Rank 16
Michael Dell
69B
Dell Technologies
Austin, Texas
United States
- Dell got his start at 19 selling computers out of his University of Texas dorm room, grossing $80,000 by the end of his freshman year.
- Dell's DFO Management owns the Four Seasons Maui, plus indirect stakes in Applebees, IHOP, Calvin Klein and reportedly Grand Central Station.
- Michael Dell is chairman and CEO of Dell Technologies, which formed in 2016 via Dell's $60 billion merger with computer storage giant EMC.
- In late 2018 Dell Technologies returned to public markets through a complicated financial restructuring.
- Dell's cloud software arm, VMware, spun off in 2021; in 2022 microchip firm Broadcom agreed to buy the company in a $61 billion deal.
- Much of Dell's fortune lies in his private investment firm DFO Management, which has stakes in hotels and invests in liquid corporate credit.
- In 2017, Dell donated $1 billion to his foundation, which focuses on child poverty; it makes both impact investments and charitable donations.