US Supreme Court ruled that Standard Oil must be broken up because it violated anti monopoly laws. It was broken up into 34 separate entities, two of which became Exxon Mobil and Chevron, which are still some of the most profitable companies.
After he retired, he devoted his time to philanthropic endeavors donating hundreds of millions of his fortune to various causes. He died in 1937 just a few days shy of his 98th birthday.
2. Kenneth Lay
Answer: Enron
Enron was founded in 1985 as a result of the merger of two regional natural gas companies and Kenneth Lay was named as the CEO shortly thereafter. The company soon began to branch out and eventually traded in multiple products including: broadband, petrochemicals, oil and gas transport, pulp and paper products and steel, to name a few.
The company claimed revenues of $111 billion in 2000. By the end of 2001, it was revealed that these claims were based on widespread accounting fraud. During the summer of 2001 its stock traded at over $90 as the scandal progressed the stock dropped to pennies.
In December 2001, Enron filed chapter 11 bankruptcy. In July 2004, Kenneth Lay was indicted on eleven charges related to his role in the scandal. In May 2006 he was found guilty and his sentencing was scheduled for October 2006.
He died of heart disease in July 2006 so his verdict was vacated.
3. Ingvar Kamprad
Answer: IKEA
He founded IKEA in 1943 at the age of 17. It began as a mail order business and in 1958 he opened his first store. By 1963, IKEA had spread out of Sweden and into Norway then to Denmark in 1969. In 1973, the first store outside of Scandinavia opened in Switzerland.
It had spread to Japan by 1974, Australia and Canada in 1975, the United States in 1985 and United Kingdom in 1987. By 2009 IKEA had spread to 25 countries. In 2013, Ingvar Kamprad stepped down and his son took over as chairman of the company. "Forbes Magazine" reported his net worth in February 2016 to be $3.4 billion.
4. Richard Branson
Answer: Virgin Group
He is the founder of the Virgin Group, which is a conglomerate of more than 400 companies. Some of the better known companies include: Virgin Atlantic (airline), Virgin Mobile (telecommunications) and Virgin Books (publishing). His first venture was a magazine called "Student".
He then started a mail order record business in 1970, which led to a chain of record stores in 1972. He expanded the Virgin brand during the 1980's to include an airline. In 2004 he founded Virgin Galactic with the goal of commercial space flight.
In July 2015, "Forbes" estimated his net worth as $5.2 billion.
5. Cornelius Vanderbilt
Answer: New York Central Railroad
Vanderbilt began working on his father's ferry in New York Harbor at age 11. By 16, he had dropped out of school and started his own ferry business. He was so energetic and eager to learn his trade that other captains started calling him Commodore, and the name stuck with him. By 1840, he dominated the steamship business in New York Sound. Railroads connected ports with textile mills all over New England so in the 1840s the Commodore began to take control of the railroads. During the 1850s he served on the board of several railways.
In 1863, he took control of the New York Harlem railway saying that he wanted to take a railroad that others thought was worthless and turn it into something valuable. He soon encountered conflicts with connecting lines that usually led to battles that he won.
He soon controlled most of the railways east of the Mississippi River. At the time of his death in 1877 his fortune was estimated at $100 million.
6. Warren Buffett
Answer: Berkshire Hathaway
Warren Buffett is consistently listed as one of the world's wealthiest people. He is considered by many to be the most successful investor in the world. The Berkshire Hathaway of today began in 1962 when Buffett began buying shares of a textile company. Over the next several decades, he has turned it into a large multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska.
It wholly owns brands such as: Dairy Queen, Fruit of the Loom, GEICO, Helzberg Diamonds and Justin Boots.
It has varying stakes in companies such as: American Express, Coca Cola and Wells Fargo. Buffett has pledged to donate 99% of his fortune to charity.
7. Sam Walton
Answer: Walmart
In 1950 he bought a store in Bentonville, Arkansas and named it Walton's Five and Dime. Early on he decided that he wanted to achieve higher sales volume by offering goods at lower prices than his competition. The first true Walmart store was opened on July 2, 1962 in Rogers, Arkansas under the name Walmart Discount City. By 1967 he had opened 24 stores across Arkansas and in 1968 he opened his first stores outside of Arkansas.
In 1983, the company opened the first Sam's Club. In 1988 the first Walmart Supercenter was opened. Mr Walton retired in 1988 and passed away in 1992.
In 1998 he was named as one of "Time" Magazine's list of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century. According to "Fortune" magazine, Walmart is the largest company by revenue in the world in 2016 and is also the largest private employer.
8. Jeff Bezos
Answer: Amazon
After reading a report that predicted internet commerce would increase 2,300% Jeff Bezos quit his job with a New York hedge fund to open Amazon.com in 1994. He decided that he would become and online bookseller due to the world wide demand for books and the vast number of titles in print. Amazon went online in 1995 operating out of his garage in Bellevue, Washington. According to "Forbes" in August 2016, he has an estimated total worth of $66.7 billion.
9. Larry Ellison
Answer: Oracle
Ellison co-founded what would become Oracle with two partners in 1977. Originally it was named Software Development Laboratories, but in 1979 the name was changed to Relational Software, Inc., then to Oracle System Corporation in 1982 and finally to Oracle Corporation in 1995. Oracle primarily focuses on developing database software and technology and enterprise software products.
In March 2010, Forbes estimated his net worth at $28 billion. He has pledged to donate most of his fortune to charitable causes.
10. Paul Allen
Answer: Microsoft
Paul Allen and Bill Gates founded Microsoft on April 4, 1975 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The headquarters was moved to Bellevue, Washington on January 1, 1979. The DOS operating system brought the company its first real taste of success. When the first IBM personal computer debuted, Microsoft was the only company to have an operating system and application software for the new system.
This is what led to Allen's and Gate's wealth. He resigned from Microsoft in 2000 but is still consulted on matters of company strategy.
He has pledged to donated the majority of his wealth to charitable causes.
This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor bloomsby before going online.
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