Top 10 Billionaires Who Left College To Become Rich 2023/2024

Top 10 Billionaires Who Left College To Become Rich 2023/2024

The realm of billionaires is frequently linked to esteemed academic programs and exclusive establishments. A rising number of people, meanwhile, have accomplished outstanding achievements without finishing their college education. These self-made millionaires have shown that great riches can be attained with hard effort, an entrepreneurial drive, and a clear vision. Well, one does not necessarily need to get a degree or graduate from school to become successful.

Most people with college degrees are still unemployed, and moving forward from this frustration is difficult since they still hope to get employment. On the other hand, most successful people are the ones who either did not go to school at all or never advanced their education.

These individuals are forced to become creative and look for means of making ends meet. They have greater self-drive as compared to college graduates. Let's examine the tales of ten such people who have succeeded financially despite overcoming expectations.

Top 10 Billionaires Who Left College To Become Rich 2023.

  • Bill Gates
  • Zuckerberg Mark
  • Richard Branson
  • David Geffen
  • Bloomberg, Michael
  • Andrew Carnegie
  • Amancio Ortega
  • Michael Dell
  • Larry Ellison
  • Steve Jobs

1. Bill Gates

Top 10 Billionaires Who Left College To Become Rich 2023

One of the most prosperous businessmen in history, Bill Gates is most recognized for being a co-founder of Microsoft. In 1975, he left Harvard University to focus on his business endeavors. At present, he stands among the wealthiest individuals globally, possessing a net worth above $100 billion.

$115.3 billion is the estimated net worth. The most well-known billionaire who left college early is perhaps Bill Gates, a co-founder of Microsoft. In order to follow his passion for computer programming, Gates left Harvard University during his junior year. Given that Microsoft went on to completely transform the personal computer industry, his choice turned out to be a crucial turning point in history.

2. Zuckerberg Mark

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Facebook, one of the most widely used social media sites worldwide, was founded by Mark Zuckerberg. In order to concentrate on his business, he left Harvard University in 2004. His net worth of more than $50 billion makes him one of the youngest billionaires in the world today.

$67.3 billion is the estimated net worth. Another well-known example of a billionaire who dropped out of college early is Mark Zuckerberg, the creator of Facebook. In order to concentrate on creating his social media network, Zuckerberg left Harvard University in his second year. Since then, Facebook has grown to be among the most valuable and powerful businesses in the world.

3. Richard Branson

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Branson is a British businessman, philanthropist, author, and investor. Richard Branson’s quotes have inspired many across the globe to be successful. He expressed his desire to become an entrepreneur at a younger age.

Branson is the founder of Virgin Group, which was established in 1970. The company currently controls more than 400 other companies in various fields. He ventured into a magazine business which was known as Student at the age of sixteen.

Branson loves to work in music, retail, and transport, a path that led to him becoming a prominent global figure. In 2008, Branson ventured into healthcare, hotels, and charitable guidance. Branson got support from the United Kingdom health minister, Ben Bradshaw when Virgin Healthcare publicized that it would open a chain of healthcare clinics.

Branson’s success did not happen in a day. He failed various business ventures, one being Virgin Cola. He viewed failure from a different perspective and believed that failure was a motivational and inspirational tool to bounce back.

4. Geffen David

How many billionaires have dropped out of college

Co-founder of Asylum Records, Geffen Records, and DreamWorks SKG is American Hollywood magnate David Geffen. His goal was to work in the music industry, so he left the University of Texas at Austin. He currently has a net worth of over $7 billion, making him one of the richest persons on the planet. 7.6 billion is the estimated net worth.

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American entertainment magnate David Geffen dropped out of college many times. He founded Asylum Records, Geffen Records, and DreamWorks SKG. After beginning his professional life as an agent in the music business, Geffen went on to have great success as a record and film producer.

5. Bloomberg, Michael

Bloomberg, Michael

Bloomberg L.P. founder and self-made billionaire Michael Bloomberg departed Harvard Business School after just one year with $78.1 billion is the estimated net worth.

Prior to founding Bloomberg L.P., which offers financial news and data to companies and individuals worldwide, Bloomberg began his career as a Wall Street stock trader.

6. Henry Ford

Are there more millionaires that are college dropouts

Ford was an American entrepreneur and business tycoon who was born on 30th July 1863 and died on April 7th, 1949, at the age of 83. Ford was the president of the Ford Motor Company. He developed an automobile that many middle-class Americans could afford.

As the owner of the Ford Company, he became one of the richest and well-known people worldwide. Ford completed his self-propelled vehicle in 1896, which he named Ford Quadricycle. He took the vehicle on several test drives and thought of ways to improve his quadricycle.

Despite not going to school at a tender age, Ford did not lose enthusiasm for doing what he believed in and following his dreams. His legacy has been carried on by his successors as today we still see Ford vehicles on the roads.

7. Andrew Carnegie

Andrew Carnegie

Carnegie was a Scottish-American industrialist, philanthropist, and business tycoon who led the expansion of the steel industry in America. This made him famous because he was one of the richest Americans in history and a leading philanthropist in the United States and the British Empire.

Eighteen years before he died, he donated almost ninety percent of his wealth to charities and universities. He used his wealth to improve society. He moved with his parents to the United States in 1848 at the age of 12 when he started working as a telegraph messenger boy.

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Later in 1860, he made investments in railroads, bridges, and oil. Carnegie built the Pittsburgh Carnegie steel company which he later sold to J. P. Morgan, and became the richest American, surpassing John D Rockefeller.

8. Amancio Ortega

Amancio Ortega

Ortega left school at the age of fourteen, due to the work of his father. He was the youngest of four children. Shortly after leaving school, Ortega found a job as a shop hand for a local shirt maker, where he learned to make clothes by hand.

Ortega is a Spanish billionaire businessman who is best known for his chain of Zara clothing and accessories shop. As of September 2018, Ortega’s net worth was seventy billion dollars, making him the second wealthiest person in Europe after Bernard Arnault.

His quality clothes and brand made him well known in Spain, and he is the wealthiest retailer in the world.

9. Michael Dell

Michael Dell

Michael Dell was born in Houston in 1965 to a Jewish surname upon migration to the United States. Dell attended Herod Elementary School in Houston. At the age of eight, Dell wanted to venture into a business early.

He applied to take on high school equivalency exam to make his dream come true. Dell also took on part-time jobs, which paid him well. In his early teens, he invested his earnings from part-time jobs in stock and precious metals.

Dell loved playing with computers at Radio Shack and the age of fifteen, he got his first computer, an Apple II. His curiosity to know how the computer works made him disassemble the computer and study its functioning carefully.

He dropped out of the UnTechnologiesTexas at nineteen. Currently, he is the founder, chairman, and Chief Executive Officer of Dell technologies.

9. Larry Ellison

Larry Ellison

Ellison was born to a Jewish mother and an Italian-American father in New York. At nine months, his mother gave him up for adoption to his uncle after she contracted pneumonia. They never met again until Ellison was 48 years.

Ellison studied at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign and dropped out of school during his third year when his adoptive mother passed on.

Ellison is known to be the co-founder and the former CEO of the Oracle Foundation. The obstacles he faced in life did not hinder him from becoming successful.

As of March 2019, Ellison was listed in Forbes as the fourth wealthiest person in the United States. Worldwide, he is the seventh wealthiest, with a fortune worth sixty-six million dollars. Success is what you make out of yourself.

10. Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs began his first years in a nearby Homestead High school along with his friend Fernandez. Slowly, Jobs lost interest in class and sports. Later, Jobs enrolled at Reed College in Portland and planned on dropping out because he did not want to spend his parent’s money on it.

As difficult as Jobs was in studying and paying attention in class, he did not just drop out and waste his time. He made something out of himself, and his journey towards success began during the pre-apple era when Wozniak, after finishing his game “Pong” gave it to Jobs and Jobs took it to Atari Incorporation.

Atari thought it was Job’s work and employed him as a technician. Steve is known to be the founder of Apple products worldwide.

These ten people are only a handful of the numerous billionaires who have succeeded without a college degree. Their experiences show that, regardless of educational background, entrepreneurship, inventiveness, and perseverance can result in exceptional successes.