Rich Person Who Belongs to Poor Family

Howard Schultz

Company: Chairman and CEO of Starbucks.

Net worth: $1.5 billion.

Background: He was born on July 19, 1953, in a government housing project in Brooklyn, New York. His father was a truck driver.

Sam Walton

Company: Founder of Walmart.

Net worth: $23 billion.

Background: He helped his family out by milking the cow and driving the milk out to customers. He also delivered newspapers and sold magazine subscriptions, according to Business

Sheldon Adelson

Company: Chairman and CEO of the Las Vegas Sands.

Net worth: $20.5 billion.

Background: His father drove a taxi and mother ran a knitting store.

Ingvar Kamprad

 

Company: Founder of IKEA.

Net worth: $42.2 billion.

Background: He was raised on a farm in Sweden. Kamprad bought matches in bulk from capital Stockholm to sell to his neighbours and later expanded to fish, Christmas decorations and pens.

Roman Abramovich

Company: Main owner of private investment company Millhouse and owner of Chelsea Football Club.

Net worth: $14 billion.

Background: Abramovich's parents died before he was four, and was raised by his extended family in Ukhta, Russia, later moving to Moscow.

Kirk Kerkorian

Company: CEO of Tracinda Corporation.

Net worth: $16 billion.

Background: Kerkorian, whose parents were Armenian immigrants, learned English on the streets and dropped out of eighth grade to become a boxer.

Li Ka-shing

 

Company: Chairman of Cheung Kong Holdings and Hutchison Whampoa.

Net worth: $25.5 billion.

Background: His father died when he was 15, so he quit school to support his family.

Maria das Gracas Silva Foster

 

Company: CEO of Petrobras-Petroleo Brasil, Brazil's state-controlled oil company.

Net worth: N/A.

Background: She grew up with an alcoholic father in an extremely poor neighbourhood. Maria collected cans and paper to make extra money.

Guy Laliberte

 

Company: Co-founder and the current CEO of Cirque du Soleil, a Canadian entertainment company.

Net worth: $2.6 billion.

Background: He began his carrier by playing harmonica and accordion on the streets of Quebec and later joined a performing troupe that included fire-breathers, jugglers and acrobats.

Richard Desmond

 

Company: Publisher/Businessman.

Net worth: $1.5 billion.

Background: Desmond grew up the son of a single mother after his parents divorced. The two of them lived above a garage.