Bill Gates US, Microsoft 1987 NET WORTH: $1.25 BLN2012 NET WORTH: $61 BLNGates wrote his first computer program at age 13. Microsoft’s market capitalisation in 1987: $3.12 billion. Today it’s $254 billion.
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Li Ka-shing HONG KONG, Diversified 1987 NET WORTH: $1.6 BLN2012 NET WORTH: $25.5 BLNAsia’s richest person had to flee mainland China in 1940 and drop out of school at age 12 to help support his family. He started as a watch-strap apprentice in a factory and made his first fortune manufacturing plastic flowers.
Anne Cox Chambers US, Media 1987 NET WORTH: $1.8 BLN2012 NET WORTH: $12.5 BLNHer father bought the Dayton (Ohio) Daily News for $26,000 in 1898. The family’s media empire, Cox Enterprises, now has revenues of $15 billion. Liliane Bettencourt FRANCE, L’Oreal 1987 NET WORTH: $1 BLN2012 NET WORTH: $24 BLNHer father, Eugene Schueller, founded L’Oréal in 1907. Schueller was said to have wartime ties to the Nazi regime. Bettencourt inherited a controlling stake in the cosmetics giant when he died in 1957.
Forrest Mars US, Candy 1987 NET WORTH: $1.15 BLN2012 NET WORTH: $13.8 BLN
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Jacqueline Mars US, Candy 1987 NET WORTH: $1.15 BLN2012 NET WORTH: $13.8 BLN
John Mars US, Candy 1987 NET WORTH: $1.15 BLN2012 NET WORTH: $13.8 BLNThree siblings own secretive Mars Co., founded by grandfather Frank C. Mars, who began making candy in his kitchen and selling it in 1911.
Donald Bren US, Real Estate 1987 NET WORTH: $1.25 BLN2012 NET WORTH: $12 BLNThe country’s wealthiest real estate developer. Back in 1987 Forbes called him “tanned, athletic, polished: ‘He is the classic playboy from the old mold.’”
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August von Finck Jr. GERMANY, Investments 1987 NET WORTH: $2.5 BLN2012 NET WORTH: $7.8 BLNFounded insurance company Allianz and private bank Merck, Finck & Co. Sold both to Barclays Bank in 1990, now resides in tax-free Switzerland. Warren Buffett US, Berkshire Hathaway 1987 NET WORTH: $2.1 BLN2012 NET WORTH: $44 BLNBefore he was known as the Oracle of Omaha, Buffett bought into struggling cotton miller and textile firm Berkshire Hathaway in 1962 for just over $7 a share. The company suffered losses in the late 1960s. Buffett looked to invest elsewhere. Began buying shares of Coca-Cola in 1988 Berkshire now owns more than $1 billion of Coke stock. Erivan Haub GERMANY, Retail 1987 NET WORTH: $1.3BLN2012 NET WORTH: $4BLNTook over retailer Tengelmann Group in 1969. Bought 52% of US grocery chain A&P in 1980 it declared bankruptcy in 2010. He’s fully written off his stake.
Henry Ross Perot Sr. US, Technology 1987 NET WORTH: $2.9BLN2012 NET WORTH: $3.5BLNIn 1987 invested $20 million in Steve Jobs’s new computer firm, Next. Ran for president in 1992 and 1996.
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Henry Hillman US, Investments 1987 NET WORTH: $1.5BLN2012 NET WORTH: $2.2BLNFounding investor in influential Silicon Valley venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and LBO titans Kohlberg Kravis Roberts. “My greatest weakness has been in not being the tough guy,” he said in 1987.
David Sainsbury UK, Retail 1987 NET WORTH: $1.6BLN2012 NET WORTH: $1.1BLNChairman of great grandfather’s eponymous supermarket giant until 1997, currently sits in the House of Lords.
Leslie Wexner US, Retail 1987 NET WORTH: $2.1 BLN2012 NET WORTH: $4.3 BLNBorrowed $5,000 from an aunt to start retailer the Limited in 1963. Took the brand public in 1969.
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Robert Bass US, Energy 1987 NET WORTH: $1.2BLN2012 NET WORTH: $3.6BLN
Lee Bass US, Energy 1987 NET WORTH: $1BLN2012 NET WORTH: $2.1BLNIn 1987 Lee Bass was the youngest US billionaire. He and brother Robert (and 2 other brothers) inherited an oil fortune created by their great-uncle.
David Rockefeller Sr. US, Real Estate 1987 NET WORTH: $1BLN2012 NET WORTH: $2.5BLNThe only surviving grandson of John D. Rockefeller was the longtime CEO of Chase Manhattan bank. In the mid-1980s was a big player in New York City real estate projects. Masatoshi Ito JAPAN, Retail 1987 NET WORTH: $2BLN2012 NET WORTH: $2.5BLNVisited the US in 1960 opened the first Japanese 7-Eleven convenience store in 1974. Today his company operates 42,000 stores in Japan, mostly 7-Elevens.
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Ray Lee Hunt US, Energy 1987 NET WORTH: $1.3 BLN2012 NET WORTH: $5 BLNIn 1974 inherited then struggling Hunt Oil from wildcatter stepfather, HL Hunt, said to be the inspiration for the JR Ewing character in hit 1980s TV show Dallas.Eitaro Itoyama JAPAN, Real Estate 1987 NET WORTH: $3BLN2012 NET WORTH: $2.9BLNSon of his father’s mistress, struck out on his own but later inherited golf courses.
Stephan Schmidheiny SWITZERLAND, Investments 1987 NET WORTH: $1.5BLN2012 NET WORTH: $2.7BLNIndustrialist quietly gave $1 billion to the environmental and educational interests of his Viva Trust in 2003. Samuel (SI) Newhouse US, Media 1987 NET WORTH: $2.35 BLN2012 NET WORTH: $7.1 BLN
Donald Newhouse US, Media 1987 NET WORTH: $2.35 BLN2012 NET WORTH: $6.4 BLNBrothers run Advanced Publications. In 1987 “Si,” who oversees Condé Nast, promoted Anna Wintour to editorship of House & Garden.
