Immigrant Millionaire Profiles
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Stephen Girard was a Frenchman born on 20th May, 1750 and is still regarded as one of the richest and influential Americans of all times. He was a sailor, entrepreneur and philanthropist and a banker who had single-handedly saved the financial distress of the US government during the War of 1812. He had immigrated to America at an early age and from then on, he embarked on his enterprising nature and made good use of his entrepreneurial skills as he became a millionaire who had a say in the country’s financial status too.
Believed to be the fourth richest Americans of all times, Stephen Girard had his fortune estimated with the ratio of the prevalent GDP of the nation! Being childless, Stephen committed most of his wealth for the education and welfare of his orphans. Girard resided in Philadelphia and married in 1776.
The charter of the First Bank of the United States expired in 1811, and Girard decided to buy most of its stock, the building and its furnishings on the South Third Street in Philadelphia. He rechristened it as Girard’s Bank. He was the sole proprietor of the bank and hired George Simpson as the cashier along with seven other employees to embark on this journey towards becoming a millionaire. This was on 18th May, 1812. Later on, it merged with the Mellon Bank and a decade later purchased by Citizen’s Bank.
Written by srini on September 11th, 2009 with no comments.
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Theo Paphitis is a British immigrant from Greece. He was born on the 24th of September, 1959 in Limassol, Cyprus. He immigrated to England when he was six years of age along with his parents and brother. His millionaire story gradually got crafted in the retail sector and his popularity has its origin in his appearances for the BBC business program “Dragon’s Den”.
His name features in the Sunday Times Rich List, 2008 and currently his assets are worth an estimated 165 million pounds. Theo discovered his passion for retailing and sales when he was working at City of London Insurance broker as a tea boy. He sold commercial mortgages and learned to read the business balance sheets while he was working for Legal & General. At the age of 23, Theo set up his property finance company with his friend and associate, Mark Moran.
He got involved with the NAG Telecom when he noticed the rise of the mobile telephones and also negotiated deals with Ryman stationary stores. He eventually bought the company and his other ventures include Partners and Contessa. Theo is a co-owner of Red Letter Days and is looking forward to buy La Senza, a global lingerie brand. This immigrant millionaire believes in ‘common sense’ and states “There are three reasons to be in business. To make money, to have fun – and to make money”.
Written by srini on September 10th, 2009 with no comments.
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John Jacob Astor is America’s first millionaire. He was a German immigrant who arrived at Manhattan with just five English pounds with himself, at the age of sixteen. But, that did not deter him from evolving himself as the most reputed and well-known millionaire in the American society. He inculcated his business strategies so as to successfully amass the vast swaths of Manhattan and eventually, his dream of becoming a successful millionaire was fulfilled. He became the largest and the wealthiest landowner in New York. Astor was born in Baden, Germany in 1763 and apart from being a millionaire businessman; he was a real estate builder, inventor and writer as well. His father was a butcher by profession and he was the third son.
He started off with a fur trading firm and focused on building his network across the whole of America. In 1811, he laid the foundation of Astoria, which happens to be the first American settlement in the West Coast. He crossed the Pacific and traded with China, his products included opium and then he gradually switched over to a more lucrative option – liquor. He exchanged liquor for fur with the Indians. He even made a $10million donation for covering the expenses of the World War I, although he was completely against the war. His fortune multiplied when he was presented a bundle from the war bonds.
Written by srini on September 8th, 2009 with no comments.
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Arianna Huffington is a co-founder of the Huffington Post and a syndicated columnist. Born in 15th July, 1950, in Athens, Greece, Huffington has acquired the twelfth position as the Most Influential Women in Media in the Forbes list of 2009. Her father Konstantinos was a journalist and a management consultant and her mother Elli was the sister of Agapi – a speaker, performer and an author. At the age of sixteen, Arianna arrived in England to acquire her college degree from the Girton College at Cambridge University. She lived in with Bernard Levin, a journalist and broadcaster in London. In 1980, she came over as an immigrant to the United States and got involved in the religious group of John-Roger and began to be known as a left-wing democrat.
In 1985, she came across Michael Huffington, an oil millionaire, and went on to marry him a year later. Michael won a seat in 1992 as a Republican candidate and in 1997, Arianna got divorced. Her journey towards becoming a millionaire was primarily through marriage and later followed through her writing assignments. In 1981, Arianna wrote the biography of Maria Callas and in 1996, of Picasso. Arianna along with her writing team of ‘Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher’ was appointed for the Emmy for ‘Outstanding writing for a variety’. She briefly enjoyed an acting stint also. In 2003, she was the head of The Detroit Project and she also has been an independent candidate against Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Written by srini on September 5th, 2009 with no comments.
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Levis Strauss was born to German-Jewish parents on the 26th of February, 1829. His birth place was Buttenheim, Bavaria. After the death of his father in 1845, his two elder brothers traveled over to New York City to join the Jewish community. Levi came over accompanied by his two sisters and mother and began to work in the dry goods business run by his brother. In 1853, Levis became an American citizen and shifted base to San Francisco in an attempt to become a part of the California God Rush. This was his first step towards becoming a millionaire. The miners out here required a robust pair of trousers to survive the mining conditions and this is how Levis came out with the denim fabric. By 1870, Levi emerged as a millionaire with Levi Strauss & Co.
An European immigrant tailor and a customer of Levi, Jacob Davis, approached Levi and wished for a patent in 1873. Davis had been involved in the strengthening the pocket corners of Levi’s denim fabric. Davis offered to share the patent with Levis if he placed the money for the patent application. In the same year, Strauss and Davis attained the patent after a deal was struck between them. In 1890, the lot number 501 began to be used to identify the legendary 501 blue jeans. Strauss passed away in 1902 and the charities and scholarships propounded by this illustrious man still live on.
Written by srini on September 4th, 2009 with no comments.
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Anne visited Hawaii for a vacation and she discovered an amazing business opportunity. Although at the beginning, she found the laid-back lifestyle in contrast to her enterprising nature. She observed that there was a total lack of high-end services at Hawaii, particularly in the travel sector. She brought about a dramatic change in the scenario after she launched the Hawaii Hideaways in 2004. This is how a 24 year old emerged to be a millionaire through sharp observation and judicious usage about the available avenues.
The story of this successful millionaire took shape as Anne drew her resources from the handful of successful clients that she had served in her previous consulting occupation. But, the local home-owners were naturally skeptical to hand over their multi-million dollar estates to a mere twenty-something girl. She took up the challenge and succeeded in winning their confidence within an hour as she just had to prove herself and lose nothing in the process. Within a very short period, she was successful in building up her inventory of rentals and evolved as the leading provider of high-end vacation cervices in Hawaii.
If you had been wondering on how to be a millionaire, here is a glaring example on how Anne with just five full-time employees, managed to set this brand Hawaii Hideaway. She offers 24-hour concierge services, rents out luxury properties, luaus and yacht charters to massage parlors and personalized birthday cakes.
Written by srini on August 30th, 2009 with no comments.
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Bruce Willis or Walter Bruce Willis, the sphinx-like Hollywood Actor was actually an immigrant to America. Though born in West –Germany, Bruce is well known the world over as an actor and producer of high caliber who has created history of record breaking success with each and every film.
The career of Bruce Willis is a sprawling one. His enigmatic career initiated with the television industry. Fortune smiled on Bruce as he auditioned for the role of David Addition Jr. in the television series ‘Moonlighting’. This highly successful series earned him a reputation of a comedy actor, as well as financial success. But this was only the stepping stone for him into Hollywood.
He used the height of the show’s success and gained an ad campaign with Seagram for one of their beverage products. He earned $5-$7 million from this ad. His big break came with –‘Blind Date’. After this followed a series of success- ‘Sunset’, ‘Die Hard’ series, where Bruce performed death defying stunts. The first film of the series earned $138, 708, 852 all over the world.
The hit parade includes- The Jackal, Mercury Rising, Color of Night, Twelve Monkeys, and Armageddon.
The successful immigrant to America has acquired a huge property in Los Angeles, and has instituted his own production company called –Cheyenne Enterprise. He is the proud co founder of –Planet Hollywood.
Written by srini on August 18th, 2009 with no comments.
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The magic of the enigmatic Bruce Lee still drives millions of hearts crazy. This immigrant to America started his journey from scraps, and ended up touching the zenith.
The great entity had a sprawling career that earned him a place amongst the wealthiest and most successful Americans of the time. Bruce Lee is known all over the world as a movie star, film maker, philosopher, writer, martial artist of great repute, as well as a screen writer. He was celebrated as the maker of a whole new combat style by conceptualizing the – Jeet Kune Do.
The style he invented earned him immense popularity the world over. Bruce had even started teaching his philosophy and his martial techniques to the Americans. This was a great opportunity to him in terms of monetary gains. His classes had become immensely popular. Many celebrities joined his classes to embrace the oriental magic in their life.
The most influential martial artist had acted and produced a number of films based on martial arts. This was a prudent act of Bruce. The martial arts in films were a new concept. His films richly fused with scintillating and death defying moves were something the audience had never witnessed before.
All the films that he had done in his short span were a massive success. After the release, his films earned him money beyond measure. His most notable ones are – The Big Boss, Game of Death, Enter The Dragon, Way Of The dragon etc. He had also featured in a tele- series called ‘The Green Hornet’.
Written by srini on August 18th, 2009 with no comments.
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Sanjay Mishra is a highly successful musical personality in the international arena. His music is adjudged as masterpiece in many countries. He is an American guitarist and music composer who owes his origin to India.
Sanjay was born and brought up in Kolkata. The music maestro was born in 1957 on December 8. Since his early childhood he had an insatiable urge and passion for music. Owing to this deep rooted instinct for music mania he had to immigrate to America.
He was admitted to the famous Peabody Conservatory of Music, John Hopkins University in 1985. Soon after graduation, he started performing independently. Soon people started liking his program, as his compositions were versatile. It was a perfect combination of jam, guitar, fusion, classical and contemporary. The financial gains out of the programs started seeing his growth as a musician
His musical career started touching zenith with big budget Hollywood as well as international films. He has rendered his unforgettable scores in the French film called – Port Djema. It has been awarded with the ‘Best original score’ honor at the Hampton Film Festival. Films like – Dream, Trusty – Good bye Dr. Fate etc. also bear his valuable renditions.
He has done wonderful music compilation in a French project ‘Deep Orient.’ His other works include –The Crossing, Blue Incantation, Rescue, Chateau Benares etc.
This immeasurable quality of his work not only earned him a prestigious award like –Golden Bear but gave him a hall of fame amongst the wealthiest persons among the country.
Written by srini on August 16th, 2009 with no comments.
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Charles Spencer Chaplin was born on 16th April 1889 in Walworth, London. The great immigrant to America is known as the pioneering artist in the genre of comedy with his celebrated style incorporating extreme physical comedy and exaggerated comic gestures. It is truly incredible how this treasure house of comedy rose to stardom in Hollywood as well as ensured his place amongst the wealthiest of the era.
Popularly known as Charlie Chaplin, it was not a smooth sailing for him to scale the zenith of success. He had to confront a series of tempest in his career as an actor, film maker of the silent era. Charlie got his first break in the film ‘Making A Living’ with the help of Mr. Mack. Sennett and Mabel Normand.
Chaplin invented his celebrated tramp character which got immensely popular in the entire US, while working with Sennett’s Keystone Studios. This was the phase when he learnt the nuances of the art of film making. With his funny gestures and hilarious sequences in the films, he became one of the highest paid, successful actors of the time within a very short time. His innovated character ‘The Tramp’ earned him immeasurable success. Joining Essanay Studios brought a significant change in his life. It brought a new level of excellence in his acting style as well as proved financially beneficial.
Later on in 1916, he signed a 12 film contract with ‘Mutual Film Corporation’ which earned him $670,000. In 1918, Chaplin gained complete command over all his productions, and many of his earlier films were modified. This innovative marketing strategy proved to be fruitful and gained him enough monetary advantage. This gifted immigrant to America breathed his last in 1977.
Written by srini on August 16th, 2009 with no comments.
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