Billionaires Of The World

Roman Abramovich biography

2008-12-30T21:03:00.001-08:00

Roman Arkadyevich Abramovich (IPA: [rɐˈman ɐrˈkadʲjevʲɪtɕ ɐbrɐˈmovʲɪtɕ]; Russian: Рома́н Арка́дьевич Абрамо́вич; born on 24 October 1966 in Saratov, Russian SFSR, USSR) is a Russian billionaire and the main owner of private investment company Millhouse Capital, referred to as one of the Russian oligarchs. According to the 2007 Forbes magazine, as of 3 August 2007, he had a net worth of $18.7 billion,[1] and according to Russian Finance magazine, as of January 2007, his fortune was 551.0 billion rubles (roughly $23 billion).[2] He was considered to be the second richest person currently living within the United Kingdom in 2008.[3]

The stress on his family name is often placed on the second syllable (Abrámovich) when pronounced in English, whereas the original Russian name is stressed on the third (Abramóvich).

In Russia, Abramovich is prominent as the governor of Chukotka, a post to which he was elected in 2000, and has spent over $1 billion on good causes in the region,[4] which now has one of the highest birth rates in Russia.[5]. He is most famous outside Russia as the owner of Chelsea Football Club, an English Premiership football team, and for his wider involvement in European football. Despite his high profile around the world, Abramovich makes virtually no public statements about his activities.

In 2003 Roman Abramovich was named Person of the Year by Expert, a Russian business magazine. He shared this title with Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

Richard Li biography

2008-12-23T20:58:00.001-08:00

Richard Li Tzar Kai (traditional Chinese: 李澤楷; simplified Chinese: 李泽楷; pinyin: Lǐ Zékǎi) was born on 8 November 1966 in Hong Kong, the younger son of successful entrepreneur Li Ka-Shing and brother of Victor Li. He is chairman and executive director of PCCW Limited and Pacific Century Group in Hong Kong. He is also chairman of Singapore-based Pacific Century Regional Developments Limited and the non-executive director of the Bank of East Asia.

Rather than enter into his father's business, Richard Li entered into the media business . He cut his deal-making teeth building STAR TV into Asia's first satellite broadcasting service with a loan from his father,[citation needed] Asia's richest man Li Ka-shing. He then sold it to global media tycoon Rupert Murdoch's News Corp for US$950 million in 1995 and turned his attention to the Internet.

He sparked a frenzied buying spree for Hong Kong technology stocks in April 1999 when he announced he would turn sleepy telecommunications equipment distributor "Tricom Holdings" into Asia's premier Internet company under the name PCCW. The stock had recorded a 1,286 percent gain in a single day.[citation needed]

He bought Cable & Wireless HKT in 2000. On August 2000, Li was seen as a saviour when his flagship PCCW outbid rival Singapore Telecommunications for HKT in a US$28.5 billion deal, Asia's largest corporate takeover, he was dubbed "Superboy" (小小超) by the local media.[citation needed] However, as local euphoria surrounding HKT's takeover waned and global tech and telecom shares tanked, shareholders' praise soon turned to criticism.[citation needed]

Li suffered embarrassment in March 2001 when a newspaper [1] revealed he attended but did not finish his degree at California's Stanford University, contrary to PCCW's claims.

He endured another setback on February 2003 when PCCW made an approach to acquire Britain's Cable & Wireless, which was rebuffed. PCCW later denied making a formal offer, which has led to an investigation by the Hong Kong stock exchange.[citation needed] The company was later cleared mainly due to insufficiency of evidence.

Li gave up his spot as PCCW's chief executive officer on July 25, 2003 but remains as chairman and executive director. Jack So, who left his chairman position at Hong Kong subway operator MTR Corp, took up the job of group managing director of PCCW.

In August 2006 Li paid HKD$280 million for a 50% stake in Chinese business paper Hong Kong Economic Journal.[citation needed] Li promised no changes to the editorial content nor layoffs in the short term.[citation needed]

Ted Turner biography

2008-12-16T20:54:00.001-08:00

Robert Edward "Ted" Turner III (born November 19, 1938[2]) is an American media mogul and philanthropist. As a businessman, he is best known as the founder of the cable television network CNN, the first dedicated 24-hour cable news channel. In addition to CNN, he founded WTBS, which pioneered the superstation concept in cable television. As a philanthropist, he is well known for his $1 billion gift to support UN causes, which created The United Nations Foundation, a public charity that builds and implements public-private partnerships to address the world's most pressing problems, and broadens support for the UN through advocacy, public outreach, and grant making. Turner serves as the Chairman of the board of directors for the foundation.[3]

Turner's media empire began with his father's billboard business which he took over at the age of 24 after his father's suicide.[4] The billboard business, Turner Outdoor Advertising, was worth approximately $1 million when Turner took it over in 1963. Purchase of an Atlanta UHF station in 1970 began the assemblage of the Turner Broadcasting System. His Cable News Network revolutionized news media, coming to the forefront covering the space shuttle Challenger disaster in 1986 and the Persian Gulf War in 1991. Using his media empire for publicity, Turner turned the Atlanta Braves baseball team into a nationally popular franchise and launched the charitable Goodwill Games.

Turner's penchant for making controversial statements has earned him the nickname "The Mouth of the South".[5] Turner was also in the news for his much publicized marriage to actress and political activist Jane Fonda, as well as their subsequent divorce.

In addition to his charitable donations, Turner has devoted his assets to a blend of environmentalism and capitalism, owning more land than any other American, and using much of that land for ranches as part of his plan to re-popularize bison meat (for his Ted's Montana Grill chain), in the process amassing the largest herd in the world. He also created the environmental education/action animated series Captain Planet and the Planeteers. On April 26, 2007 Ted Turner was inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame.

Li Ka-shing biography

2008-12-09T20:42:00.001-08:00

Sir Li Ka-shing, GBM, KBE (simplified Chinese: 李嘉诚; traditional Chinese: 李嘉誠; pinyin: Lǐ Jiāchéng, Jyutping: Lei5 Gaa1-sing4, Li2 Gia1-sêng5 gdr, born July 29, 1928[2]), is a wealthy businessman from Hong Kong. He is the richest person of Chinese descent in the world, one of the richest and most influential investors in Asia, and the eleventh richest man in the world according to Forbes with an estimated wealth of $26.5 billion on February 11, 2008.[3] Presently, he is the Chairman of Hutchison Whampoa Limited (HWL) and Cheung Kong Holdings in Hong Kong.

Considered one of the most powerful figures in Asia, Li was named "Asia's Most Powerful Man" by Asiaweek in 2001. Forbes Magazine and the Forbes family honored Li Ka-shing with the first ever "Malcolm S. Forbes Lifetime Achievement Award" on September 5, 2006, in Singapore.[4] In spite of his wealth, Li has a reputation for leading a no-frills lifestyle, and is known to wear simple black dress shoes and an inexpensive Seiko wristwatch. Li is also regarded as one of Asia's most generous philanthropists, donating over US$1 billion to date to charity and other various philanthropic causes. [5]

Li is often referred to as "Superman" in Hong Kong because of his business prowess. His peers in Hong Kong include Lee Shau Kee of the Henderson Land Development, New World Development's Cheng Yu-tung, Kwok family of Sun Hung Kai Properties, and Henry Fok Ying-tung, among others.

Li Ka-shing was born in Chaozhou in the Guangdong Province, China in 1928. In 1940 the Li family fled to Hong Kong to avoid the turmoils in China.[6] Li's family stayed at the home of his wealthy uncle. The arrogance of Li's uncle with his immense wealth ignited Li's determination to make a place for himself in the world.

Li's father died in Hong Kong. Shouldering the responsibility of looking after the livelihood of the family, Li was forced to leave school before the age of 15 and found a job in a plastics trading company where he labored 16 hours a day. By 1950, his hard work, prudence and his pursuit of excellence had enabled him to start his own company, Cheung Kong Industries. From manufacturing plastics, Li led and developed his company into a leading real estate investment company in Hong Kong that was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 1972. Cheung Kong continued to expand by acquiring Hutchison Whampoa and Hongkong Electric Holdings Limited in 1979 and 1985 respectively.[7]
Contents

Mark Zuckerberg biography

2008-12-02T20:34:00.001-08:00

Mark Elliot Zuckerberg (born May 14, 1984) is an American entrepreneur. As a Harvard student he founded the online social networking website Facebook with the help of fellow Harvard student and computer science major Andrew McCollum as well as roommates Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes. He now serves as Facebook's CEO. In 2008, [2] Forbes Magazine named him as "the world's youngest self-made billionaire" with a theoretical net worth of US $1.5 billion[3], though the validity of this label has also been met with controversy.[4]

Mark Zuckerberg was born to a Jewish-American family and raised in Dobbs Ferry, New York. He attended Phillips Exeter Academy where he was a resident of Browning House and was recruited by both Microsoft and AOL in his senior year due to a hacking project. Instead, he opted to attend Harvard University. [5]

Steve Ballmer biography

2008-11-25T20:31:00.001-08:00

Steven Anthony Ballmer (born March 24, 1956) is an American businessman and has been the chief executive officer of Microsoft Corporation since January 2000.[1] Ballmer is the second person after Roberto Goizueta to become a billionaire in U.S. dollars based on stock options received as an employee of a corporation in which he was neither a founder nor a relative of a founder. In Forbes 2008 World's Richest People ranking, Ballmer was ranked the 43rd richest person in the world, with an estimated wealth of $15 billion.

On October 2, 2006, Ballmer was awarded honorary citizenship of Lausen, Switzerland. His father, Frederick Ballmer, who emigrated to the US at the age of 23 as "Hans Friedrich Balmer", was a citizen of the same municipality.[2] His father worked as a manager at Ford Motor Co. In 1990 Ballmer married Connie Snyder, on Microsoft's PR team at the Waggener Group in the '80s. They have two sons.

Steve Ballmer was born March 24, 1956 and grew up in Farmington Hills, Michigan to a Swiss father and a Jewish-American mother. In 1973, he graduated from Detroit Country Day School, a high school, and now sits on its board of directors.[3] In 1977, he graduated from Harvard University [4] with a bachelor's degree in mathematics and economics. While in college, Ballmer managed the football team, worked on the Harvard Crimson newspaper as well as the Harvard Advocate, and lived down the hall from fellow sophomore Bill Gates. He then worked for two years as an assistant product manager at Procter & Gamble, where he shared an office with Jeffrey R. Immelt, the current CEO of General Electric.[5] In 1980, he dropped out from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.[6]

Michael Bloomberg biography

2008-11-18T20:22:00.001-08:00

Michael Rubens Bloomberg (born February 14, 1942) is an American businessman, philanthropist, and the Mayor of New York City. He gained his wealth as the founder of financial news and data company Bloomberg L.P. Although a lifelong Democrat, he ran on the Republican ballot and was elected mayor in 2001, then reelected to a second term in 2005.

He was frequently mentioned as a possible independent candidate for the 2008 presidential election and fueled that speculation when he left the Republican Party in June 2007.[3] He repeatedly denied any plans to run and said the news media had concocted rumors of his possible presidential bid. He ended speculation on the matter in a February 2008 New York Times Op-Ed piece where he wrote "I listened carefully to those who encouraged me to run, but I am not — and will not be — a candidate for president."[4] There is also much speculation that he will run as a vice-presidential candidate. [5]

Bloomberg was born to a Jewish family at St. Elizabeth's Hospital, in the Boston neighborhood of Brighton on February 14, 1942. His father, William Henry Bloomberg, born in Chelsea, Massachusetts on January 19, 1906, was the son of Alexander "Elick" Bloomberg, a Russian Jewish immigrant and a real estate agent. His mother, Charlotte (Rubens) Bloomberg, born January 3, 1909 in New Jersey, was the daughter of a Russian immigrant and a New Jersey-born mother. She is still alive and reported to be in very good health for her age.[6] The family lived in the Boston neighborhood of Allston until Bloomberg was two years old; they subsequently moved to Atherton Road, in Brookline, Massachusetts for the next two years, and finally settled in Medford, Massachusetts, a Boston suburb, where Bloomberg lived until after he graduated college. His younger sister, Marjorie Tiven, is Commissioner of the New York City Commission for the United Nations, Consular Corps and Protocol.

Bloomberg attended Johns Hopkins University, where he joined Phi Kappa Psi, and graduated in 1964 with a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degree in electrical engineering. Later he received his Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from Harvard Business School. He also achieved the rank of Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts of America.[7][8]

Bloomberg married Yorkshire-born Susan Brown in 1975. Their marriage produced two daughters, Emma (b. ca. 1979) and Georgina (b. 1983), who were featured on Born Rich, a documentary film about the children of the extremely wealthy. Georgina was romantically linked in 2007 with Cian O'Connor, the Irish showjumper whose 2004 Olympic gold medal was withdrawn.[9]Bloomberg divorced Brown in 1993 following 18 years of marriage. He is currently seeing former New York state banking superintendent Diana Taylor.

Sam Walton biography

2008-11-11T20:19:00.001-08:00

Samuel Moore Walton (March 29, 1918 – April 5, 1992), was an American businessman and entrepreneur born in Kingfisher, Oklahoma who founded two American retailers Wal-Mart and Sam's Club. He was the patriarch of the Walton family, one of the richest families in the world.

Walton was born to Thomas Gibson Walton and Nancy Lee Walton near Kingfisher, Oklahoma on March 29, 1918. There, he lived with his parents on their farm until 1923. Sam's father decided farming did not generate enough income on which to raise a family, so he decided to go back to a previous profession of a mortgage man. So he and his family (now with another son, James born in 1921) moved from Oklahoma to Missouri. There they moved from one small town to another for several years. While attending 8th grade in Shelbina, Sam became the youngest Eagle Scout in the state's history.[1] In adult life, Walton became a recipient of the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award from the Boy Scouts of America.[2]

Walton excelled physically in high school, playing basketball and football as starting quarterback for Columbia's David H. Hickman High School in 1935, when they won the state title. While at Hickman, he also served as vice president of the student body in his junior year and as president in his senior year. He performed well enough academically to become an honors student.

Growing up during the Great Depression, Walton had numerous chores to help make financial ends meet for his family. He milked the family cow, bottled the surplus and drove it to customers. Afterwards, he would deliver newspapers on a paper route. Upon graduating, he was voted "Most Versatile Boy."

After high school, Walton decided to attend college, hoping to find a better way to help support his family. He attended the University of Missouri and majored in economics and was an ROTC officer. During this time, he worked various odd jobs, including waiting tables in exchange for meals. Also during his time in college, Walton joined the estimable Zeta Phi chapter of Beta Theta Pi fraternity. He was also tapped by QEBH, the well-known secret society on campus honoring the top senior men. Upon graduating, he was voted "permanent president" of the class. He was also a member of the professional business fraternity Alpha Kappa Psi.

Walton joined JCPenney as a management trainee in Des Moines, Iowa three days after graduating from college. This position earned him $75 a month. He resigned in 1942 in anticipation of being inducted into the military for service in World War II. In the meantime, he worked at a DuPont munitions plant near Tulsa, Oklahoma. There he met his future wife, Helen Robson, in April 1942. She and Sam were married February 14, 1943.

Soon afterwards, Walton joined the military in the U.S. Army Intelligence Corps, supervising security at aircraft plants and prisoner of war camps. In this position he served in the continental United States. He eventually reached the rank of Captain.

James "Bud" Walton biography

2008-11-04T20:16:00.001-08:00

James Lawrence "Bud" Walton (December 20, 1921 – March 21, 1995) was the younger brother of Sam Walton and cofounder of Wal-Mart.

Born in 1921, Walton went to Hickman High School in Columbia, Missouri and to the Wentworth Military Academy in Lexington, Missouri. During World War II, he served as a Navy pilot. Like his brother, he went subsequently into the retail business working in the Ben Franklin Stores franchise system. His first store was opened in Versailles, Missouri. In 1962, he and Sam Walton co-founded Wal-Mart. He died on March 21, 1995 in Miami, Florida after surgery for an aneurysm.

Bud Walton had been married to Audrey Walton and they had two daughters, Ann Walton Kroenke, and Nancy Walton Laurie.

The Bud Walton Arena on the campus of the University of Arkansas is named after him.

He worked on a farm in his younger years.

Helen Walton biography

2008-10-28T21:04:00.001-07:00

Helen Robson Kemper Walton (December 3, 1919 — April 19, 2007) was the wife of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton. She was the eleventh richest American and at one point the richest woman in the world. Helen died with an estimated net worth of $16.4 billion that will pass to charity over the next few years.

Helen was the valedictorian of her high school class in Claremore, Oklahoma and a graduate of the University of Oklahoma at Norman with a degree in business. She was the daughter of L.S. Robson, a prosperous banker and rancher. She and Sam were married February 14, 1943.

Sam Walton (d. 1992) left his ownership in Wal-Mart to his wife and their four children, S. Robson Walton (Rob), John T. Walton (d. 2005), Jim Walton, and Alice Walton. Rob Walton chairs the board of directors of Wal-Mart, on which John served until his death. The others are not directly involved in the company except through their voting power as shareholders.

Lawrence "Larry" Ellison biography

2008-10-21T20:57:00.001-07:00

Lawrence "Larry" Joseph Ellison (born August 17, 1944) is an American entrepreneur and the co-founder and CEO of Oracle Corporation, a major enterprise software company. He is currently listed on Forbes list of billionaires as the 14th richest person in the world. [1]

Ellison was born in New York City to Florence Spellman, a 19-year-old unwed Jewish mother. At his mother's request, he was given to his mother's aunt and uncle in Chicago to raise. Lillian Spellman Ellison and Louis Ellison adopted him when he was nine months old. Ellison did not learn the name of his mother or meet her until he was 48; the identity of his father is unknown.

The Ellison home was a two-bedroom apartment in Chicago's South Shore neighborhood, populated mostly with lower middle class Jews. Ellison remembers his adoptive mother as warm and loving, in contrast to his austere, unsupportive, and often distant adoptive father, a Russian Jew from the Crimea who adopted the name Ellison to honor his point of entry into the USA, Ellis Island, as well as to conceal his Jewish ancestry. Louis was a modest government employee who had made a small fortune in Chicago real estate, only to lose it during the Great Depression.

Ellison was a bright but inattentive student. He left the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign at the end of his second year, after not taking his final exams because his adoptive mother had just died. After spending a summer in Northern California where he lived with his friend Chuck Weiss, he attended the University of Chicago for one term, where he first encountered computer programming. At 20 years of age, he moved to northern California permanently.

Karl and Theo Albrecht biography

2008-10-14T20:54:00.001-07:00

Karl Hans Albrecht (born 20 February 1920) is a German entrepreneur who founded the discount supermarket chain, Aldi, with his brother Theo. He is among the richest men in the world, with an estimated net worth of $27.0 billion ([1]2007). Albrecht is the wealthiest man in Germany.

Karl and Theo Albrecht were raised in modest circumstances in Essen. Their father was employed as a miner and later as a baker's assistant. Their mother had a small grocery store in the worker's quarter of Schonnebeck. Theo completed an apprenticeship in his mother's store, while Karl worked in a delicatessen. Karl also served in the German Army during World War II. After the end of World War II, the brothers took over their mother's business (1946). The first Aldi (Albrecht-Discount) was opened in 1961.

Aldi's operations were later divided between the brothers, with Karl taking control of the more profitable Aldi Süd (South), and Theo managing Aldi Nord (North).

Because Karl Albrecht has withdrawn himself from public life, little is known about him. He is married, and Forbes magazine reports that he has two children, neither of whom are employed by Aldi. Both Albrecht brothers reportedly live today in Essen, Germany. He is a fan of golf, and plays at his personal golf course, the Öschberghof, which he built in 1976. He also raises orchids.

In 1994, Karl Albrecht removed himself from the daily operations of Aldi Süd and took the position of chairman of the board. At the beginning of 2002, he also relinquished this position, thereby completely ceding control of the firm. Today, the business is no longer run by any of Karl Albrecht's family members.

Paul Allen biography

2008-10-07T20:51:00.001-07:00

Paul Gardner Allen (born January 21, 1953) is an American entrepreneur who co-founded Microsoft with Bill Gates. Allen regularly appears on lists of the richest people in the world. As of September 2007, Forbes ranks him as the eleventh richest American, worth an estimated $16.8 billion.[2]

He is the founder and chairman of Vulcan Inc., which is his private asset management company, and is chairman of Charter Communications. Allen also has a multibillion dollar investment portfolio which includes large stakes in DreamWorks Animation SKG, Digeo, real estate holdings, and more than 40 other technology, media, and content companies. Allen also owns three professional sports teams: the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League, the Portland Trail Blazers of the National Basketball Association, and the Seattle Sounders FC franchise in Major League Soccer that will begin playing in the 2009 season.[3][4][5]

Paul Gardner Allen was born in Seattle, Washington, to parents Kenneth S. Allen, an associate director of the University of Washington libraries, and Faye G. Allen, in January 21, 1953.[6] Allen attended Lakeside School, a private school in Seattle, and befriended Bill Gates, who was two years his junior but shared a common enthusiasm for computers.[7] They used Lakeside's teletype terminal to develop their programming skills on several time-sharing computer systems.[8] After graduation Allen attended Washington State University and was an active member in Phi Kappa Theta Fraternity.[8] He dropped out after two years in order to work as a programmer for Honeywell in Boston, which placed him near his old friend again.[8] Allen later convinced Gates to drop out of Harvard University in order to create Microsoft.[7]

Warren Buffett biography

2008-09-30T20:29:00.001-07:00

Warren Edward Buffett (born August 30, 1930, in Omaha, Nebraska) is an American investor, businessman and philanthropist. He is regarded as one of the world's greatest stock market investors, and is the largest shareholder and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway.[3] With an estimated net worth of around US$62 billion,[4] he was ranked by Forbes as the richest person in the world as of February 11, 2008.[5]

Often called the "Oracle of Omaha,"[6] Buffett is noted for his adherence to the value investing philosophy and for his personal frugality despite his immense wealth.[7] His 2006 annual salary was about $100,000, which is small compared to senior executive remuneration in other comparable companies,[8] and when he spent $9.7 million of Berkshire's funds on a business jet in 1989, he jokingly named it "The Indefensible" because of his past criticisms of such purchases by other CEOs.[9] He lives in the same house in the central Dundee neighborhood of Omaha that he bought in 1958 for $31,500, today valued at around $700,000.[10]

Buffett is also a noted philanthropist. In 2006, he announced a plan to give away his fortune to charity, with 83% of it going to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.[11] In 2007, he was listed among Time's 100 Most Influential People in The World.[12] He also serves as a member of the board of trustees at Grinnell College.[13]

Bill Gates biography

2008-09-23T19:57:00.001-07:00

William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955),[2] is an American business magnate, philanthropist, the world's third richest man (as of 2008),[1] and chairman of Microsoft, the software company he founded with Paul Allen. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions of CEO and chief software architect, and remains the individual shareholder with the most shares, with more than 9 percent of the common stock.[3]

Gates was born in Seattle, Washington and excelled in school early on. He enrolled at Harvard College in 1973, where he met Steve Ballmer, who would later become CEO of Microsoft. After reading the January 1975 issue of Popular Electronics, Gates contacted Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems and provided them with the Altair BASIC, and thus Microsoft was formed. This led to a partnership with IBM that required Microsoft to make the BASIC interpreter for the IBM PC. Later on, Gates struck another deal with IBM, allowing IBM to package Microsoft's PC-DOS software with IBM's personal computers in exchange for a fee paid to Microsoft for every computer sold. This deal established Microsoft as a major player in the software industry.

Gates is one of the best-known entrepreneurs of the personal computer revolution. Although he is admired by many, a large number of industry insiders criticize his business tactics, which they consider anti-competitive, an opinion which has in some cases been upheld by the courts.[4][5] In the later stages of his career, Gates has pursued a number of philanthropic endeavors, donating large amounts of money to various charitable organizations and scientific research programs through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, established in 2000.

Billionaire Unveils Exclusive New Course

2008-09-16T19:49:00.001-07:00

The chairman, president and CEO of Little Rock's Stephens Inc. has opened up his Alotian Golf Club. Warren Stephens, a 47-year-old billionaire and son of former Augusta National Golf Club chairman, Jack Stephens, unveiled his 7,400-yard golf course to members on September 4, 2004. The 300-acre layout occupies a panoramic site overlooking Lake Maumelle in Pulaski County, Ark. Vistas also incorporate Ouachita Mountain ridges.

Designed by Tom Fazio, the course on the western outskirts of Little Rock cost $18 million to build. It fills a quarter of a 1,200-acre parcel on the south side of Highway 10 that Stephens purchased from Deltic Timber Corp. in December 2001. In addition to an immaculately tended track, the club features an 11-acre state-of-the-art driving range and practice facility, and a 25,000-square-foot clubhouse that is slated to open around Christmas.

The club's unusual name derives from a group of wayfaring golfers – including Stephens, also a member of Augusta National – who set out to play the best courses in America. The trips became known as the "America's Lights Out Tour" (ALOT). Over time, members began calling themselves Alotians.

Stephens looked at several options when evaluating names for his club. "We thought about the name Golf Club of Arkansas, but that sounded way too serious," he told reporter George Waldon of Arkansas Business. "This is a fun place, and I hope, a place that is not stuffy, a place where you can enjoy the company of fellow golfers."

Stephens spared no expense with the course. Each green features an underground system capable of cooling or warming the bentgrass roots to a 10-degree differential with the air temperature. During Arkansas' hot summers, the system augments the electric fans that circulate air over the greens.

A network of lakes – the largest of which is 28 acres in size – supplies irrigation water to the golf course and surrounding plants. The lakes also provide a steady flow of running water in the creeks, a sound that Stephens loves.

Stephens invited a select group of in- and out-of-state members to join Alotian. The non-equity memberships run into the six figures. In comments to Waldon, Stephens said he likens the club's organizational structure as a "benevolent dictatorship." There will be no committees that are often found haggling and playing politics at many private clubs. There will also be no tennis courts or swimming pools. Unlike Augusta National, which famously has no women members, Alotian's new clubhouse will contain a ladies' locker room.

Fazio fashioned a course with generous fairways and merciful rough. To reach that goal, a whopping 1.5 million cubic yards of dirt were moved while shaping the layout. "Golf is a game where you better enjoy it no matter how well you play," Stephens said. The 10-handicapper added, "I wanted a course that is fun to play, not frustrating. If you want to play from the back tees, you can be frustrated."

With his considerable financial resources, Stephens could have built his dream golf course anywhere. But it only made sense to build it close to Little Rock. "I wouldn't want to do it anywhere else," he told Waldon. "This is home. I guess it never occurred to me to do it somewhere else."

Though his course has only been open for a short time, Stephens, during an August round, shot the track's first-ever hole-in-one. The ace was the second for Alotian's founder, and the first since he was 13 years old at a sports camp in Virginia. Asked which was his most memorable hole-in-one, Stephens replied, "I'd have to say the one here. I didn't see the first one go in the hole, but I did see the one out here."

Billionaire boosts Kremlin's oil reserves

2008-09-09T19:45:00.001-07:00

Russia's state-owned natural gas giant Gazprom is buying Sibneft, the country's fifth-largest oil company, for $US13.09 billion ($17.25 billion), further extending the Kremlin's control of major oil producers here.

Gazprom and Millhouse Capital, the holding company of the billionaire Roman Abramovich, jointly announced on Wednesday the sale of a 72.6 per cent stake in Sibneft. Gazprom already held a 3 per cent stake in Sibneft through its banking arm. Another 20 per cent of Sibneft stock is tied up in arbitration in London after a failed merger with the Yukos oil company.

The purchase price values Sibneft, which pumps about 650,000 barrels of oil a day, at $US18.02 billion.

The deal, expected to be approved by Gazprom's board next month, effectively nationalises Sibneft at a time when global supply remains tight.

It also realises Gazprom's ambitions to become a global energy player capable of supplying even remote markets like the US.

The sale brings full circle the personal saga of one of the world's youngest billionaires. Mr Abramovich, 38, the owner of Chelsea football club in Britain, bought Sibneft for about $US100 million in a 1995 privatisation. Now, for the first time, one of Russia's oligarchs of the 1990s has successfully cashed out his Russian holdings.

Sibneft shares fell 9 per cent on the announcement; Gazprom shares rose 0.8 per cent.

That seems to dispel speculation that Mr Abramovich was forced to sell to Gazprom.

Gazprom was "paying a full price relative to the value of other Russian oil assets", said Christopher Weafer, chief analyst at Alfa Bank.

Mr Abramovich, who lives most of the time in London, had already been selling his assets in Russia, among them stakes in Russian Aluminum, the country's largest such company, and in the state airline, Aeroflot.

With the Sibneft sale, however, he walks away with a huge windfall. He has been tight-lipped about his plans. "Abramovich has done all he can in business," said Alexei Venediktov, a Moscow radio commentator and friend.

"He's cashing out. Now maybe he'll invest in his family and his many loved ones' future."

The youngest and most reclusive of the Russian oligarchs, Mr Abramovich was close to the former president, Boris Yeltsin, in the late 1990s and made crucial decisions, including supporting Vladimir Putin as Mr Yeltsin's successor. Later, as others fell out with Mr Putin, Mr Abramovich seemed to remain above the fray. Russian media reported that Sibneft quietly paid $US350 million to settle a back tax claim in April.

The purchase would put a third of the country's oil production - and most of its energy resources when natural gas is included - under state control. It propels Gazprom, the world's largest natural gas producer, further into the oil business and adds to its already huge reserves, mostly in Siberia and the Russian Arctic.

Billionaire to Fund Free Net U

2008-09-02T19:41:00.001-07:00

WASHINGTON -- Internet software billionaire Michael Saylor plans to donate $100 million to launch a free online university that could reach hundreds of millions of people worldwide, his company said on Wednesday.

MicroStrategy spokesman Michael Quint said Saylor would announce his cyber university plans at a philanthropy conference in Washington on Thursday. America Online chairman and chief executive officer Steve Case will also be at the meeting.

"The idea is to create a higher learning center online for hundreds of millions of people throughout the world, which will be classified as top class," Quint said. "It's fairly hazy at the moment as to how this will work and the university is in its infancy stage."

In an interview with The Washington Post published on Wednesday, Saylor said he anticipated online courses that would include lectures from the world's "geniuses and leaders." The interviews would be videotaped at a studio to be built in the Washington area in the coming months.

Saylor said he did not plan to offer payment to those who lectured online, pointing out that people lined up to get onto television shows.

"I think they'll fight to get into the studio. It gives a great calculus teacher the chance to teach 100 million people," he said.

The Post said that eventually, Saylor wanted his nonprofit university to become a "cyber Library of Congress."

"Done right, this will impact the lives of millions of people forever. Done wrong, it's just noise in a can," said Saylor.

The Post said Saylor owned 44 million shares of software marketer MicroStrategy, with a paper value of about $13 billion. He planned initially to donate $100 million to the cyber university charity.

"I'll contribute more over time until it's done," he told the Post. "Other philanthropists might want to come on board. If not, I'll do it myself," he added.

Saylor is the latest hi-tech billionaire to donate some of his wealth to educational charities. Microsoft founder Bill Gates has the wealthiest charity in his class and has pledged more than $1 billion in scholarships to minorities.

Saylor told the Post the idea to have an online university came to him over the New Year's holiday when he was sailing a yacht off St. Bart's in the Caribbean.

Billionaire Entrepreneur Dreams of Inhaled Insulin

2008-08-26T19:38:00.001-07:00

The monumental failure of Pfizer's Exubera hasn't changed the mind of an ornery, 82-year-old billionaire named Al Mann, who is staking much of his personal fortune on another try at making inhaled insulin a reality.

Loyal Health Blog readers will recall that Alfred E. Mann's Advanced Bionics recently took a big payout to end a troubled tie-up with Boston Scientific. That's just one in a string of companies the guy has started over the past several decades. (See "Confessions of a Serial Entrepreneur," an interview by Health Affairs.)

The inhaled insulin's the work of the humbly named MannKind Corp. So far, Mann (pictured) has invested $566 million in MannKind and agreed to lend it an additional $350 million, this morning's NYT reports. (Forbes puts his net worth at $2.2 billion.)

MannKind has spent some $700 million on its inhalable insulin, called Technosphere, according to the NYT. The device used to deliver the insulin is about the size of a modern cell phone, rather smaller than the Exubera device, which was criticized roundly as being bulky. Boosters of the product also say it works faster and doesn't linger as long as other forms of insulin, which could be beneficial.

Billionaire owner slips to 25th on the rich list

2008-08-19T19:30:00.001-07:00

THE owner of the strike-hit Grangemouth refinery, Ineos chemicals billionaire Jim Ratcliffe, has plummeted from 10th to 25th on the Sunday Times Rich List published today.
Higher energy costs and more competition from the Middle East resulted in Ratcliffe falling 15 places on last year's position.

The former chemical engineer has been described as "the chemical industry's answer to Lakshmi Mittal", Britain's richest man, as well as the UK's "most private billionaire".

He has succeeded in maintaining a low profile until recently, with his name meaning little to most motorists.

His estimated fortune last year was £3.3bn. He took over BP's Grangemouth plant in 2006 for $9bn (£4.54bn).

The 54-year-old began his career working for Esso Petroleum and Courtaulds, before joining the venture capital firm Advent International. In 1992, he left Advent and led a buy-out of an earlier offshoot of BP, its speciality chemicals division, which became Inspec. He then acquired Ineos from Inspec in a £90.5m deal in 1998.

A series of bold takeovers followed and he bought chunks of ICI, Dow and Degussa. The quiet family man, based in Southampton, has admitted he was "surprised" at the speed of the group's rise.

International Coal shareholders re-elect billionaire, CEO

2008-08-12T19:26:00.001-07:00

SCOTT DEPOT, W.Va. (AP) - International Coal Group shareholders have re-elected billionaire investor Wilbur Ross and Chief Executive Ben Hatfield to the mine operator's board.

ICG says shareholders also re-elected Wendy Teramoto at Wednesday's meeting in New York. All will serve three more years as directors. Ross' investment company, W.L. Ross & Co., owns approximately 24.5 million shares, or slightly more than 16 percent, of ICG and is the company's largest shareholder.

Based in Scott Depot, ICG has 12 mining complexes and controls approximately 960 million tons of coal reserves in Illinois, Kentucky, West Virginia, Maryland and Virginia. ICG's stock fell 47 cents, or 4.6 percent, to $9.65.

The McCaw Mystery; Billionaire, 45, Seeks A Future. No Hurry.

2008-08-05T18:52:00.001-07:00

Craig O. McCaw, who became both a billionaire and unemployed when he sold his cellular telephone company in September to the AT&T Corporation, says he is browsing for new ventures but still does not know what to do with the rest of his life.

Mr. McCaw, who is 45, caused a stir last week by applying to bid in the Federal Communications Commission's December auction of new licenses for wireless telephone and data services.

Speculation began almost immediately. Did the founder of McCaw Cellular Communications plan to compete against his old company? Did he have some radically new idea for using radio frequencies?

Maybe, maybe not. "People shouldn't believe that, just because I got a catalogue from Christies, it means I'm going buy anything," Mr. McCaw said in his first public comment on the issue this week.

"I'm really doing a lot of soul-searching," he said. "Is this going to be embarrassing? Is this going to cause trouble? Do I need to do all this at this point in my life?"

Mr. McCaw has plenty of time -- not to mention money -- on his hands. He was not asked to take an executive role at AT&T when he sold McCaw Cellular, and he announced two weeks ago that he would not serve on AT&T's board. The entrepreneur, who is now AT&T's's biggest shareholder, said he wanted to avoid conflicts of interest.

Mr. McCaw has assembled about a half-dozen associates around him, and he clearly does not plan to retire. He also made it clear that he did not want to start building another cellular telephone company, and that he might be looking for specific opportunities in certain regions of the country.

Even though he is required to put up more than $50 million in earnest money to bid in the auctions for so-called personal communication services, Mr. McCaw said he wanted to keep his options open. "I haven't got a plan," he said.

Instead, he said, he simply told his lawyers to file for permission to bid on every region in which AT&T would not want to bid.

"If the truth be known," he said, "I haven't got a clue."

Blair pushed through deal for Indian billionaire who gave Labour £125,000

2008-07-29T18:28:00.001-07:00

TONY BLAIR intervened to help an Indian billionaire buy a giant Romanian steel company a month after the tycoon donated £125,000 to the Labour Party, The Telegraph can reveal.

In an extraordinary letter, Mr Blair told Romania's prime minister that selling his biggest state-owned enterprise to Lakshmi Mittal, one of the world's richest men, would enhance the country's chances of joining the European Union.

Mr Blair later told MPs that Mr Mittal's company was British. In fact, LNM Holdings is based in a Caribbean tax haven. It operates almost entirely overseas and competes against British steelmakers that have shed 6,000 jobs in the past year.

The disclosures are an acute embarrassment to the Prime Minister following a series of allegations that the Government favoured firms that gave to Labour, including the affair of the £1 million Bernie Ecclestone donation, revealed by The Telegraph in 1997.

Idaho Potato King J.R. Simplot Dead at 99

2008-07-22T18:21:00.001-07:00

BOISE, Idaho (AP) - Ada County Coroner Erwin Sonnenberg says Idaho frozen food magnate J.R. Simplot died Sunday in his Boise. He was 99.

Sonnenberg says Simplot died of natural causes. In the 1950s, Simplot's Caldwell-based potato business developed the first frozen french fry, which became a staple of fast-food restaurants such as McDonald's and others.

Simplot parlayed the operation into an estimated at $3.6 billion fortune, according to Forbes Magazine.

In 2004, Simplot donated his 7,000 square foot mansion to the state for use as a governor's mansion. Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter, his former son-in-law and one-time company executive chose not to move into the home.

A History Entwined:
J.R. Simplot and the Simplot Company

J.R. 'Jack' Simplot began his colorful career at the age of 14 when he quit school and went into business on his own in 1923, near the small farming community of Declo, Idaho.

Jack poured seemingly boundless energy into many endeavors. By the early years of World War II, the Simplot Company had become the largest shipper of fresh potatoes in the country and was selling millions of pounds of dehydrated onions and potatoes to the military.

When wartime shortages made it difficult to buy fertilizer, Jack built a manufacturing plant in Pocatello, Idaho, and produced his own. That kind of ingenuity and determination continued during the early 1950s as the Simplot Company created and marketed the first commercially viable frozen french fries in the world.

Throughout his business career, he has blended a gambler's intuition with a businessman's judgment and common sense. Jack and his wife, Esther Becker Simplot, make their home in Boise, not far from his company's headquarters and a little more than 100 miles from the farm where he was raised. Jack has one daughter, Gay Simplot, and two sons, Don and Scott. Another son, Richard, died in 1993.

Jack has been honored by the World Potato Congress and the Idaho Potato Hall of Fame for his contributions to the industry, and has been recognized by numerous organizations for his achievements in business and financial support of education, the performing arts, and many communities.

Although Jack Simplot will remain forever fixed as the founder, leader and inspiration of the Simplot Company, it is equally true that scores of dedicated employees contributed mightily to the success of the company.

Governor Otter released the following statement:

"J.R. Simplot was a wonderful man and a great mentor who embodied what Idaho is all about. His love of family, his appreciation of America, his work ethic and his devotion to making this a better world through the free enterprise system all are values to which Idaho aspires. He had a huge impact on my life for over 30 years, and I shall miss him."

Billionaire James Sorenson leaves his fortune to charity

2008-07-15T18:14:00.001-07:00

The family of Utah inventor and billionaire philanthropist James LeVoy Sorenson said today that he willed his entire personal fortune to charity.

Sorenson died of cancer last month at age 86.

Last year, Forbes Magazine estimated his wealth to be approximately $4.5 billion.

Sorenson was known for his numerous medical inventions and successful business endeavors, in addition to his dedication to charitable causes. His son, James Lee Sorenson, said his father had talked about leaving his vast fortune behind to help various worthy causes.

"Over time, particularly the last 10 to 20 years having been successful, he asked himself, 'What is it that I can do with my wealth?' And he came to this conclusion."

James Lee Sorenson said the Sorenson Legacy Foundation will administer and choose which deserving organizations will receive gifts from his father's estate. Previous beneficiaries of gifts from the foundation have included Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., a college for deaf and hard of hearing students, and the University of Utah.