I still wonder! How this school dropouts now becomen an billionaireies. Have you ever thought about that? If YES leave a comment below!

•   New UNESCO data shows that the school droupouts as globaly risen by 6 million since 2021 and now 250 million of the school droupouts.

•   College dropout rates indicate that up to 32.9% of undergraduates do not complete their degree program. 

I thought they all wanted to be on our next Billionaires list. Funny, isn’t it? I also thought that there are approximately 11 million PhD holders. Not everyone is a billionaire; we can probably count the number of PhD holders who are billionaires on our fingers!

So today we are going to see the Top 10 Billionaires who never finished their school or college?

10. Ted Turner:

Ted Turner is known as the founder of CNN, the world’s first 24-hour news network. He didn’t exactly drop out of college; he was expelled from Brown University after being caught with a woman in his dorm room. He never returned to college to get his degree, instead joining his father’s advertising company, Turner Advertising. After his father’s suicide, Turner took over the company at the age of 24, making it bigger, stronger, and more successful than ever, renaming it Turner Broadcasting. Turner himself once said, “All my life, people said that I wasn’t going to make it.”

•    Net Worth: Approximately $2.2 billion (as of 2024).
•    Education: Expelled from Brown University.
•    Source of Wealth: Founder of CNN, media mogul.

9. Steve Jobs:

Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple Inc., is one of the most iconic figures in technology and business history. Born in 1955, Jobs was adopted shortly after birth and grew up in Silicon Valley. He briefly attended Reed College in Oregon but dropped out after just one semester, though he continued to audit classes, including a calligraphy course that later influenced the typography used in Apple products.

In 1976, at the age of 21, Jobs co-founded Apple with Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne in his family’s garage. Their first product, the Apple I, was followed by the revolutionary Apple II, which became one of the first highly successful mass-produced personal computers. Despite a tumultuous career that included being ousted from Apple in 1985, Jobs went on to found NeXT, a computer platform development company, and acquire Pixar Animation Studios, which became a highly successful and influential animation company.

Jobs returned to Apple in 1997, leading a major turnaround and introducing a series of groundbreaking products such as the iMac, iPod, iPhone, and iPad. His vision and leadership transformed Apple into one of the most valuable and innovative companies in the world. Steve Jobs’ net worth was estimated to be around $10.2 billion at the time of his passing in 2011. His legacy continues to influence the tech industry and modern digital culture.

•   Net Worth: Estimated $10.2 billion at the time of his passing in 2011.
•   Education: Dropped out of Reed College.
•   Source of Wealth: Co-founder of Apple Inc.

8. Michael Dell:

Founder, chairman, and CEO of Dell Computers, Michael Dell is currently worth $15.9 billion. While attending the University of Texas in Austin, he began making his own computers and selling directly to consumers. Business was flourishing, and before dropping out of college at the age of 19, he had already made $80,000 from selling computer kits. He left university without getting his degree to focus on his business, which he started with only $1,000 in capital. During his first year in the market, he made $6 million in sales, and by 2001, Dell Computers became the world’s largest PC maker.

•   Net Worth: Approximately $55 billion (as of 2024).
•   Education: Dropped out of the University of Texas at Austin.
•   Source of Wealth: Founder of Dell Technologies.

7. Richard Branson:

Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson is an English business magnate. In the 1970s, he co-founded the Virgin Group, which today controls more than 400 companies in various fields. Branson expressed his desire to become an entrepreneur at a young age. 

•   Net Worth: Approximately $4 billion (as of 2024).
•   Education: Dropped out of high school.
•   Source of Wealth: Founder of the Virgin Group.

6. Francois Pinault:

François Pinault is a French billionaire businessman, founder of the luxury group Kering and the investment holding company Artémis. Pinault started his business in the timber industry in the early 1960s.

•   Net Worth: Approximately $48 billion (as of 2024).
•   Education: Dropped out of high school.
•   Source of Wealth: Founder of Kering (formerly PPR).

5. Amancio Ortega:

Amancio Ortega Gaona OMC is a Spanish billionaire businessman. He is the founder and former chairman of Inditex fashion group, best known for its chains of Zara and Bershka clothing and accessories shops. He is considered a pioneer in fast fashion. 

•   Net Worth: Approximately $81 billion (as of 2024).
•   Education: Left school at the age of 14.
•   Source of Wealth: Co-founder of Inditex, the parent company of Zara.

4. Sheldon Adelson:

American business tycoon Sheldon Adelson was the CEO and chairman of the Las Vegas Sands casino empire. He was the 8th richest individual in the world. Business ran through his veins from a young age. At 12, he borrowed $200 from his uncle to start selling newspapers. At 16, he entered the candy-vending machine business. Later, he attended the City College of New York to become a court reporter but dropped out after two years to join the army. Subsequently, he started selling toiletry kits, and after several jobs as a salesman, consultant, and tour-business operator, he started a charter-tour business that brought him his first millions. In his 30s, he made and lost his fortune twice. After a series of failed investments, he founded a trade show for the computer industry, named Comdex, and earned millions leasing exhibition space. In the late 1980s, he and his business partners purchased Sands Casino.

•   Net Worth: Approximately $37 billion
•   Education: Dropped out of City College of New York.
•   Source of Wealth: Casino magnate, founder of Las Vegas Sands Corporation.

3. Larry Ellison:

Co-founder and CEO of Oracle, Larry Ellison, has quite the life story to tell. As he himself mentioned, “I have had all of the disadvantages required for success.” Born in the Bronx as the son of a single 19-year-old mother, he was adopted by his aunt and uncle from Chicago. In 1962, he enrolled at the University of Illinois and was named Science Student of the Year. In his second year, after his adoptive mother died, he dropped out. The next fall, he signed up for the University of Chicago but quit and moved to Northern California, where he started working as a programmer for Amdahl Corporation. In 1977, he and two of his coworkers founded Software Development Laboratories, with Ellison as CEO. The company went on to develop a system for commercial applications, Oracle. Larry Ellison is America’s third richest man and the sixth wealthiest in the world.

•   Net Worth: Approximately $132 billion (as of 2024).
•   Education: Dropped out of the University of Chicago.
•   Source of Wealth: Co-founder of Oracle Corporation.

2. Mark Zuckerberg:

The youngest billionaire in history, Mark Zuckerberg, gained even more fame in 2010 when the acclaimed film “The Social Network” revealed the story behind the world’s most visited site today. He launched Facebook in February 2004 from his dormitory room at Harvard. By the end of the year, the platform already had over 1 million users. There was no reason left for him to stay, so Mark left Harvard in his sophomore year and moved to Silicon Valley to work on Facebook full-time. However, we must agree that if it wasn’t for his Harvard years, he probably would have never launched Facebook at all. The business model and target audience had Harvard written all over them. Also, if he had stayed in school, it probably wouldn’t be what it is today either.

•   Net Worth: Approximately $117 billion (as of 2024).
•   Education: Dropped out of Harvard University.
•   Source of Wealth: Co-founder of Facebook (now Meta Platforms).

1. Bill Gates:

Bill Gates, the world’s most recognizable college dropout turned successful billionaire, is a resonant name in business and entrepreneurship. An excellent inventor, computer programmer, investor, and philanthropist, Gates had a net worth of over $80 billion, making him the world’s wealthiest individual in 2013, and he has maintained this position in 2014 as well. He enrolled at Harvard in 1973 and attended the college for two years before dropping out to build the world’s largest software company, Microsoft, with his childhood friend Paul Allen. They started by developing software for Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems. In 1975, they named their partnership Microsoft. In 1987, Gates became the youngest self-made billionaire.

•   Net Worth: Approximately $111 billion (as of 2024).
•   Education: Dropped out of Harvard University.
•   Source of Wealth: Co-founder of Microsoft.

Conclusion:

Life’s journey is not just fill to the four walls of a classroom. As a school dropout, you are not defined by your academic record but by your passion and vision. History has legends like Steve Jobs, Richard Branson, and Mark Zuckerberg, who proved that the conventional path is just one of many routes to success.