白手起家到资产十亿，谁发迹最快？

目前，全世界有1,826位亿万富翁。能成为其中之一绝对是了不起的成就。不过，亿万富翁比其他人更了不起。

下面几位亿万富翁都是白手起家，并且以最快的速度积累起自己的财富：

约翰•D•洛克菲勒——标准石油公司（Standard Oil）

个人财富达到10亿美元的时间：25年

趣事：洛克菲勒被认为是有史以来最富有同时又最热衷慈善的亿万富翁，其净资产在现代相当于3,450亿美元。他创立了芝加哥大学（University of Chicago），却拒绝用自己的名字命名，因为他不希望自己的名字掩盖学校的光彩。

成功历程：由于当时尚没有反垄断法律，因此他通过创建标准石油公司，积累了财富。他于1870年在俄亥俄州的克利夫兰创建标准石油公司，当时他只有31岁，之前曾是一位产品经纪人。他在数年内，收购了克利夫兰几乎所有炼油厂，成为美国最有影响力的人之一。

到19世纪90年代初，标准石油公司控制了美国90%的石油，他也成为美国第一位亿万富翁，也是因为这一原因，美国现在才会对垄断企业进行严格监管。

比尔•盖茨——微软（Microsoft）

个人财富达到10亿美元的时间：12年

趣事：盖茨在15岁时，卖掉了由他设计的监控街道流量的程序，赚到了20,000美元。

成功历程：1978年，创建微软三年之后，盖茨手下有25名员工，收入已经达到了250万美元。到1983年，全世界30%的计算机均安装了微软的系统。

1986年，微软上市，盖茨的净身价达到3.5亿美元。当时他只有30岁。很快，他的净资产便超过了十亿美元，让他成为了美国最富有的书呆子。

谢尔盖•布林与拉里•佩奇——谷歌

个人财富达到10亿美元的时间：8年

趣事：谷歌成立时，布林和佩奇合作写了一篇文章，解释了他们为什么要创建一家靠广告收入的公司。现在，广告占到谷歌总收入的90%。喔噢。

成功历程：布林和佩奇在斯坦福大学（Stanford）完成一个学校项目时，想到了谷歌的点子。建立好原型之后，两人曾打算以160万美元的价格，将公司出售给门户网站初创公司Excite。佩奇告诉Excite，他需要600,000美元现金，700,000美元股份，剩余300,000美元捐赠给斯坦福大学。

谢天谢地，Excite还价到750,000美元，但佩奇拒绝了。几年后，谷歌上市，布林和佩奇在30岁出头便成为了亿万富翁。

肖恩•帕克——Facebook

个人财富达到10亿美元的时间：6.5年

趣事：在Facebook进行融资之前，帕克说服一位艺术家，在第一间Facebook办公室画了一幅壁画。这位艺术家没有接受60,000美元现金，而是要求用Facebook的股份交换。这位艺术家大卫•崔所获得的股份，如今的价值已经超过了2亿美元。

成功历程：在成为Facebook首位总裁之前，帕克创建了Napster和Plaxo。几年后，Napster关门，并被诉赔偿一万亿美元（千真万确），帕克被Plaxo扫地出门，他也陷入了破产的境地。他不得不在朋友家的沙发上过夜。

好在在Facebook成立六个月之后，24岁的帕克遇到了22岁的扎克伯格。后面的故事已经众所周知了。

杰夫•贝佐斯——亚马逊

个人财富达到10亿美元的时间：4.5年

趣事：亚马逊成立于1994年，当时贝佐斯开给自己的工资是60,000美元。如今，他的年薪已经涨到了168万美元。但其中仅有81,840美元是他的工资。剩余160万美元用于他的安全相关费用。

成功历程：贝佐斯辞去了在一家纽约投资公司的高薪职位，创建了亚马逊。当时他31岁，父母提供了300,000万美元帮助他创业。亚马逊最初只是一家卖书的网站，在成立后的两个月内，网站销售额仅有20,000美元。三年后，亚马逊上市，贝佐斯很快便成为了亿万富翁。

他父母的投资现在价值接近120亿美元，所以，贝佐斯现在可以用印有“世界上最伟大的儿子”的杯子喝咖啡，一边证明自己就是名副其实的最伟大的儿子（这也是他最了不起的成就）。

马可•扎克伯格——Facebook

个人财富达到10亿美元的时间：4年

趣事：2012年，扎克伯格已经是全世界40位最富有的人之一，但他还是贷款600万美元买房，因为他经过谈判获得了1%的贷款利率。这意味着当通胀达到3%时，他的贷款是免费的。

成功历程：Facebook于2004年在哈佛大学（Harvard）成立，前24个小时便拥有了1,500名用户。在七个月内，扎克伯格离开哈佛，将公司搬到了帕洛阿尔托，并为公司融资500,000美元。2006年，扎克伯格拒绝了雅虎（Yahoo）10亿美元的收购要约。

皮埃尔•奥米迪亚——eBay

个人财富达到10亿美元的时间：3年

趣事：eBay上价格最贵的商品是一艘价值1,680万美元的游艇。

成功历程：1995年，28岁的奥米迪亚创建了第一版eBay，作为一个分支项目。但在九个月内，网站带来了足够的收入，因此奥米迪亚辞掉了工作。在第三年，eBay上市，奥米迪亚成为了亿万富翁。

安德鲁•梅森——Groupon

个人财富达到10亿美元的时间：2.5年

有趣的事实：Groupon最初的名字是The Point，受到了马尔科姆•格拉德威尔的《引爆点》（The Tipping Point）一书的启发。

成功历程：所有人都知道Groupon是什么，但多数人并不清楚，它是有史以来发展最快的公司。Groupon在成立17个月后便融资1.35亿美元，估值达到十亿美元。此外，据《福布斯》（Forbes）报道，Groupon用七个月时间便实现了盈利，仅用两年半便达到了十亿美元收入。

当然，我必须说明，Groupon最近的热度已经大幅下降，否则便有隐瞒信息的嫌疑。

盖瑞•温尼克——Global Crossing

个人财富达到10亿美元的时间：1.5年

有趣的事实：虽然电信业崩溃让温尼克损失了多数财富，但他依旧拥有一座位于洛杉矶的豪宅，价值2.25亿美元，建筑仿造了白宫的椭圆形办公室。2013年，这栋豪宅被挂牌出售，当时被认为是美国最贵的房子。

成功历程：1997年，温尼克创建了Global Crossing，这家公司的主要业务是铺设跨越大西洋的光纤电缆。美国电话电报公司（AT&T）、微软和其他公司，均使用Global Crossing的线缆，为亚洲客户提供服务。一年后，Global Crossing上市，温尼克在18个月内便成为了亿万富翁；他也是互联网泡沫为数不多的胜利者。

四年后，Global Crossing申请破产，并被指控欺诈。温尼克不得不向股东支付了3.35亿美元。如果什么事看上去好的令人难以置信，那么你最好别信。

杰伊•沃克——普利斯林

个人财富达到10亿美元的时间：1年

趣事：创下亿万财富之后，沃克开始收藏图书。目前，他拥有全世界最令人震撼的图书馆之一。

成功历程：在成立Priceline之前，沃克曾经创建过一家金融初创公司Synapse Group，后以3亿美元的价格将其出售。沃克利用出售Synapse的资金，在1998年成立了Priceline。在前四个月内卖出了40,000张票。1999年，公司上市，沃克成了亿万富翁。

2000年，沃克离开公司，当起了甩手掌柜。够快！

译者：刘进龙/汪皓

There are 1,826 billionaires in the world. Becoming one is an extremely impressive feat. However, some billionaires are more impressive than the rest.

Here are a few of the fastest self-made billionaires:

John D. Rockefeller – Standard Oil

Time it took to reach $1 billion: 25 years

Fun Fact: Rockefeller is considered the wealthiest and one of the most charitable people of all time, with an adjusted net worth of $345 billion. He founded the University of Chicago but refused to have the school named after him because he didn’t want his name to overshadow the school.

How he did it: Thanks to nonexistent laws regarding monopolies, Rockefeller made a fortune by founding Standard Oil. He started Standard Oil in 1870 when he was 31-years-old in Cleveland, OH after his early career as a produce broker. Within a few years, he bought nearly every refinery in Cleveland and became one of the most powerful men in America.

By the early 1890s, Standard Oil controlled 90% of oil in America, making him America’s first billionaire and one of the reasons why monopolies are now highly regulated.

Bill Gates – Microsoft

Time it took to reach $1 billion: 12 years

Fun Fact: When he was 15-years-old, Gates made $20,000 by selling a program he designed to monitor street traffic.

How he did it:In 1978, three years after starting Microsoft, Gates had 25 employees and $2.5 million in revenue. By 1983, Microsoft powered 30% of the world’s computers.

In 1986 Microsoft went public, giving Gates a net worth of $350 million. He was 30-years-old. Soon, that number increased to billions, making him the riches in America.

Sergey Brin & Larry Page – Google

Time it took to reach $1 billion: 8 years

Fun Fact: The year Google launched, Brin and Page co-wrote a paper explaining why they didn’t want to start a company funded by advertising. Advertising now makes up 90% of Google’s revenue. Hmm…

How they did it: Brin and Page came up with the idea of Google as part of a school project at Stanford. After building a prototype, the pair tried selling the company to web portal startup Excite for $1.6 million. Page told Excite that he’d take $600,000 in cash, $700,000 in stock, and the remaining $300,000 would be given to Stanford.

Thankfully, Excite countered with $750,000 and Page declined. Brin and Page became billionaires a few years later while they were in their early 30s when Google IPO’ed.

Sean Parker – Facebook

Time it took to reach $1 billion: 6.5 years

Fun Fact: Before Facebook raised funding, Parker convinced an artist to paint a mural in the first Facebook office. Instead of accepting $60,000 in cash, the artist asked for stock in Facebook. The artist, David Choe, is now worth over $200 million today because of his stock.

How he did it: Prior to becoming the first president of Facebook, Parker started Napster and Plaxo. After a few years, Napster shut down and was sued for (literally) a trillion dollars and Parker was forced out of Plaxo, leaving him broke. He was forced to stay on his friends’ couches.

Thankfully, 24-year-old Parker met 22-year-old Mark Zuckerberg six months after Facebook launched. The rest, as they say, is history.

Jeff Bezos – Amazon

Time it took to reach $1 billion: 4.5 years

Fun Fact: When Amazon was founded in 1994, Bezos paid himself a salary of $60,000. Since then his total annual pay has risen to $1.68 million. But only $81,840 goes to his salary. The other $1.6 million covers his security detail.

How he did it: Bezos left his high-paying gig at a New York investment firm to start Amazon. He was 31-years-old and had the help of $300,000 from his parents. Amazon, initially just a book-selling site, had sales of $20,000 two months after launch. Amazon went public three years later, which soon made Bezos a billionaire.

His parents’ investment is now worth close to $12 billion, giving Bezos the right to drink his coffee out of a “World’s Greatest Son” and have it be true (arguably his greatest accomplishment).

Mark Zuckerberg – Facebook

Time it took to reach $1 billion: 4 years

Fun Fact: In 2012, when he was already the 40th richest person in the world, Zuckerberg took out a $6 million loan to buy his house because he negotiated an interest rate of 1%. With inflation at around 3%, this meant he borrowed the money for free.

How he did it: Facebook launched in 2004 at Harvard, and had 1,500 users in its first 24 hours. Within seven months Zuckerberg left Harvard, moved the company to Palo Alto, and raised $500,000 in funding. In 2006, Zuckerberg turned down an acquisition offer of $1 billion by Yahoo.

Pierre Omidyar – eBay

Time it took to reach $1 billion: 3 years

Fun Fact: The most expensive item ever sold on eBay was a $168 million yacht.

How he did it: Omidyar created the first version of eBay as a side project in 1995 when he was 28-years-old. Within nine months the site was making enough money for Omidyar to quit his job. In year three, eBay went public, making Omidyar an instant billionaire.

Andrew Mason – Groupon

Time it took to reach $1 billion: 2.5 years

Fun Fact: Groupon was originally called The Point and was inspired by Malcolm Gladwell’s book, The Tipping Point.

How he did it: Everyone knows what Groupon is, but most people don’t realize that it’s the fastest-growing company ever. Groupon landed a billion dollar valuation after raising $135 million only 17 months after launching. Additionally, according toForbes, it took Groupon seven months to become profitable and only 2.5 years to do over a billion dollars in revenue.

Of course, I’d be withholding information if I didn’t let you know that Groupon isn’t doing so hotnowadays.

Gary Winnick – Global Crossing

Time it took to reach $1 billion: 1.5 years

Fun fact: While Winnick lost most of his wealth in the telecom crash, he still owns a $225 million mansion in Los Angeles, which has a replica of the Oval Office. When it was for up sale in 2013, the house was considered the most expensive home in America.

How he did it: In 1997 Winnick created Global Crossing, which laid fiber optic cables across the Atlantic Ocean. AT&T, Microsoft, and other corporations used Global Crossing’s cables to access their Asian customers. A year later Global Cross went public, making Winnick a billionaire in 18 months; one of the few winners of the dot-com bubble.

Four years later Global Crossing filed for bankruptcy and was accused of fraud. This resulted in having to pay $335 million to shareholders. If it looks too good to be true, it is.

Jay Walker – Priceline

Time it took to reach $1 billion: 1year

Fun fact: After making his billions, Walker started collecting books. He now has one of the most impressive libraries in the world.

How he did it: Prior to founding Priceline, Walker was the founder of Synapse Group, a finance startup that was acquired for $300 million. Walker started Priceline using the funds from the Synapse sale. Priceline launched in 1998 and sold 40,000 tickets within four months of launching. In 1999 the company went public, making Walker a billionaire.

Walker did the business equivalent of dropping the mic as he left the company in 2000. Talk about a fast ride.