Famous Business Leaders
On this page we list information and interesting facts about some of history's famous business leaders. What made these people so successful? Most of them
obtained great success through hard work and amazing determination; and there are some who changed the world. We have listed a few of these business leaders
below; where you will find facts about famous men, women, African Americans, and young leaders. When creating this list we obviously had to exclude many
great people who deserved to be on it due to space limitations.
Famous Men Business Leaders
- Steve Jobs (1955 - 2011). Steve Jobs ranks highly among famous business people. He starting building computers as a kid in his parents garage and went on to become co-founder and CEO of Apple Inc. He was a pioneer in the personal computer revolution.
- Bill Gates (1955 - present). This amazing inventor and business leader basically created the software industry. His ingenuity and business savvy has made him one of the
richest people in history.
- Cornelius Vanderbilt (1794 - 1877). Vanderbilt created his wealth in the shipping and railroad industries. His business ventures made him one of the richest people in history.
- J.P. Morgan (1837 - 1913). He is one of the most famous financiers in history. He founded his own private banking company which became one of the leading
financial companies in the United States.
- John Jacob Astor (1763 - 1848). He came to the United States from Germany after the American Revolution. He built a fur-trading empire and later invested in real estate. He became the first multi-millionaire living in the U.S.
- Henry Clay Frick (1849 - 1919). Frick was one of the most famous American industrialists. He was chairman of the Carnegie Steel Company. He played an
important role in the creation of the U.S. Steel manufacturing concern. Frick financed the building of the Pennsylvania Railroad and the Reading Company. He
was famed and hated by many for his ruthlessness.
- Ray Kroc (1902 - 1984). In 1954 Ray Kroc joined McDonald's. He eventually bought out the McDonald brothers and the rest is history. He made the company what it is today, the most successful fast food operation in the world. In 1999 Time magazine included him in their list of the twentieth century's 100 most
influential people.
Famous Women Business Leaders
- Oprah Winfrey (1954 - present) - This amazing business woman and celebrity was born into poverty. She worked her way out of poverty to become a great success in the media industry. For a time she was the only black billionaire in the world. She is considered by many to be the most influential woman in the world.
- Susan Wojcicki (1973 - Present). She is a senior Vice President at Google and can take a lot of the credit for the enormous success of that company.
- Madam C.J. Walker (1867 - May 25, 1919). This amazing African American woman worked her way out of poverty by creating a successful company (Madam C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company) which sold beauty products for black women. The Harvard Business School named her as one of the great American business leaders of the 20th century. At the time of her death in 1919 she was the wealthiest African-American women.
- Mary Kay Ash (1918 - 2001). She was the founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics, Inc. which today has revenues of over two billion dollars. In 1996 she was inducted into the Junior Achievement United States Business Hall of Fame.