1. Jay Gould (27 May 1836 - 02 December 1892)
Jason "Jay" Gould was the America's top railroad developer and speculator. Born in Roxbury, New York, he was considered among the most dishonest "robber barons" of the nineteenth century American capitalism, but still was able to gain great successes, which eventually made him the ninth richest American in the entire America's history. He built his fortune by controlling the cost of the stocks he purchased and of the stock market itself. Gould was ranked as the eighth worst CEO of America of all time by "Conde Nast Portfolio." Gould afterward acquired the status of one of the most shrewd businessmen in the history of American industry.
2. Andrew Carnegie (25 November 1835 - 11 August 1919)
Andrew Carnegie was a Scottish-American industrialist, businessman, entrepreneur and a major philanthropist. Carnegie earned the major part of his wealth in steel industry. He built the Carnegie Steel Company which in 1890s was the largest and most profitable industrial enterprise in the world. Later, he sold it to J.P. Morgan who created U.S. Steel. Carnegie, in the later part of his life, turned towards philanthropy and did significant work in the field of education and culture. He founded various organizations like Carnegie Corporation of New York, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Carnegie Mellon University and the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh. Carnegie was considered as the second-richest man in history after John D. Rockefeller.
3. H. L. Hunt (17 February 1889 - 29 November 1974)
Haroldson Lafayette Hunt, Jr., popularly known as H. L. Hunt, was born in Carson Township, Fayette County, Illinois. He was an extremely talented person which explains as to why he was later called American oil tycoon. He began creating his huge financial empire from a very small initial investment in oil in Arkansas and later on founded Hunt Oil Company. Hunt also became of the largest independent oil producer and gas supplier of the country. Apart from the oil business, he expanded his wings and invested in producing canned goods, health products, and cosmetics. Following his innovative and creative business tactics, he became one of the world's richest men. All throughout his life, Hunt was circled around controversies. He was a robust opponent of John F. Kennedy.
4. Sam Walton (29 March 1918 - 05 April 1992)
Samuel Moore "Sam" Walton was among the most versatile and brilliant businessmen of the world. He was the founder of one of the world's biggest general retail chain stores, Wal-Mart and Sam's club with his brother Bud Walton. Walton transformed the way people did retail shopping in United States. He also brought in great changes in the tactics of business. He dived into the retail business in 1945 and by the year the first Wal-Mart was opened in 1962, he was the proud owner of a chain of 15 variety stores in Arkansas. In the year 1990, Wal-Mart became the nation's top retailer in terms of sales. During his lifetime, with tremendous success, Walton was listed in the world's richest people and left an amazing wealth for his family when he died. Even post his death in 1992, the company continued to expand with the introduction of online commerce and stores all around the world. By 2001, there were over 4,500 Wal-Mart stores worldwide.
5. David Ogilvy (23 June 1911 - 21 July 1999)
David Mackenzie Ogilvy, CBE was a renowned advertising executive and an excellent businessman. Popularly known as the "Father of Advertising", Ogilvy is seen as the genius and expert in the field of selling a product. His life is quite inspirational. Starting from being just a mere chef to a door-to-door salesman, he established himself as the owner of one of the largest advertising agencies in the world. Ogilvy transformed the world of advertising by introducing a new appealing perspective to the same. He introduced creativity and morality into the advertisements. Honoring his creative instinct and sharp business acumen, "Time" magazine referred him as "the most sought-after wizard in today's advertising industry" in 1962. Also his book "Confessions of an Advertising Man" is one amongst the bestsellers that has been translated into 14 different languages with a sale of more than a million copies globally.
6. Estee Lauder (01 June 1906 - 24 April 2004)
Estee Lauder was an American businesswoman and founder of the Estee Lauder Companies, a pioneering cosmetics company. She was also one of the wealthiest self made women entrepreneurs in America. Her company is based on a basic dream of every woman, to look and feel glamorous. She also held the special distinction of being the only woman on TIME magazine's 1998 list of the 20 most influential business geniuses of the 20th century.
Lauder was also the proud recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 1988, she was inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame. Her founded Estee Lauder Companies is one of the leading cosmetic brands in the world today, selling over in 120 countries and generating revenues of billions of dollars per year. Estee Lauder, in her lifetime, had achieved a special place in the world of cosmetics and left a lasting legacy behind her.
7. John D. Rockefeller (08 July 1839 - 23 May 1937)
John Davison Rockefeller I was an oil magnate from America, who brought a revolution in the petroleum industry and outlined the structure of modern philanthropy. He was the founder of the Standard Oil Company and a devoted Baptist. He actively and boldly handled the running of the company until his retirement in 1897. Post retirement, the majority of the fortune of Rockefeller was used in creation of the modern systematic approach of targeted philanthropy with foundations that had a major effect on medicine, education, and scientific research.
Rockefeller established both the University of Chicago and Rockefeller University. As the kerosene and gasoline became quite important with the passing years, Rockefeller's wealth touched skies and eventually he acquired the position of being the richest man of the world. He was also the first American worth over a billion dollars and considered as the richest person in the entire history. He retired 40 years prior to his death. All his life, he helped several church-based institutions.
8. George Stephen (05 June 1829 - 29 November 1921)
George Stephen, also known as Sir George Stephen, was a Scots-Quebecker banker and railway executive in Canada. He became the first president of Canadian Pacific Railway in 1880 and was the main contributor to the early success of CPR. Building the costly transcontinental railway was a very difficult task which involved several financial problems and cost overruns, but Stephen with the help of his banking experience managed to put together the finance required to complete the project. He even staked his own money in the project.
He was a magnanimous philanthropist in Montreal and England and donated over $1 million during his life. The Royal Victoria Hospital, Montreal, and hospitals in England were among the beneficiaries from his wealth. He was also the first Canadian to be knighted when he was made a Baronet of Montreal in the Province of Quebec in the Dominion of Canada. His house in Montreal was turned into a private club, Mount Stephen Club. Today, it is a splendid restaurant and is one of the city's most significant heritage properties.
9. Conrad Hilton (25 December 1887 - 03 January 1979)
Conrad Hilton was an American hotelier and businessman and the founder of the much renowned Hilton Hotels chain. Hilton's philanthropic philosophy was influenced by his mother's Catholic beliefs. He was told by his mother that prayer was the best investment that he could ever make. His two golden rules of being a successful hotelier were, "digging for gold" and "espirt de corps". Hilton received a number of honorary degrees from eminent institutions like the University of Detroit (1953), DePaul University (1954), Barat College (1955), Adelphi College (1957), Sophia University, Tokyo (1963), and the University of Albuquerque (1975). In 1957, he published his autobiography, "Be My Guest", which can be found at every hotel room of Hilton Hotels.
10. Ray Kroc (05 October 1902 - 14 January 1984)
Raymond Albert "Ray" Kroc was an extremely proficient American businessman. Once referred to by Harvard Business School as "the service sector's equivalent of Henry Ford", Kroc but had a modest beginning. Starting from being a salesman of multi-mixer, he established himself as the man behind the worldwide name and fame of McDonald's with his mastermind. In 1954, after grabbing the franchise of small-scale McDonald's Corporation, he transformed it into one of the most successful fast food operations in the world.
He also utilized standardization to ensure that the McDonald's food products to taste the same in all the outlets. Kroc revolutionized the American restaurant industry with the new and developed operating and delivery system. He was named in Time 100 as "The Most Important People of the Century". Kroc in his lifetime gathered huge wealth of $500 million. Also, he owned the San Diego Padres baseball team which was started in the year 1974.
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