6 Extremely Rich People Who Didn’t Graduate from College

Most people go to college in order to acquire a degree which will be the basis for getting a good job and having a good pay check. However, this is not always the case, and there are people who either didn’t go to college at all or dropped out, but gathered bulks of money regardless. Some of them inherited a business and some founded their own companies, while others succeeded thanks to their intelligence and motivation or they were just lucky. Regardless of the way they became rich, here is the list of the wealthiest people who didn’t graduate from college.

1. Bill Gates

Of course, Bill Gates is at the top of our list of extremely rich people without a college degree. He actually started his studies at Harvard but dropped out. As you surely know, he is the founder of Microsoft. Bill Gates is not only the richest among those without a college degree, but the richest man in the world as well, and this year for the 16^th time, as declared by Forbes magazine’s annual ranking of global billionaires.

His current net worth is $79 billion.

2. Larry Ellison

At the age of 70, this entrepreneur, programmer and businessman is the third richest person without a college degree. He is the CEO and founder of Oracle, a software company. The source of his wealth comes from this company, and it seems that he is doing extremely well, considering his net worth of around $50 billion, according to this year’s Forbes statistics. Larry dropped out from two universities – University of Chicago and University of Illinois.

3. Amancio Ortega

IF you didn’t know who founded the famous chain of fashion clothing stores called Zara, now you do – it was Amancio Ortega. He probably didn’t even assume that he would become a billionaire. His current net worth is $66.5 billion, which is $41.5 billion more than he had in 2010. The rich are getting richer, and Amancio is no exception. He is now 79 years old and richer than ever. Although he didn’t graduate from college, his business model for Inditex is used for teaching in many business schools.

4. Liliane Bettencourt

This L’Oreal grand dame, business woman and philanthropist gathered most of her money from this cosmetics company, but she has been engaged in several other business projects too. At the age of 92, Liliane is one of the richest women in the world with a net worth of$39 billion. She didn’t even go to college, and hasn’t felt sorry about it. She said “Why bother with college when you inherited the largest cosmetics company in the world?” Lack of formal education didn’t stop her from becoming extremely rich, so her thoughts are understandable.

5. Christy Walton

According to Forbes, as of June this year Christy Walton’s net worth is $36.9 billion, which makes her the richest woman in the entire U.S. She inherited some of her wealth when her husband died, but she made a smart investment buying shares in Wal-Mart and investing in First Solar, so her money keeps piling up.

6. Li Ka-shing

Li Ka-shing made his fortune with real estate and doing various business endeavors. He made it to the list of the wealthiest people in the world yet he didn’t even graduate from high school. He dropped out when he was 15 and started working as a plastic flower salesman to support his family. His hardworking nature brought him all the wealth he may have dreamed of while he was poor, and with the current net worth of $26.6 billion and at the age of 87, he doesn’t have to worry about being poor ever again.