Jeff Bezos
Jeff Bezos is the founder and CEO of Amazon as well as the owner of The Washington Post. Bezos is consistently ranked as one of the richest people in the world. In 1994, Bezos decided to create Amazon.com as an online bookstore. The business was named after the South American river. While the company started as just an online bookstore it has grown exponentially and is one of the main reasons e-commerce is where it is today. Bezos created “predictive analytics,” which recommends products to customers and makes shopping online an enjoyable experience.
Indra Nooyi
Indra Nooyi is a senior executive at PepsiCo. She is one of Forbes100 Most Powerful Women. She is helping to move PepsiCo toward healthier options instead of traditional fast food market. She helped Pepsi achieve record financial results while pursuing healthier options. She is committed as an executive.
Sheryl Sandberg
Sheryl Sandberg is an American technology executive. She studied economics and graduated as one of the top students in the undergrad economics department. She later then received her Master’s Degree in business from Harvard. Sandberg really stepped into the technology space when she started working for Google in 2001 in their business unit. She eventually became the president of the global online sales and operations division at Google. Sandberg helped to develop Google AdWords, which are responsible for much of Google’s earnings. In 2008, Sheryl Sandberg because the first COO at Facebook. She helped to create an advertising strategy that has allowed Facebook to become profitable. Sheryl focused on positioning Facebook as a platform for small business advertising, which increased ad revenue by 38% during 2018. Sherly has been an advocate for women in business to help more women have the courage to become business executives.
Tim Cook
Tim Cook is the current head of Apple. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering from Auburn University. He later earned his MBA from Duke University. He worked at IBM for 12 years. He worked for Intelligent Electronics as the chief operating officer of the Reseller Division. Prior to Apple he was the vice president of the Corporate Materials Division for Compaq. Now he is the current CEO of Apple. We can all agree that Steve Jobs left big shoes to fill and Cook has stepped up to the challenge. Apple has become the most valuable company in the world. Cook has headed Apple’s Macintosh division, serves on Apples board of directors, created new product lines, and has implemented retail stores.
Warren Buffet
Warren Buffett is the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. Berkshire Hathaway owns more than 60 companies including Geico, Duracell, and Dairy Queen. He is known as the “Oracle of Omaha.” He is a conservative trader and is the perfect example of patience. Slow and steady wins the race. He is one of the most successful investors of all time. He bought his first stock at age 11 and first filed taxes at age 13. He is self-made. He has promised to give away 99% of his fortune and is consistently one of the wealthiest people in the world.
Sir Richard Branson
Sir Richard Branson got his start with a mail-order record business 50 years ago. Now he owns more than 400 companies and is worth billions of dollars. He owes his fortune to the “Virgin” brand name including Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Galactic, and Virgin Group. He is looking to get into the cruise business by 2020 with Virgin Voyages.
Bob Iger
Bob Iger has been the CEO of Disney for the past 13 years. Iger graduated from Ithaca College. He began his career in 1974 at ABC. At ABC, he gained hands-on experience in the television business including sports, news, entertainment, program acquisition, business affairs, and rights negotiations. Iger helped to facilitate the complex merger between Capital Cities/ABC, Inc. and The Walt Disney Company. Bob officially joined the Disney senior management team in 1996 as the Chairmen of the Disney-owned ABC Group. In 1999 he was given additional responsibilities as the President of Walt Disney International. Before his current role, Bob was the President and CEO in October 2005 and the President and COO from 2000-2005. His strategic vision for The Walt Disney Company has been to generate the best creative content possible, utilizing technology and fostering innovation, and expanding into new markets. Disney has become an industry leader through its creative content and unforgettable storytelling. He has helped the theme parks expand into Shanghai and Hong Kong. He has led major acquisitions including: Marvel, Pixar, Lucas Films, and the $52 billion deal to acquire 21st Century Fox. Bob is also a board member of Apple’s board of directors, National September 11 Memorial & Museum, Bloomberg Philanthropies, and Academy of Arts & Sciences. In July of 2019 Bob Iger’s contract at Disney will expire. He has also been considered as a Presidential candidate for the election in 2020.
Reed Hastings
Reed Hastings is the co-founder and CEO of Netflix. He received his BA from Bowdoin College and his MSAI from Stanford University. In 1995, Hastings cofounded Netflix and sold his first company, Pure Software. At the time he did not realize he would revolutionize how the world consumes content. The company originally started as a DVD subscription service but in 2007 began streaming content and created an online streaming platform. The streaming platform offers TV shows, films, and original content to its millions of members. It has become the foundation of digital entertainment. Hastings has also been a member on a number of boards including: the KIPP Foundation, Pahara Institute, Hispanic Foundation of Silicon Valley, Facebook, Dreambox, California Charter Schools Association, and Microsoft.
Bill Gates
Bill Gates founded Microsoft with Paul Allen in 1975. Gates attended Harvard University. Microsoft is the world’s largest PC software company. Gates remains a board member of Microsoft but he has sold or given away the majority of his stake in Microsoft. He only has a little over 1% of shares and has invested the rest in a mix of stocks and other assets. Gates has donated $35.8 billion worth of Microsoft stock to the Gates Foundation. Bill is one of the chairs of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation with his wife, the world’s largest private charitable foundation. The foundation is working to save lives and improve global health. The foundation is work to eliminate polio with the Rotary International. Bill is near the top of the world’s wealthiest people list each year. He is now transitioning into philanthropic ventures.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk is the co-founder and CEO of Tesla. He attended the University of Pennsylvania before he started creating businesses. Some of his first businesses include PayPal, which was the world’s leading Internet payment system and Zip2, which helped bring major publishers like the New York Times and Hearst online. Currently Musk helps run Tesla and Space X. At Tesla he oversees the production, design, engineering and manufacturing of more eco friendly vehicles. At Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), Musk is the lead designer and he oversees the development, manufacturing, and mission itinerary. SpaceX is a $20 billion company and the main goal is to create a self-sustaining city on Mars. He is also the CEO of Neuralink. Neuralink is developing ultra-high bandwidth brain-machine interfaces, which would allow the human brain to connect to computers. He is also the founder and CEO of The Boring Company, which combines affordable technology and public transportation systems to help alleviate congestion and enable long-distance travel. Elon Musk is an inventor and investor who is pushing the boundaries of technology. He is truly a visionary for the future.
I hope you enjoyed learning about a few really successful entrepreneurs. I know when I am starting a new project there are times when I do not think what I am doing is important. But you have to remind yourself that everyone started at the bottom, including all of these incredible people. You have to put in the work in order to get to where they are. Chances are you might not achieve the level of success that these individuals have; however, that does not mean you should shy away from the challenge because you will end up exactly where you are meant to be.
I want to continue this business topic trend because I really enjoy researching and learning about topics I find so interesting. Are there any top entrepreneurs that I did not include in this list that you think are important? What kind of business topics would you like me to research? Let me know in the comments!
Post a Comment