Connect with us

Money

Billionaire Late Bloomers, by Age of Their Breakthrough

Published

on

Billionaire Late Bloomers, by Age of Breakthrough

More often than not, individuals and media alike focus on the success stories of early bloomers.

These early-age accomplishments of some of the richest people in the world are highlighted as marvels. The early achievements of hoodie-wearing CEOs like Mark Zuckerberg or Evan Spiegel—who became billionaires at ages 23 and 25, respectively—come to mind.

But there’s also the case to be made for the late bloomer. According to the Census Bureau, a 35-year-old is three times more likely to found a successful start-up than someone aged 22.

The infographic above, from Virtual College, highlights 45 billionaires who had their breakthrough later in life, by the age of their respective breakthrough.

Billionaires With Career Breakthroughs at or After Age 35

Though these late successes span many different industries and countries, there are many consistent through lines.

The 45 billionaires highlighted had an average age of 41 and an average net worth of $10 billion.

BillionaireCompanyAge of BreakthroughNet Worth ($B)Nationality
Eduardo EurnekianCorporacion America56$1.3🇦🇷 Argentina
Issad RebrabCevital54$4.8🇩🇿 Algeria
Torstein HagenViking Cruises54$1.5🇳🇴 Norway
Ion TiriacBanca Tiriac51$1.7🇷🇴 Romania
Mike AdenugaGlobacom50$6.1🇳🇬 Nigeria
Hussain SajwaniDamac Properties49$2.4🇦🇪 UAE
Radhakishan DamaniDmart48$16.5🇮🇳 India
Robert KuokShangra-La Hotels and Resorts48$12.6🇲🇾 Malaysia
Ricardo PoCentury Pacific47$1.1🇵🇭 Philippines
Alain TarvellaAltarea Cogedim Group46$2.0🇫🇷 France
Seo Jung-JinCelltrion44$14.2🇰🇷 South Korea
James DysonDyson Ltd44$9.7🇬🇧 UK
Walter FariaGrupo Petropolis43$2.9🇧🇷 Brazil
Horst PaulmannCencosud43$3.3🇨🇱 Chile
Wolfgang MarguerreOctapharma Group42$9.1🇩🇪 Germany
Hansjorg WyssSynthes42$6.0🇨🇭Switzerland
Giorgio ArmaniGiorgio Armani S.p.A.41$7.7🇮🇹 Italy
Dietrich MateschitzRed Bull40$29.6🇦🇹 Austria
Sergei KatsievMegapolis40$1.7🇷🇺 Russia
Li XitingShenzhen Mindray Bio-Medical Electronics40$21.5🇸🇬 Singapore
Jim SimmonsRenaissance Technologies40$24.6🇺🇸 U.S.
Richard WhiteWiseTech Global39$3.5🇦🇺 Australia
Amancio OrtegaZara39$77🇪🇸 Spain
Barry LamQuanta Computer39$5.3🇹🇼 Taiwan
Arnon MilchanNew Regency Enterprises38$3.4🇮🇱 Israel
Taha MikatiInvestcom38$2.5🇱🇧 Lebanon
Arnout SchuijffAdyen38$3.5🇳🇱 Netherlands
Chuchat & Daonapa PetampaiMuangthai Capital38$3.5🇹🇭 Thailand
Jaime Gilinski BacalBanco De Colombia37$3.8🇨🇴 Colombia
Mohamed Al FayedGenevaco (Ritz Paris, Harrods)37$1.8🇪🇬 Egypt
Vardis VardinyannisMotor Oil Hellas37$1.4🇬🇷 Greece
German Larrea Mota-VelascoGrupo Mexico37$25.9🇲🇽 Mexico
Martin LorentzonSpotify37$6.0🇸🇪 Sweden
Tran Ba DuongTraco37$1.6🇻🇳 Vietnam
Strive MasiyiwaEconet Global37$1.5🇿🇼 Zimbabwe
Zygmunt Solorz-ZakPolsat36$3.2🇵🇱 Poland
Mehmet AydinlarAcibadem Healthcare Group36$1.3🇹🇷 Turkey
Joseph TsaiAlibaba Group35$11.6🇨🇦 Canada
Jack MaAlibaba Group35$48.4🇨🇳 China
Eduard KuceraAvast35$1.1🇨🇿 Czech Republic
Bidzina IvanishviliRossiysky Kredit35$4.8🇬🇪 Georgia
TahirThe Mayapada Group35$3.3🇮🇩 Indonesia
John ArmitageEgerton Capital35$2.6🇮🇪 Ireland
Tadashi YanaiUniqlo35$44.1🇯🇵 Japan
Richard HartRaynolds Packaging Group35$8.7🇳🇿 New Zealand

Here are just a few highlights of late career breakthroughs:

Jack Ma

Ma is best known for co-founding Alibaba and becoming one of China’s wealthiest people, but his start came rather unexpectedly. After failing to secure jobs as a fresh graduate and starting his own translation company, Ma went on a business trip to the U.S. and discovered the internet (and a lack of Chinese websites). Over time, he connected Chinese companies with American coders to create websites, and soon saw room in the market for a business-to-business marketplace, which became Alibaba. The company secured millions in investment and would go on to become one of China’s leading forces in tech, all without Ma writing a single line of code.

Amancio Ortega

As the former CEO of fashion chain Zara and its parent company Inditex, Ortega is Europe’s third wealthiest person. That success came after opening the first Zara store in 1975 with his then-wife Rosalía Mera, with their store focusing on cheaper versions of high-end fashion. Ortega fine-tuned the design and manufacturing process to produce new trends more quickly, helping to pioneer the concept of “fast fashion,” and soon becoming a fashion powerhouse.

Jim Simons

Simons was once lauded as the world’s greatest investor, largely due to his outlandish returns of over 60% before fees. But he actually started in the academic field, acquiring a PhD in mathematics—he worked in many faculties, and even as a codebreaker for the NSA. Eventually, Simons utilized his mathematical knowledge on Wall Street, where he had his breakthrough in 1982 by starting his model-based hedge fund—Renaissance Technologies, and built a net worth of $24.6 billion.

Dietrich Mateschitz

One of the 60 richest people in the world, Austrian businessman Mateschitz got his start in marketing for Unilever and then cosmetics company Blendax. His breakthrough came on a business trip to Thailand, where the 40-year-old discovered that the local energy drink Krating Daeng helped his jet lag. Mateschitz and the drink’s creator, Chaleo Yoovidhya, each put up $500,000 to turn the drink into an exported energy brand, and Red Bull was born.

James Dyson

Before Dyson was a household name of vacuums, fans, and dryers, The UK’s James Dyson was an industrial engineer with many ideas for inventions. After getting frustrated with the bags of Hoover vacuum cleaners, Dyson had the idea for a bagless cyclone vacuum, and developed one after more than 5,000 prototypes over five years (and supported by his wife’s salary). At first he couldn’t find a manufacturer or success in the UK, so Dyson instead sold his vacuums in Japan and ended up winning the 1991 International Design Fair Prize there. Thirty years later, Dyson’s success led to a royal knighting and becoming the fourth richest person in the UK.

Late Bloomers: The Rule Not The Exception

It’s helpful to remember that these stories might be incredible and successful on a grand scale, but they are not entirely unique.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the majority of successful businesses have been founded by middle-aged people and the average age of a company’s founder at the time of founding is 41.9 years. Experience definitely pays dividends, and the saying that “life is a marathon, not a sprint” seems especially true for this list of late breakthrough billionaires.

Click for Comments

Money

Who Expects to Get Richer in 2024, by Both Generation and Gender

A survey of 600 high net worth individuals revealed there’s one subset of people who are confident of making it in 2024.

Published

on

A cropped graph showing the percentage of people surveyed in the Knight Frank Next Gen Survey, sorted by generation and gender, and whether they anticipate a wealth increase in 2024.

Who Expects to Get Richer in 2024, by Generation and Gender

This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on Apple or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

The jury is still out on how the global economy is expected to perform in 2024, but as seen during the pandemic, economic turmoil sometimes provides opportunities for the wealthy.

We visualize the percentage of high net worth individual (HNWI) respondents who expect their wealth to increase in 2024, categorized by generation and gender, from the Knight Frank Next Gen Survey, accessible in their latest wealth report.

The survey covered 600 global HNWIs, who are individuals with more than $1 million in assets or make more than $200,000 a year, and then categorized their responses by gender and generation.

Affluent Gen Z Women Eye Financial Gains in 2024

At a glance, there’s a very apparent generational difference in the expectations of getting richer in 2024.

About half (52%) of the surveyed Baby Boomers think their assets will grow, compared to Gen X (56%), Millennials, (69%), and Gen Z (75%).

GroupMaleFemaleOverall
👴 Boomer53%50%52%
👩‍🦳 Gen X56%56%56%
👩‍🦱 Millennial75%64%69%
🧑‍🦰 Gen Z69%81%75%
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 All Generations68%63%65%

Note: Percentage of respondents who said they expect their wealth will increase in 2024.

There’s also a noticeable gender difference. Men tend to be more optimistic than women, with one glaring exception.

A staggering 81% of the surveyed high net worth Gen Z women expect to make hay this year, making them the most optimistic of all the groups.

This corroborates a trend where Gen Z women were also the most optimistic in retirement planning. As CNBC reports, a combination of newer avenues of financial resources, and an openness towards advice, has given them a more optimistic attitude than their older counterparts.

Meanwhile, American Millennials are expected to become the richest generation ever as a $90 trillion asset transfer between Boomer parents and Millennial children begins to take place over the next two decades.

A huge percentage of that wealth comes in the form of property assets accumulated by generations before them. This especially includes houses, whose prices have skyrocketed over the last two decades.

Continue Reading
Voronoi, the app by Visual Capitalist. Where data tells the story. Download on App Store or Google Play

Subscribe

Popular