Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg aren’t the only super-rich college drop outs – 6 more billionaires who never graduated from university
We’ve all heard how tech visionaries Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and Steve Jobs flunked out of college to pursue a jackpot idea – but university drop-outs have also made billions in fields from fashion to gaming and TV
It’s estimated that university graduates earn on average 60 per cent higher salaries than non-graduates. For that extra edge, the average American pays anywhere from US$40,000 to US$200,000 and above just for tuition alone.
However there are many talented entrepreneurs, investors and innovators who have bucked that trend and gone on to bank 10-figure sums, without so much as an undergraduate degree to their name. Here are some legendary success stories.
Ted Turner
Ted Turner was expelled from Brown University for poor conduct when he was caught with a female student in his dorm room. He succeeded his father in his lucrative billboard business, Turner Outdoor Advertising, when he passed away in 1963. The business was worth US$1 million at the time. Turner used that as a base to achieve phenomenal things – such as revolutionising broadcast media with the establishment of 24-hour news through CNN.
The former CEO is a staunch environmentalist and has devoted his assets to green causes which include dedicating his land in Texas to preserving the bison population and also creating the animated series Captain Planet and the Planeteers. His net worth is around US$2 billion.
Richard Li
The younger son of Hong Kong’s richest billionaire, Li Ka-shing, Richard Li is the founder and chairman of PCCW as well as serving as chairman of Hong Kong Telecom and Pacific Century Group. His college education was embroiled in controversy when Li held a press conference in 2001 to admit that his company had for years falsely described him as a Stanford graduate on his online résumé.
Li clarified, “I attended Stanford University for three years but I did not get the Stanford degree. I went to an investment bank to work. In all our documents submitted to the listed company, the stock exchange, I only said I received education there, I did not say graduation.” This setback obviously did not hold him back as Forbes estimates Li to be worth US$4.4 billion.
Ralph Lauren