America is known for being a melting pot of cultures and nationalities. It has become one of the most innovative countries to date. America is a country that excels in entrepreneurship. It has both native-born citizens and immigrant workers.
American entrepreneurs have revolutionized the way the world works, from older companies like Standard Oil, Ford Motor Company and Carnegie Steel Company to newer companies like Meta (previously Facebook) and Google. These are the five most influential American entrepreneurs on the planet.
1. Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie, an American entrepreneur, actually came from Scotland. Carnegie was born into the lower classes and immigrated to Pennsylvania with his family in search of a better life. Carnegie founded the Carnegie Steel Company later, growing it into one of the most important companies in American history
Carnegie was a successful angel investor. Carnegie invested the money he earned through his steel company in several car companies, messenger services and land with oil reserves. Carnegie’s net worth was $350 million at his death in 1919. This would have been nearly $5.5 billion in 2021 dollars.
2. Henry Ford
Henry Ford, unlike Andrew Carnegie was a natural-born citizen and grew up in Michigan. He was born into a wealthy family, but not rich, from an Irish and English heritage. Ford was hardworking and completed his apprenticeship at the Detroit Dry Dock Company. He met Thomas Edison in 1891 and shared his idea of an automobile with him. Edison liked Edison’s idea so he allowed Ford to use his warehouse for the development and production of two prototypes .
Ford quickly founded the Detroit Automobile Company using the prototypes. Ford’s standards were not met by the company, so it was short-lived. After the failure of the Cadillac Motor Car Company’s product, he founded the Ford Motor Company. He was very successful in his third attempt to start a car company. The company is still a going concern with an annual revenue of more than $127.1 billion.
3. Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey’s success story is an example of an American success story. Although Winfrey did not disclose her past until 1986 she was a victim to sexual assault at nine years old and fell pregnant at 14 when she lost the baby during childbirth.
These early trials and tribulations helped Winfrey gain the perspective and confidence she needed to land her first television show in 1983. Winfrey built her brand and empire steadily from there. In 1988, she founded Harpo Studios, which is a multimedia company.
Winfrey and Discovery Communications co-founded OWN (Oprah Winfrey Network), in 2008. This media company attracts millions of viewers. Winfrey has a net value of $2.6 billion .
4. Bill Gates
Bill Gates is a well-known American technology entrepreneur and is currently the fourth-richest person on the planet. He has a net worth exceeding $133 billion as at Dec 5, 2021. Gates was a bright and talented student at Harvard. He met Steve Ballmer, who then dropped out to create Microsoft. 8
With the help of Allen and Ballmer, Gates built Microsoft. It is now worth more than a trillion dollars based upon its market capitalization. 9 In 2019, Gates resigned from Microsoft’s board to concentrate his efforts on the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation 8
5. Larry Page
Google’s co-founder Larry Page is the man behind the search engine that has become the most popular in the world. Sergey Brin, Page’s doctoral student at Stanford University, founded Google. Page and Sergey Brin, his co-founder, started Google while they were both Stanford University doctoral students.
