Billionaires Who Dropped Out Of College

Sunday, Aug 30, 2020, 4:36 pm

By:Tony Williams

1.Bill Gates

For millions of his fans and followers, Bill Gets is the single biggest proof that a person can make what appears to be a bad move -- drop out of college -- and still land on his feet. Today the co-founder of Microsoft could afford to buy a whole new pair of feet. His estimated worth is 56 billion dollars.

2.Mark Zuckerberg

After dropping out of the well-known and well-respected Harvard, Mark Zuckerberg didn't just become a billionaire. He became the youngest billionaire in history. And his wealth continues to grow as his most successful venture, Facebook, only gets more and more popular. His wealth is currently estimated at 13.5 billion.

3.Steve Jobs

The late founder of Apple and Pixar was an inspiration to millions, even some who are still trying to figure out how to turn on their computers. Not only did he create innovations that changed the world -- despite having dropped out of college. But he made turtlenecks fashionable again.

4.David Geffen

This legendary record company mogul has done pretty well for himself for a man who couldn't make the grade at the University of Texas, Austin. He has a net worth of 5.1 billion. On top of that, Joni Mitchell's pop song Free Man in Paris is rumored to be about him.

5.Jack C. Taylor

The founder of Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Jack. C Taylor, doesn't seem to enjoy having his picture taken much. But who can blame him? Most highly successful people have bigger things to do than having their pictures taking all day long. As a young man, Taylor probably had bigger things to do than study all day long. So he dropped out of Washington University.

6.Dustin Moskovitz

This young co-founder of Facebook looks like a brilliant fellow who you'd suspect of having attended and graduated from an ivy league university. If you thought that you'd be only half right. Moskovitz attended Harvard University and dropped out because he had more important things to do -- like play a significant role in changing the world.

7.Gabe Newell

Gabe Newell is the managing director of video game development and online distribution company Valve Corporation. And that's just a very fancy way of saying he's the world's richest geek. Years ago he dropped out of the world's most prestigious university, Harvard. With an estimated wealth of 1.2 billion his decision does not seem to have harmed him.

8.Francois Pinault

Raised in poverty in France, Pinault knows a thing or two about growing up poor. As the owner of converse shoes he also knows a thing or two about how to get out of poverty. For him the first step was dropping out of Saint-Martin school of Rennes.

9.Shahid Balwa

The man on the right in the picture may not be a familiar face to most Americans but Shahid Balwa is one of the youngest billionaires in the world. His smartest move in life appears to be when he dropped out of college and ran his family hotel.

10.Paul Allen

In addition to being very wealthy (his net worth is estimated at 15 billion) Paul Allen is a very busy man. He is the owner of both the NFL's Seattle Seahawks and the NBA's Portland Trailblazers. Maybe his being busy as a young man was the reason he dropped out of Washington State University.

11.Michael Dell

This happy man has plenty to smile about. He is the CEO of Dell computers (which is named after him) and he has an estimated net worth of 1.9 billion dollars. But his decision to drop out of the University of Texas, Austin years earlier probably didn't get smiles out of his parents.

12.Larry Ellison

Ellison is the co-founder and CEO of a company called Oracle. If you're like me you've heard of Oracle but have no idea what it actually is or does. Ellison probably has a pretty good idea. But he didn't exactly know what he was doing at the University of Champagne-Urbana. So he dropped out.

13.Ronald Wayne Burkle

Having a name like Ronald Wayne Burkle must not have been easy to take as a young school kid. Perhaps that played a role in his reason to drop out of California State Polytechnic. Whatever his reasons, Burkle probably doesn't regret the decision. The supermarket magnate has an estimated worth of 3.2 billion dollars.

14.Micky Arison

The NBA basketball team known as the Miami Heat has had their share of success lately, but like their owner Micky Arison, they haven't always been on top. He spent some time at the University of Miami before deciding that he'd rather be a billionaire than a broke college student.

15.Ralph Lauren

Born on the rough streets of the Bronx, New York (his real name was Ralph Lifsh!tz) this man decided that college wasn't for him after two years of Baruch college. He then joined the army. But his most important move was to get into the fashion industry which made him a billionaire.

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