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These are China's 10 youngest billionaires

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China money YuanAfter inheriting a fortune from her father, the 19-year-old Alexandra Andresen has been named the youngest billionaire on the globe by the Forbes World’s Billionaire List. Forbes has got Weibo talking about money.

The teenage girl Alexandra Andresen from Norway is worth an estimated 1.2 billion US$ according to the Forbes billionaires list. The young rich woman became trending on China’s social media site Sina Weibo under the title of ’19-year-old girl becomes world’s youngest multi-millioniare’ (19岁少女成世界最年轻亿万富翁).

In light of this news, What’s on Weibo explores who the richest ‘kids’ of mainland China are: a top 10 of China’s youngest billionaires, according to Forbes’ World’s Billionaires.

#1 Wang Han (王瀚, 28 years old): $1.3 billion

At just 28 years, Wang Han became one of the world’s youngest billionaires – he is number 7 in the international top 10. Wang became a billionaire after inheriting shares in regional airline Juneyao Air (吉祥航空有限公司) from his late father Wang Junyao (王均瑶), who was the founder.

According to Forbes, Wang Han owns 27% of the airline and 14% of department store Wuxi Commercial Mansion Grand Orient (无锡商业大厦大东方股份有限公司). The Juneyao Group also has businesses in the education and food sector. They are also active on social media; Juneyao also has a rather large fanbase on its Weibo account.



#2 Wang Yue (王悦, 32 years old): $1.1 billion

Wang Yue is a newcomer to the list of the world’s youngest billionaires, according to Forbes 2016. He is called China’s “web game billionaire”. Wang earned a fortune being an online and mobile game entrepreneur. He is the CEO of Shanghai Kingnet Technology (上海恺英网络科技有限公司), better known as Kingnet (恺英网络).



#3 Cheng Wei (程维, 33 years old): $1 billion

Cheng Wei (程维, 1983) is CEO of China’s Uber rival Didi Kuaidi (滴滴快滴), a transportation company which was formed in early 2015 as a merge of Cheng’s company Didi Dache and Alibaba’s Kuaidi Dache. Previous to starting his own company, Cheng worked for Alibaba for 8 years and became vice president for Alibaba’s online payment service Alipay. Cheng has a verified Weibo account, but he has not posted much since his rise to fame.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

This chart shows the 9 things the world's richest people worry about

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richkid4

When you're unbelievably wealthy, it's hard to imagine you'd have much to worry about.

After all, you don't have to worry about putting food on the table, being able to buy a house big enough for your family, or even taking time out to change careers because you have enough in the bank to take a break.

However, luxury estate agent Knight Frank teamed up with high-net worth research firm Wealth-X to deliver a comprehensive "Wealth Report" on everything that makes the richest people in the world tick.

Nestled in the huge report there was one chart that illustrated some of the world's wealthiest people's concerns — with personal and family health, along with the environment, right at the bottom of the list of worries.

wealthchart1

While issues like succession and inheritance still dominate rich people's concerns after 10 years, it's interesting to see worries over the global economy and staying compliant have dramatically increased.

In other words, the world's wealthiest are worried about falling foul of the law when it comes to making their money.

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The 11 companies with the most billionaires in the world

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h&m

As of 2016, there are 2,188 billionaires across the world, according to a recent report from Hurun, a Shanghai firm that releases yearly rankings and research about the world's richest people.

It turns out that some companies have a higher concentration of the richest of the rich than others. Of course, some of these companies are run by powerful families that have multiple billionaires in their clan, but others are not.

Read on to see the 11 companies with the most billionaires:

SEE ALSO: The 20 youngest self-made billionaires in the world

Facebook

Headquarters: Menlo Park, California

Number of employees: 12,700

Number of billionaires: 5

The social-networking service and website was cofounded in 2004 by current CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Dustin Moskovitz, Eduardo SaverinAndrew McCollum, and Chris Hughes.

In 2015, Facebook generated $12.5 billion in annual sales. It also topped Business Insider's 2015 list of the 50 best companies to work for in America.



Estée Lauder

Headquarters: New York City, New York

Number of employees: 44,000

Number of billionaires: 5

Estée Lauder, which manufactures and markets skin-care, makeup, fragrance, and hair-care products, was cofounded by the husband-wife team of Estée Lauder and Joseph Lauder in 1946.

Today, the Lauder family controls 77% of the company's voting power and has an estimated net worth of $16.5 billion.



Hennes & Mauritz

Headquarters: Stockholm, Sweden

Number of employees: 93,351

Number of billionaires: 5

H&M, the popular clothing and accessories company, was founded in 1947 by Erling Persson. His son, Stefan Persson, took over as CEO for 16 years, until 1998.

Today, Stefan owns a 28% stake and serves as chairman, while his son, Karl-Johan, serves as CEO.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

25 pictures that take you inside the luxurious mansions of the super rich

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Charleston mansions along water

We've given you a glimpse into the fabulous lives of the super rich— and noted some of the outrageous things they can buy with their billions — but perhaps more representative of their extravagant lives are their lavish homes.

Thanks to CNBC's show "Secret Lives of the Super Rich," which returns on March 30, anyone can take a peak behind the closed doors of the richest of the rich.

We sorted through CNBC's Instagram account, @cnbcsuperrich, and gathered pictures of some of the poshest homes out there.

Dare to dream!

SEE ALSO: The 15 countries with the most billionaires

Their penthouses look like something from the future.

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There's no need to travel to the real Arc de Triomphe when your patio looks like this.

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If the infinity pool or jacuzzi get boring, the Atlantic is just a few strides away.

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See the rest of the story at Business Insider

The incredible life of Melinda Gates — one of the world's richest and most powerful women

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Melinda Gates

Melinda Gates is best known as Bill's other half. Some may even say she's his better half.

Melinda — who shares an estimated fortune of $89.4 billion with her husband — has become one of the most powerful female philanthropists in the world as co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which she helmed virtually on her own for the first six years of operation.

In addition to the pair's education and healthcare initiatives, Melinda takes a personal interest in women's issues around the world. At the forefront of her agenda is expanding the availability of contraception and, most recently,bringing awareness to the concept of time poverty — the notion that hours of daily unpaid work like household chores end up "robbing women of their potential."

"When you invest in women, you invest in the people who invest in everybody else,"she wrote in a Fortune article last year outlining the benefits of hiring women in business. "And if you gradually start to take action, it won’t be long before you realize that investing in women is good for your mind, good for your soul, and good for your business."

On International Women's Day, a celebration of women's progress and achievements, here's a look at the incredible force that is Melinda Gates.

SEE ALSO: Melinda Gates reveals the best way for cash-strapped 20-somethings to make a big impact in philanthropy

DON'T MISS: The Bill Gates Interview

Melinda Gates (neè French) grew up in Dallas, Texas, with her parents — a stay-at-home mother and an aerospace-engineer father — and her three siblings. The family belonged to the local Roman Catholic parish.

Source: Telegraph



The Frenches were intent on sending all four of their children to college, so Melinda's father started a side business for rental properties. "We would help him run the business and keep the books," she said. "We saw money coming in and money going out."

Source: Fortune



Melinda was valedictorian and head of the drill team at her high school, Ursuline Academy of Dallas. In 2007, the Gates Foundation donated $7 million to Ursuline for the construction of The French Family Science, Math, and Technology Center — a 70,000 sq. ft. LEED Gold certified laboratory and classroom building.

Source: Ursuline Dallas, Marie Claire



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

This chart shows the 20 youngest self-made billionaires in the world

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mark zuckerberg, facebook, sv100 2015

Mark Zuckerberg reached billionaire status at the ripe age of 23, becoming the youngest self-made billionaire in history — today, the 31-year-old Facebook cofounder and CEO's estimated wealth is $45 billion.

He's not the only self-made billionaire under age 35.

A recent report from Hurun, a Shanghai firm that releases yearly rankings and research about the world's richest people, rounded up the youngest self-made billionaires in the world and their estimated wealth.

Here's who made the list:BI_Graphics_Youngest self made billionaires_02

SEE ALSO: How old 15 self-made billionaires were when they earned their first billion

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NOW WATCH: This couple ditched their 9 to 5 jobs to make a living traveling the world

The billionaire owner of Ikea still buys second-hand clothes to save money

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Ingvar Kamprad

Ingvar Kamprad is the founder of Ikea and is worth an estimated €65.5 billion (£50.5 billion; $71.8 billion). He can pretty much buy whatever he wants.

But according to an interview on Swedish TV, cited by The Guardian, he still buys second-hand clothes.

"I don’t think I’m wearing anything that wasn’t bought at a flea market,” the 89-year-old said in a documentary to be aired on Sweden's TV4. "I want to set a good example."

He put such intense frugality down to his upbringing, saying "it's in the nature of a Smaland to be thrifty."

Smaland is a rural province in south Sweden where Kamprad grew up and started Ikea.

But Kamprad went on to note that he doesn't stop at his apparel: "Normally, I try to get my haircut when I’m in a developing country. Last time it was in Vietnam."

Kamprad founded Ikea in 1943 as a mail-order sales business, and it soon began selling furniture before opening its first physical store in Smaland in 1958. The chain spread aggressively in Europe during the 1970s and now has 381 stores worldwide.

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The billionaire founder of Ikea has some bizarrely frugal habits

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ingvar kamprad ikea

Ikea's founder, Ingvar Kamprad, is a billionaire.

In fact, he's the second-richest man in Europe, with a reported net worth of $39.3 billion.

But he doesn't spend all of his money on Louis Vuitton luggage and Cartier cuff links.

Rather, he shops at flea markets, The Local Se reports. Kamprad reportedly revealed this information in a Swedish documentary. 

"I don’t think I’m wearing anything that wasn’t bought at a flea market. It means that I want to set a good example," he said in the television special on TV74, according to The Guardian, adding that "It’s in the nature of Smaland to be thrifty."

(For what it's worth, Smaland is the children's mini-playground in Ikea stores.)

ikea swedish meatballs

It pays to be smart with your money, but Kamprad is famously frugal; he flies economy class and eats the famous Swedish meatballs at Ikea, Express has noted. Express claims that he even takes the salt and pepper packets from Ikea's cafeteria.

But extreme thriftiness isn't limited to the Swedes.

In fact, many other billionaires are notoriously frugal, including Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Inditex founder Amancio Ortega, and billionaire investor Warren Buffet. 

SEE ALSO: 7 extremely wealthy people who choose to live frugally

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Billionaire entrepreneur Peter Thiel explains precisely how Mark Zuckerberg changed the world


T. Boone Pickens' strict morning routine will inspire you to plan your days better

One of the most powerful families in America has launched an investment fund to manage its billions

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Charles and David Koch

One of America's most powerful — and richest — families is launching its own private wealth management firm to invest its billions.

Charles and David Koch, worth a combined $100 billion, have started a family office, Bloomberg's Margaret Collins reports.

1888 Management LLC is named for the year the billionaires' grandfather, Hotze Koch, emigrated to America from the Netherlands.

The office has more than $2 billion under management, according to the report, although it holds less than $100 million in publicly traded stocks.

It's incorporated in Delaware and registered in California, Florida, and Kansas.

Under the leadership of Trent May, who joined from Wyoming's Retirement System and before that, his own hedge fund, the firm reportedly aims to take large, direct stakes in companies. It has already invested in the telecom X5 OpCo LLC, according to the report.

The family office was initially part of Koch Industries, which is the second-largest privately owned company in the US.

Read the full story over at Bloomberg »

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: This is how rapper 50 Cent made millions and then lost it

There are signs China is turning against Alibaba

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jack ma alibaba

Quietly, the Chinese government is turning against Alibaba.

There have been no direct official statements from leaders, but there don't have to be, because we know how China works.

The state media has been highlighting negative aspects of the company since last week.

These are things that have always been issues for Alibaba, but suddenly they are fodder for the country's tightly controlled media, a media that doesn't usually criticize domestic companies.

Now you may be asking yourself, why would the Chinese government turn against one of the country's biggest business-success stories?

It could go back to an anti-Xi Jinping article published on an Alibaba-owned news site in Western China.

Xi's country

Last week, The Washington Post reported that Wujie News, which is jointly owned by SEEC Media Group, Alibaba and the government of Xinjiang, a province in Western China, published a scathing editorial against President Xi Jinping.

The editorial accused him of ditching collective rule by China's Communist Party and becoming an autocrat. None of this is news to Western observers, but it's definitely something you don't say on the mainland.

And you definitely don't say it in Xinjiang, the province that's home to China's Muslim minority, the Uygurs.

From WaPo:

The letter, signed "loyal Communist Party members," lambasts China's president for "abandoning the principle of collective leadership," for concentrating power in his own hands and "indulging" flatterers. Xi's declaration that the press should serve the party, not the people "dismayed the whole nation," it charges.

This all went down after Xi's government released a bunch of creepy new restrictions on the media. The editorial was swiftly taken down.

The aftermath

Since then, a couple of weird things have happened to Alibaba.

For the first time, China's state television station, CCTV, ran a documentary slamming Alibaba for fake goods on its website. Alibaba says it spends hundreds of millions of dollars combating this problem, and media outlets outside of China have been talking about it for over a year. But for some reason, now this is an issue in China.

Another weird thing — the Chinese government is scrutinizing one of Alibaba's new businesses, an online food-delivery service called Ele.me. It's a fast-growing market in which Alibaba is the biggest player, with a 33.7% market share. The government is accusing it of allowing unqualified vendors to sell food on its platform. Two Chinese state agencies are investigating the company.

Who knows how far this will go. Jack Ma could apologize to Xi Jinping, assure him that Alibaba is not a power big enough to challenge the government, and they could all be friends again.

Or this could turn into a Russia versus the oligarchs, China style.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: This is how rapper 50 Cent made millions and then lost it

These are the wealthiest billionaires under 35

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The first billion is the hardest, according to oil magnate T. Boone Pickens.

And while getting to a net worth of $1 billion at any point in time is a feat, doing it before the age of 35 is even more impressive. Today’s infographic describes the world’s wealthiest billionaires under 35 years old.

Note: the list is based on net worth in 2015, and the ages listed correspond to that time as well.

  1. Mark Zuckerberg: $45.3 billion
  2. Dustin Moskovitz: $9.3 billion
  3. Eduardo Luiz Saverin: $6.3 billion
  4. Yang Huiyan: $5.2 billion
  5. Scott Daniel Duncan: $5 billion
  6. Elizabeth Holmes: $4.5 billion
  7. Nathan Blecharczyk: $3.3 billion
  8. Brian Chesky: $3.3 billion
  9. Joe Gebbia: $3.3 billion
  10. Thomas Persson: $2.9 billion

A COMMON THREAD

To make it onto this list of the wealthiest billionaires under 35, it would appear there are two possible routes.

The first would be to inherit billions from parents that own a big real estate company or retail brand such as H&M. If that option is not available, the alternative is to get involved in the early stages of an insanely successful startup such as Facebook, Airbnb, or Theranos.

The latter route also has the best outlier on the list, with Mark Zuckerberg’s wealth of $45.3 billion topping the combined amount ($43.1 billion) of the remaining nine names.

wealthiest professionals under 35

SEE ALSO: Corporate dealmaking has collapsed

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IKEA’s billionaire creator turns 90 today — here’s how he built the world’s largest furniture store

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Ingvar Kamprad

Ingvar Kamprad, the Swedish business magnate who founded IKEA, turns 90 today. Employees celebrated with cake at the company's headquarters in Sweden, according to one of IKEA's designers.

Kamprad started IKEA more than 70 years ago, and today the beloved brand is the world's largest furniture maker. Though he no longer actively manages the company — one of his sons serves as chairman — he remains a senior adviser.

With an estimated net worth of$39.3 billion, Kamprad ranks as the 10th-richest person on earth and the second-richest in Europe. Still, Kamprad is considered one of the world's most frugal billionaires.

The 90-year-old grew his flatpacking-furniture brand by maintaining a personal and professional ethos of innovation and simplicity. 

From humble beginnings selling holiday tchotchkes to his neighbors as a child, Kamprad started a revolutionary, privately held furniture giant with $33 billion in sales  — and became one of the richest people on the planet in the process.

SEE ALSO: The 8 richest people in Europe

SEE ALSO: The 50 richest people on earth

Kamprad was born in the south of Sweden in 1926 and by the age of 5 began selling matches for profit. At 10, he rode his bike around the neighborhood to sell Christmas decorations, fish, and pencils.

Source: Business Insider, Sweden.se



In his teens, Kamprad became involved in a Nazi youth movement by the influence of his German grandmother, who was "a great admirer of Hitler." He later described that time as "the greatest mistake of my life" and even penned a letter to his employees asking their forgiveness.

Source: Telegraph, Fortune



When Kamprad was 17, his dad gave him a cash reward for making good grades in school despite his dyslexia. He used the money to found IKEA in 1943. Kamprad didn't introduce furniture until five years in; he'd started by selling small household items, like picture frames.

Source: Business Insider



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

21 books by billionaires that will teach you how to run the world

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Bill Gates Summer Books

Whether you want to launch an empire or become the best in your field, who better to consult than those who've achieved the peak of professional and financial success?

That's why we've rounded up 21 books by self-made billionaires. From the business insights of Bill Gates to the leadership lessons of Richard Branson, the wisdom collected in these pages extends far beyond the classroom.

Learn how these masters of industry achieved the impossible, in their own words.

SEE ALSO: 9 books to read if you want to be a billionaire

DON'T MISS: The 27 jobs that are most damaging to your health

'The Virgin Way' by Richard Branson

Although Branson confesses he's never read a book on leadership, his nearly 50-year entrepreneurial career has taught him a thing or two about building a business.

In "The Virgin Way," the billionaire founder of Virgin Group offers lessons on management and entrepreneurialism, including the importance of listening to others and hiring the right people. Branson is honest about his successes as well as his failures, such as underestimating Coke's influence when he tried to launch Virgin Cola in the 1990s.

Overall, the book is a compelling glimpse into the life of someone who's never shied away from a challenge.

Find it here >>



'Onward' by Howard Schultz

After resigning as Starbucks CEO in 2000, Schultz returned to the post in 2008, just as the company was struggling through a financial crisis. "Onward" details how the billionaire brought the global coffee chain back to life.

Readers will learn how Schultz made tough decisions — like temporarily shutting down more than 7,000 US stores — in order to help Starbucks grow without neglecting its core values. They'll learn, too, about Schultz as a person, as he weaves together his unique business strategy with anecdotes about growing up in Brooklyn, New York. It's an honest and passionate recounting that will inspire entrepreneurs and everyone else to be brave in the face of adversity.

Find it here >>



'How to Win at the Sport of Business' by Mark Cuban

In "How to Win at the Sport of Business," Dallas Mavericks owner and "Shark Tank" investor Cuban fleshes out his best insights on entrepreneurialism from his personal blog.

He writes candidly about how he progressed from sleeping on his friends' couches in his 20s to owning his own company and becoming a multibillionaire. It's a story of commitment and perseverance — Cuban writes that even though he didn't know much about computers, he beat his competition because he spent so much time learning about the software his company sold. 

Find it here >>



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The world's 15 richest self-made women are worth $53 billion — more than the GDP of Iceland

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richest self made women on earthThe top tier of wealth in the world is a veritable boys' club, with only four women breaking the top 50. But that doesn't mean there aren't plenty of women who have earned huge fortunes for themselves as well.

With data from Wealth-X, a company that conducts research on the super wealthy, Business Insider has taken a look at the richest self-made women in the world. These women have built companies, pioneered new technologies, and made huge advances in their respective fields. They're worth a combined $53.1 billion — larger than the combined gross domestic product of Honduras, Iceland, and Cambodia.

The list includes household names like media mogul Oprah Winfrey as well as influential but lesser-known personalities such as Gap founder Doris Fisher.

Keep reading to see how these 15 women made their fortunes.

SEE ALSO: The 25 richest self-made billionaires

DON'T MISS: The 20 youngest self-made billionaires in the world

14. TIE: Lynda Resnick

Net worth: $2.4 billion

Country: US

Age: 72

Industry: Agriculture

Source of wealth: The Wonderful Company

At 19, Resnick, a former child actress and daughter of a Hollywood movie producer, dropped out of college to found an advertising company called Lynda Limited. In 1973, Resnick married her second husband, Stewart Resnick, who was managing a private security business, and the two combined their assets.

The Resnicks made a succession of company acquisitions and sales throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Their first forays into agriculture included the purchase of a 12,000-acre pistachio and almond farm in California for $30 million.

The company today generates $4 billion in sales from best-selling brands like Wonderful pistachios, Pom Wonderful pomegranate juice, Wonderful Halos (formerly Cuties California clementines), Fiji Water, Justin Vineyards, and the Teleflora flower-delivery service. Last summer, Roll Global was renamed The Wonderful Company, where Resnick serves as vice chairman.

The Resnicks are no strangers to controversy. The Federal Trade Commission successfully sued them for deceptively marketing and inflating the health benefits of their pomegranate juice (the Resnicks are appealing to the Supreme Court). They have also taken heat for their access to and use of water during California's drought.  



14. TIE: Marian Ilitch

Net worth: $2.4 billion

Country: US

Age: 83

Industry: Diversified

Source of wealth: Little Caesars

Ilitch has been in the food industrysince she was a little girl. Starting at age 10, she worked at her father's restaurant in Dearborn, Michigan, where she filled the salt and pepper shakers. In 1959, Ilitch and her husband, Mike, opened the first Little Caesars pizza store, the moniker stemming from Marian's nickname for Mike. In 1962, the couple sold their first franchise for $5,000. Today Little Caesars has more than 4,000 fast-serve pizza restaurants.

Though the Ilitches command one of the largest takeout pizza chains in the US, their overall empire is even larger. Ilitch Holdings consists of 10 companies that specialize in food, sports, and entertainment, including the MLB's Detroit Tigers, the NHL's Detroit Red Wings, and the MotorCity Casino in Detroit. They bought the Red Wings for $8 million in 1982; the franchise is worth $600 million today.

The Ilitches will both be inducted into the International Franchise Association's Hall of Fame this year.



11. TIE: Johnelle Hunt

Net worth: $2.5 billion

Country: US

Age: 84

Industry: Logistics

Source of wealth: J.B. Hunt Transport Services

When the J.B. Hunt Company opened in 1962, founded by Hunt's husband, Johnnie, who died in 2006, she started out as a part-time employee, helping get the business off the ground. Hunt quickly became an integral part of the company, moving up to full-time employee and then cofounding the logistics company J.B. Hunt Transport alongside her husband in 1969 with only five tractors and seven trailers.

Thanks to Hunt's entrepreneurial vision, the transportation company grew, eventually integrating J.B. Hunt proper into it. The company went public in 1983, and by 2004 it commanded more than 11,000 trucks and more than 16,000 employees. Today the company is worth $9.5 billion.

In 2001, Hunt cofounded Hunt Ventures, an office and retail development company, where she still serves as chairman. The company tackles large-scale real-estate projects, such as Pinnacle Hills, a 700-acre development that will feature more than 2.5 million square feet of restaurants, retail space, and offices.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

The 15 most billionaire-dense countries

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monaco

There are 1826 billionaires in the world and there are some countries that have hundreds of them.

However, while nations like China may house some of the world's richest people, with 400 billionaires, it doesn't actually have the highest number of billionaires in proportion to the population.

Approved Index, a UK-based business-networking group, crunched the numbers from Forbes' billionaire list for 2015 using this week's data and found that the most billionaire-dense nations across the world are pretty surprising.

15. Taiwan

Number of billionaires: 33

Population: 23,456,545

Population per one billionaires: 710,804

Taiwan's billionaires have a combined net worth of $117.1 billion ($75.1 billion) after a boom in its financial services sector and strong trade links with China. Daniel and Richard Tsai are the richest men in the country, with a net worth of $10 billion (£6.4 billion), after assuming leadership of financial services giant Fubon Financial.



14. Kuwait

Number of billionaires: 5

Population: 3,268,431

Population per one billionaires: 653,686

Kuwait is the fifth richest country in the world, as measured by GDP per capita, with $70,914 per person. This is mainly because the geographically small country has a relatively open economy with crude oil reserves of about 102 billion barrels, according to Forbes. 



13. United States

Number of billionaires: 536

Population: 321,369,000

Population per one billionaires: 599,569

The U.S. houses the largest amount of billionaires in the world and continues to dominate the rankings for the world's richest people. You have Microsoft founder Bill Gates who tops the overall wealthiest people in the world list with a net worth of $79.4 billion (£50.9 billion) and legendary investor Warren Buffett with $67.3 billion (£43.2 billion) at third. It ranks lower in the list though when looking at the number of billionaires per proportion of the population.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

An inside look at how J.K. Rowling, one of the most influential people alive, turned rejection into unprecedented success

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JK Rowling

On a delayed train journey from Manchester to King's Cross station in London, the characters Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley, and Hermione Granger came "fully formed" to the mind of a young temp named Joanne Rowling.

In the six tumultuous years following, she would imagine an entire magical world of witches and wizards, assume the pen name J.K. Rowling, and publish "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone," the first novel in the now beloved "Harry Potter" series.

Rowling has since become the UK's best-selling living author, and her books have brought in more than $25 billion and sold more copies than any other book series — but not before Rowling had to overcome the hardships of rejection and being a single mother living on welfare.

Here's an inside look at how Rowling went from living on welfare to becoming one of the world's top-earning authors:

SEE ALSO: 10 real rejection letters successful people have received

Born in the southwest of England, Rowling grew up along the border of England and Wales with her mother, father, and sister. She's said that she had always known she would be a book author. "As soon as I knew what writers were, I wanted to be one. I've got the perfect temperament for a writer; perfectly happy alone in a room, making things up." She wrote her first book (about a rabbit named Rabbit) at age six, and when her mother praised her work, she says she "stood there and thought, 'Well, get it published then.'"

Source: JKRowling.com



Rowling's teenage years weren't particularly happy, she told The New Yorker, claiming she came from a difficult family and saying her mother's 10-year battle with multiple sclerosis took a toll on her and the family. "You couldn't give me anything to make me go back to being a teenager. Never. No, I hated it," she told The Guardian.

Source: The New YorkerThe Guardian



Rowling said she "couldn't wait to get out" of her house. After studying French and classics at Exeter University, she went to work for Amnesty International in London as a researcher, among other jobs. It was during this time on a train journey from Manchester to her job in London that she began writing her "Harry Potter" series.

Source: The Guardian

 



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

This infographic breaks down the world's 50 richest people by age, location, and the source of their fortunes

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Courtesy of: The Money Project

 

Bill Gates. Warren Buffett. Mark Zuckerberg. George Soros. Charles and David Koch.

On an individual level, the people that make the definitive list of the Top 50 Wealthiest Billionaires are interesting, divisive, and envied around the globe. Together, they are a real force to be reckoned with: their combined fortunes tally to $1.46 trillion, which is more money than the GDP of entire countries such as Australia or Spain.

Today’s data visualization, using the latest information from Wealth-X, takes an in-depth look at the world’s wealthiest billionaires by breaking down important data on age, location, and the source of their fortunes.

Billionaires by Geography

The lion’s share of the wealthiest billionaires still come from the United States, where 58% of the list is located. The rest are mostly in Europe (16%) and China (12%), which includes those from Hong Kong.

The Southern Hemisphere only has one billionaire – Jorge Lemann from Brazil. However, even he now lives in Switzerland.

Surprisingly, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Japan, and Russia combine to have a grand total of zero representation on the Top 50 Billionaires list.

Billionaires by Age

The youngest billionaire on the list is Mark Zuckerberg, at just 31 years of age. The oldest is Liliane Bettencourt, the principal shareholder of cosmetic giant L’Oréal. She is 93 years old.

The age of tech billionaires skewed the lowest, with an average age of 51. The age of all non-tech billionaires was far higher at 72.

Charles KochFamily Ties

The Walton siblings, which include Rob, Alice, and Jim Walton, are all descendants of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton, and each have healthy fortunes of over $33 billion.

Meanwhile, the sons and daughters of Forrest Mars Sr., the creator of a candy empire, are not doing too bad for themselves, either. Forrest Jr., Jacqueline, and John Mars each have respective fortunes of $28.6 billion.

The divisive Koch Brothers also are high on the list, inheriting their initial wealth from father Fred C. Koch, the founder of Koch Industries. They succeeded in buying out their two other brothers, Frederick and William, after highly-publicized court battles in the 1980s and 1990s. Today the Koch Brothers have a combined fortune of $94.2 billion.

Other billionaires are connected by being from the same corporate family, sharing in the success of creating empires from the ground up. Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer, and Paul Allen all worked to create Microsoft, and Larry Page and Sergey Brin built Google (now Alphabet) into one of the biggest companies in the world.

Billionaires by Industry

Technology, which brings us names such as Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Bill Gates, and Larry Ellison, has more billionaires than any other industry with 12.

The world’s largest fashion and retail brands, such as Wal-Mart, Zara, Nike, and H&M, also have helped to get many people on this list.

At the same time, other industries such as media are under-represented, with only two names with empires built in the sector making the top 50.

About the Money Project

The Money Project aims to use intuitive visualizations to explore ideas around the very concept of money itself. Founded in 2015 by Visual Capitalist and Texas Precious Metals, the Money Project will look at the evolving nature of money, and will try to answer the difficult questions that prevent us from truly understanding the role that money plays in finance, investments, and accumulating wealth.

SEE ALSO: Dubai will now charge passengers to fly through its airports because of the oil crash

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