10 richest immigrants to the United States, for whom the American dream has become a reality

Sergey Brin

Homeland: Russia (USSR)

Condition: $ 31 billion

Place in the Forbes ranking: 14

Source of wealth: Google

Co-founder of the company Google Sergey Brin admitted in an interview that he was grateful to my parents for the decision to move to the USA. “Staying in the United States,” the billionaire believes, “is a gift of fate compared to the prospect of growing in Russia.” However, in the homeland Brin did not live long. When he was just 6 years old, his parents, faced with anti-Semitism in the Union, moved to America, where Mikhail Brin, Sergey's father, got a job at the University of Maryland, and Eugene Brin, the mother of a future businessman, was at NASA.

Their son from a Soviet immigrant grew up to be one of the most influential global entrepreneurs. Within the framework of the native corporation Google Sergey Brin today works at the head of a secret unit Google XIn the depths of which are conducted research breakthrough products and ideas, like smart glasses Google Glass, unmanned vehicles, etc. Last year, Silicon Valley, however, more actively gossiped about the personal life of a billionaire: he divorced one of the first employees Google, famous entrepreneur and public figure Ann Wojcicki, and started a love affair with a young subordinate Amanda Rosenberg.

George Soros

Homeland: Hungary

Condition: $ 24 billion

Place in the Forbes ranking: 17

Source of wealth: investments

Glorified as the man who crushed the Bank of England, billionaire George Soros survived the Nazi occupation in Budapest and fled from the communist regime in 1947 year. While studying at the London School of Economics, he worked as a waiter and porter. After moving to New York, he became an investor on Wall Street until he created his own hedge fund in 1969. And although Soros is already 84 of the year, he is not in a hurry to go the distance: in 2013, his family foundation Soros Fund Management showed an investment return above 22%, which was the best result on the market.

Len Blavatnik

Homeland: Ukraine (USSR)

Condition: $ 21,5 billion

Place in the Forbes ranking: 22

Source of wealth: investments

In fact, the billionaire Blavatnik was not always called Leonard, or Len, as is customary to abbreviate his name. A native of the USSR moved to the USA in 1977, leaving the Moscow Institute of Transportation Engineers (MIIT) in the fourth year. And already in 1981-m, he received American citizenship, replacing the name Leonid to Western Leonard. Viktor Vekselberg F 10Blavatnik’s classmate and business partner called his friend back to Russia several times, but received the same answer: “Never.” Why return to what he was running from, Blavatnik believed — and built a business in his homeland, while remaining abroad. So he was at the origins of large private capital in the Russian Federation.

Rupert Murdoch

Homeland: Australia

Condition: $ 14,2 billion

Place in the Forbes ranking: 33

Source of wealth: The media

By the time media magnate Rupert Murdoch had naturalized in the United States, he was already the head of News Corporation based in Australia. Starting with his father’s inheritance of an unprofitable newspaper, Murdoch gradually expanded his business to English and American newspapers. But in 1980, Murdoch wanted to enter the US television market, for which he needed citizenship. Now in the hands of the magnate 120 publications in five countries around the world, a large cable network, satellite television, film studio 21 Century Fox etc.

Patrick Xinxiang (Sun-Shiong)

Homeland: South Africa

Condition: $ 12 billion

Place in the Forbes ranking: 39

Source of wealth: pharmaceuticals

Patrick Xinxiang is known as the richest doctor in the world. His parents emigrated to South Africa during World War II. He graduated from school in 16 years, and when he was a little bit over 20, he moved to the USA, where he completed an internship at the University of California. Famed as a surgeon who tried to treat diabetes mellitus with pancreatic cell transplantation, Patrick founded two pharmaceutical companies in 1980. Xinxiang invented one of the most effective drugs that minimize the risks of cancer.

Ilon Mask

Homeland: South Africa

Condition: $ 10,3 billion

Place in the Forbes ranking: 44

Source of wealth: Tesla Motors

The prototype of the protagonist of the film “Iron Man” Elon Musk lived in South Africa until 17 years. Where, by the way, earned the first money by creating a game in 12-year-old Blastar. After school, Musk moved to his mother's relatives in Canada, and then to the USA, with a scholarship from his university. It was in the States that he became a billionaire - as a co-founder of the company. PayPal. To the proceeds from the sale of the payment service online auction eBay funds Musk founded breakthrough companies Space X and Tesla Motors and creates space rockets Falcon and luxury electric cars Tesla.

Thomas Peterffy

Homeland: Hungary

Condition: $ 9,1 billion

Place in the Forbes ranking: 50

Source of wealth: brokerage services

Thomas Peterffy moved to the United States in 1965 in the status of a descendant of poor Hungarian aristocrats who lost their fortunes under the communist regime. Not knowing English, he got a job as a coder, studying programming at night. In 1977, the future billionaire bought a position on the stock exchange and was the first to use a computer on the site. For what he deserved the title of father of online trading. Today, Peterffy focuses on the development of the discount broker he created. Interactive Brokers.

Pierre Omidyar

Homeland: France

Condition: $ 8,2 billion

Place in the Forbes ranking: 52

Source of wealth: Ebay

Pierre Omidyar's family moved from France to the United States when the future billionaire was just 6 years old. Your famous site Auction Web he created in 28, later renaming it to eBay. Omidyar was not going to make money on the service at all, but it was the Internet auction that made him a billionaire. In 2013, a businessman launched a platform First look mediaIn the framework of which he financially supports influential journalistic groups specializing in investigations.

Jan Koum

Homeland: Ukraine

Condition: $ 7,6 billion

Place in the Forbes ranking: 62

Source of wealth: WhatsApp

Billionaire Ian Kum, who created a mobile messenger WhatsAppHe was born in a poor family in a village near Kiev. When he was 16 years old, the future businessman with his mother moved to California Mountain View, where they received a small apartment under the program of social support. Kuma's mother worked as a nanny, and Yang was washing the floors in the store. Even at school, he became interested in computers, studying programming on used books. In the end, Cooma was taken to the team Yahoowhere the founder WhatsApp Worked for almost 10 years. And then he created an application that in a few years turned into one of the main means of communication for all owners of smartphones. In February, 2014, the social network Facebook paid for WhatsApp a record $ 19 billion, overnight turning a former immigrant into a billionaire. The audience of Qom’s service already exceeds 600 million users.

Do Won and Jin Suk Chang

In 1981, the couple Do Wan and Jin Suk Chang immigrated to the United States from Korea. In 1984, they opened their first store in Los Angeles Fashion21whose area was less than 300 square. m. Today fashion network Forever21The "heiress" of Korean entrepreneurs' business ventures includes more than 600 points of sale across the States. The company's revenue in 2012 amounted to $ 3,4 billion.