We can’t recommend drinking, smoking and gambling as a path to fortune, but it worked for these billionaires.Of the 1,810 individuals who made the 2016 soul world news list of the world’s richest people, 40 derive their wealth from the business of vice. Half of them inherited their wealth. Taken as a group, the world’s billionaires are 65% self-made.
#38 (Tie) Nobutada Saji
Net Worth: $1B
Citizenship: Japan
Source of Wealth: Beverages
2015 Getty Images
Citizenship: Japan
Source of Wealth: Beverages
Nobutada Saji got rich from a non-alcoholic drinks and snacks company. But his company’s recent $16 billion acquisition of Jim Beam places him firmly in the vice billionaire category.
#38 (Tie) Huang Bingwen
© 2016 Bloomberg Finance LP
Net worth: $1B
Citizenship: Australia
Source of Wealth: Cigarette Packaging
One of three billionaires on this
list whose wealth derives from the smoking industry, Bingwen made his
fortune without touching a tobacco leaf. His company Shantou Dongfeng
manufactures the paper packaging for cigarettes, and went public on the
Shanghai Stock Exchange in 2012.
#38 (Tie) Ken Grossman
Bloomberg
Net worth: $1B
Citizenship: United States
Source of Wealth: Beer
Craft beer pioneer Ken Grossman founded Sierra Nevada brewery
in 1978 when there were only 45 independent breweries in America.
Sierra Nevada, which is famous for its pale ale, earned $300 million in
revenues in 2015. Grossman, whose son runs a new brewery in North
Carolina, is keenly aware of Sierra Nevada’s environmental impact.
#36 (Tie) Susanne Veltins
Net worth: $1.1B
Citizenship: Germany
Source of Wealth: Beer
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Citizenship: Germany
Source of Wealth: Beer
Susanne Veltins is a
fifth-generation family member to head C. & A. Veltins brewery,
which has operated from the same site in Grevenstein, Germany since
1824. According to a comprehensive Euromonitor report on the German beer
industry, Veltins’ share of the German market was 3.2% in 2013. Annual
revenues are estimated at close to $800 million.
#36 (Tie) Kazuo Okada
Net worth: $1.1B
Citizenship: Japan
Source of Wealth: Casinos
BLOOMBERG NEWS
Citizenship: Japan
Source of Wealth: Casinos
Self-made casino and slot machine
mogul Kazuo Okada chairs publicly-traded Universal Entertainment Corp.,
which manufactures and sells pachinko machines and casino equipment and
manages casino hotels.
#35 Lawrence Ho
Net worth: $1.2B
Citizenship: Hong Kong
Source of Wealth: Casinos
© 2015 Bloomberg Finance
Citizenship: Hong Kong
Source of Wealth: Casinos
A son of Macau gambling-industry
legend Stanley Ho, he gets the bulk of his fortune from his stake in
Hong Kong-listed holding company Melco International, the leisure and
entertainment outfit he runs. Ho saw $800 million wiped off of his net
worth over the course of a year, due to Macau’s plummeting fortunes.
#34 Elaine Wynn
2014 Getty Images
Net worth: $1.3B
Citizenship: United States
Source of Wealth: Casinos, Hotels
Elaine Wynn co-founded and helped run Wynn Resorts alongside her ex-husband, Steve Wynn — earning her the nickname “Queen of Las Vegas.” In April 2015, though, she was stripped of her board seat, despite making a highly public case to stay on the board.
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