34 College Dropouts Who Became Billionaires in the World
 |
| College Dropouts Who Became Billionaires Without A Degree |
We are led to believe from a young age that getting a degree is the surest way to a good job and a comfortable life. That notion, however, appears to be somewhat of a myth, given that approximately 25% of billionaires did not complete high school.
We can confidently call these people the most successful college dropouts of all time if wealth is a measure of success. Even though it doesn't necessarily help them later, many athletes become millionaires after dropping out of college and going pro. Rich people's stories—like those of Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and most recently, Mark Zuckerberg—make it clear that dropping out of school is sometimes necessary to follow one's passions.
Some billionaires who dropped out of college? Who are they? It is clear from this list that having a bachelor's degree isn't necessarily a guarantee of financial success.
Learn more: 40 Actors/Actresses Who Didn’t Attend or Never Finished College
1. Mark Zuckerberg
 |
| Mark Zuckerberg drives a Honda Fit |
Zuckerberg dropped out of Harvard in his sophomore year to work on Facebook.
Born: May 14, 1984
Birthplace: White Plains, New York
 Who is Mark Zuckerberg: Biography, Personal Profile, Family and Career |
2. Bill Gates
 |
| Bill Gates's Mansion |
After enrolling at Harvard in the fall of 1973—his parents were attorneys and teachers - Bill Gates left the university two years later to found Microsoft with his childhood friend Paul Allen.
Age: 68
Birthplace: Seattle, Washington, USA
 Who is Bill Gates - The founder of Microsoft Corp? |
3. Steve Jobs
 |
| Steve Jobs' Last Speech - Lessons for Success |
Because it was too much for his working-class parents' savings, the future Apple computer wizard dropped out of Reed College in Portland, Oregon after only six months. He became an influential figure in shaping modern culture after going on to found Apple, NeXT Computer, and Pixar.
Age: Dec. at 56 (1955-2011)
Birthplace: USA, California, San Francisco
 Steve Jobs' Last Speech: 'The Brick Theory' - Lessons for Success |
4. Mukesh Ambani
With a net worth of $27 billion, Mukesh Ambani ranks as the ninth wealthiest man on the planet. He became a part of his father's company, Reliance Industries, in 1981 and now has a 48% ownership interest in it. Even though Ambani started classes at Stanford University in 1979, he left to help run his family business.
Age: 67
Birthplace: Aden, Yemen
5. Lawrence Ellison
 |
| Larry Ellison |
When Larry Ellison's adoptive mother died, he had to quit his second year at the University of Illinois. Lars is the founder of Oracle. Then he went to the University of Chicago for one term and then dropped out again. In 1964, he moved to California. The amount of money Ellison has made puts him in fifth place in the world's wealth list.
Born: August 17, 1944
Birthplace: New York City
6. Eike Batista
 |
| Eike Batista |
Eike Fuhrken Batista is a very rich businessman from Brazil who made a lot of money in oil and gas exploration and mining. Batista quit an engineering program, moved to Brazil from Germany, and started working as a gold trader when he was 23. He then built the first mechanized alluvial gold mine in the Amazon. Before he turned 24, he made his first million dollars by trading gold.
Born: 3 November 1956
Birthplace: Germany
7. Michael S. Dell
Michael Dell began building and selling computers to friends and classmates while he was a student at the University of Texas. He later went on to found and lead Dell Inc. Before long, Dell had accounts outside of school, and he abandoned his studies to devote himself fully to his business.
Age: 59
Birthplace: Houston, Texas
8. Marc Rich
Marc Rich was a manager of hedge funds and an international trader of goods. In the United States, he was charged with tax evasion and making illegal oil deals with Iran during the Iran hostage crisis. He was also known for starting the commodities company Glencore.He quit NYU and started his career in 1954 in the mail room of the trading firm Philipp Brothers.
Age: Dec. at 78 (1934-2013)
Birthplace: Antwerp, Belgium
9. Ty Warner
Suburban Chicago businessman Ty Warner, is a college dropout who became a billionaire after creating Beanie Babies collectibles. He attended Kalamazoo College for one year before dropping out.
Age: 80
Birthplace: Chicago, Illinois
10. Gautam Adani
He is the Chairman of the Adani Group and is an Indian businessman who made a lot of money on his own. As a second-year B.Com student at Gujarat University, he had to stop studying because his family couldn't afford it. People admire him for coming up with his own way to deal with the money issues that were causing him and his family stress.
Age: 62
Birthplace: Ahmedabad, India
11. Micky Jagtiani
The Landmark retail-stores group is owned by Indian businessman Micky 'Mukesh' Jagtiani, who is based in Dubai. Before moving to London, he completed his education in Madras, Mumbai, and Beirut. There, he enrolled in a London accounting school, which he eventually left.
Before relocating to Bahrain and taking over his late family's baby products store, he worked as a taxi driver in London. He's a billionaire now.
12. Azim Premji
Wipro Limited's chairman, Azim Hashim Premji, is an Indian business magnate and philanthropist.
After his father unexpectedly passed away, he had just one term left at Stanford University to complete his degree in electrical engineering before returning home to take over the family's vegetable oil business in India. Once known as Western India Vegetable Products, he successfully expanded the business and turned it into one of India's biggest software companies.
Age: 79
Birthplace: Karachi, Pakistan
13. Jack Taylor
 |
| Jack Taylor |
After dropping out of college to join the Navy, Jack Taylor went on to become a sales manager for a Cadillac distributor before launching Enterprise Rent-a-Car in 1957. Jack Taylor is the founder of Enterprise Rent-a-Car. He has a net worth of $11.4 billion.
Age: April 14, 1922 – July 2, 2016
Birthplace: St. Louis, Missouri, US
14. Shahid Balwa
Having been born in 1974, Shahid Balwa is a successful businessman who currently resides in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. In order to join his family in the hotel business, Balwa took a break from his college studies. His current status places him among the top ten youngest billionaires in the world.
Age: 50
Birthplace: Gujarat, India
15. Subhash Chandra
Subhash Chandra is a media tycoon from India. In 1992, he debuted Zee TV, the country's first private news channel.
A large family from a remote Northern Indian village that became deeply indebted and eventually disintegrated gave birth to him. Because of her job, Chandra had to quit her college studies. He went to Delhi, got a job, and started his career with less than a dollar.
Age: 73
Birthplace: Hisar, India
16. Sheldon Adelson
American business magnate Sheldon Gary Adelson was born on August 4, 1933. He heads up the parent company of the Venetian Hotel, Las Vegas Sands Corporation, as both chairman and chief executive officer. With an estimated net worth of $34.4 billion, Adelson is currently ranked as the 12th wealthiest person in the world. Though she did not complete her degree, Adelson went to City College of New York.
Age: 91
Birthplace: Dorchester, Boston, Massachusetts
17. Vinod Goenka
He is Vinod Goenka, MD. An Indian real estate developer who is worth a billion dollars and a co-founder of DB | REALTY is known as DB Realty. Forbes magazine estimates that he has a net worth of $1.18 billion in the United States. After dropping out of college, he joined the small construction company that his father owned in Mumbai and assisted in expanding the business.
Age: Born in 1959
Birthplace: Kolkata, India
18. Andrey Melnichenko
Andrey Igorevich Melnichenko is a Russian businessman and billionaire who is estimated to have a personal wealth of 16.4 billion dollars. After the fall of communism in 1991, Melnichenko left Moscow State University to pursue his education elsewhere. Beginning with the sale of computers, he went on to establish a successful chain of currency exchange booths.
Age: 52
Birthplace: Gomel, Belarus
19. Viktor Bout
Viktor Anatolyevich Bout is a convicted Russian arms smuggler. He dropped out of technical college in South Africa to enter the air transport business, moving "motor vehicles, food stuffs, arms, and passengers."
Age: 57
Birthplace: Dushanbe, Tajikistan
20. Li Ka-shing
A Hong Kong business magnate, investor, and philanthropist, Sir Ka-shing Li is known for charitable giving. He is the richest person in Asia, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, with a net worth of $28.8 billion. He is the richest person in Asia. At the age of 15, he left high school to start working, and he never went back to school.
Age: 96
Birthplace: Chaozhou, China
21. Roman Abramovich
The private investment firm Millhouse LLC is mostly owned by Roman Arkadyevich Abramovich, a Russian business magnate. He became famous after he helped found the English football club Chelsea. Abramovich became wealthy in the early 1990s through a string of contentious oil export deals after being orphaned as a child and dropping out of college.
Age: 57
Birthplace: Saratov, Russia
22. Amancio Ortega Gaona
The Zara clothing and accessory retail chains were founded by Amancio Ortega Gaona, a Spanish fashion executive. Ortega left school at the age of thirteen to sell shirts, then his own bathrobes, and finally, the designs of his wife, which led to the establishment of the Zara empire.
Age: 88
Birthplace: Province of León, Spain
23. Kirk Kerkorian
Former MGM owner and Las Vegas real estate magnate Kirk Kerkorian dropped out of school in the middle of eighth grade.
Age: 107
Birthplace: Fresno, California
24. Donald Newhouse
Not much is known about this mysterious man who attended Syracuse, only that he is rich as hell and dropped out. He is worth $4 billion and works in the publishing industry.
Age: 94
25. François Pinault
After not completing his high school education, the tycoon began his career by working at a sawmill located in a rural area of France. The luxury goods powerhouse PPR (formerly Pinault-Printemps-Redoute), whose portfolio includes Gucci, Balenciaga, and Stella McCartney, is now owned by him, and he is the majority shareholder of the company. His current net worth measures $15 billion.
Age: 88
Birthplace: Côtes-d'Armor, France
26. Hasan Ali Khan
There are rumors that Hasan Ali Khan is a businessman who is worth a billion dollars in India. Authorities in India started looking into Khan in 2007 because they suspected him of being involved in money laundering. According to reports, he had a bank account in Switzerland that contained deposits totaling eight billion dollars.
Age: 70
Birthplace: Hyderabad, India
27. David Geffen
Asylum Records was established in 1970 by David Geffen, an American business magnate and music producer. Geffen is also a music producer. After dropping out of college, Geffen's first job was as an usher at CBS Television City. However, he quickly moved on to a position in the mailroom of the William Morris Agency, where he eventually became an agent. Geffen started his career in the entertainment industry.
Age: 81
Birthplace: Brooklyn, New York, USA
28. Dean Kamen
Kamen is the designer and creator of the Segway. In addition to being born on Long Island, New York, Kamen attended Worcester Polytechnic Institute, where he spent five years conducting specialized research on a particular kind of syringe. However, he did not complete his studies and did not graduate.
Age: 73
Birthplace: Rockville Centre, New York, USA
29. Ted Turner
Among his many accomplishments, Turner is a media magnate who established both CNN and TNT. The fact that Turner was caught having sexual relations with a female in his dorm room, which is against the rules of the college, resulted in his expulsion from Brown University. He is now recognized as one of the wealthiest men in the world and a businessman who has achieved extraordinary levels of success.
Age: 85
Birthplace: USA, Cincinnati, Ohio
 Top 30 Most Beautiful and Talent CNN Anchors, Reporters in 2024 |
30. Henry Fok
Fok was a strong and influential businessman in Hong Kong. Although he attended Queen's College, he was unable to complete his junior high school education because of the Japanese invasion that occurred in 1937. During that time, he was employed as a laborer while also contributing to the functioning of the family's modest boat business.
Age: Dec. at 82 (1923-2006)
Birthplace: Hong Kong, China
31. Ralph Lauren
After his high school, Ralph Lauren went to the Baruch School of Business and Civic Administration of the City College of New York (now known as Baruch College) where he studied business, but dropped out after two years.
Age: 85
Birthplace: Minsk, Russian Empire
32. Micky Arison
CEO of Carnival Corporation, the world’s largest cruise operator and owner of the NBA’s Miami Heat. He dropped out of University of Miami.
Age: 75
Birthplace: Tel Aviv, Israel
33. Howard Hughes
A short time after the passing of his father, Howard Hughes, who was known for his eccentricity and was also one of the wealthiest people in the world, left his studies at Rice University. His father made a donation that allowed him to audit math and engineering classes at Cal Tech when he was just a teenager. This allowed him to gain experience in both of these fields.
Age: Dec. at 70 (1905-1976)
Birthplace: Texas, USA, Humble
34. Paul Allen
Co-Founder of Microsoft, owner of Seattle Seahawks and Portland Trailblazers, and major philanthropist, dropped out of Washington State University.
Age: Dec. at 65 (1953-2018)
Birthplace: Seattle, Washington, USA
 Top 8 Richest Tiktok Stars in 2024 Is it true that TikTok users who have more followers can make more money? Here is a list of the TikTok users with the most ... |
 Top 10 Wealthiest African Countries Based on Nominal GDP This article ranks Africa's ten wealthiest nations by GDP to show the continent's economic diversity. These strengths demonstrate Africa's economic power and help explain its ... |
 Top 11 Ultra-Rich Families in Japan and Their Net Worth The post-World War II resurgence of the Japanese economy, characterized by global brands linked to prominent affluent families. KnowInsiders.com discloses the Top 10 wealthiest families/households ... |
 Top 10 Richest Self-Made Teen Millionaires in the US 2024/2025 The following are the ten richest teenagers who did not inherit their fortune but instead amassed it through hard work and entrepreneurial spirit. |
