Billionaires You’ve Never Heard Of And How They Did It

When you want to find financial success, one of the best things you can do is look to individuals who have made a great deal of wealth in the past, and made smart decisions with that wealth. If you look at today’s billionaires, you will find there is no better example of what it means to grow serious wealth. There are a number of billionaires in our world today, and most people know of the most popular ones. However, if you take a time to look at some of the billionaires that fly under the radar, you can actually learn a great deal about building and sustaining wealth. Here are three billionaires that you have likely never heard of and some insight on how they made their money.

William Kellogg of Kohl’s – Worth $1 Billion

William Kellogg isn’t just a billionaire, but he is also the former CEO of Kohl’s, the massive department store chain. A true example of pulling yourself up by your boot straps, William Kellogg became the CEO after working in the store and eventually taking over the company with his partners John Herma and Jay Baker. When the trio took over the company, the Wisconsin-based store only had 40 locations. Now it has 1,067 in 49 different states. The billionaire not only still holds $450 million in stocks with the company, but he also made his money work for him and has a successful string of investments. Kellogg even owns a stake in the used car company CarMax.

Leslie Wexner of Victoria’s Secret – Worth $7.7 Billion

Estimates on how much Leslie Wexner is worth varies, but most entities have the CEO as being worth $7.7 billion. This self-made billionaire was recently named as 2016’s Richest Person in America’s 50 Largest Cities by Forbes Magazine. Wexner is one of the longest-serving CEOs in the United States, as the CEO of Victoria’s Secret. He has also developed several of today’s biggest brands including Pink, Bath and Body Works, the Limited Too, Express, Lane Bryant and Abercrombie and Fitch. When Wexner bought Victoria’s Secret in 1982, it was a small, struggling chain in San Francisco, which Wexner bought for just $1 million. Tooday, the company pulls in an estimated $7.2 billion in revenue every year; major profit which has led Wexner to be one of the richest CEOs in the world.

Yang Huiyan of Country Garden Holdings – Worth $6.9 Billion

Yang Huiyan is not only one of the world’s most successful billionaires, but she is also one of the few women billionaires in the world. Yang Huiyan impressively made her millions off of real estate. She is the largest shareholder of the real estate developing firm Country Garden Holdings; a position she came to after her father, Yeung Kwowk Keung transferred his holdings to her in 2007. That year, Yang was also the richest person in China and was worth a staggering $16.2 billion. Today, she continues to run the company, despite struggles in the Chinese real estate market and is still one of the richest individuals in all of China.