10 Most Successful Businessmen

By: Mason Kaho

Break Studios Contributing Writer

A list of the ten most successful businessmen of all time includes some of history's most industrious workers and innovative entrepreneurs. In most cases, these men invented entire industries and changed the course of history.

1. John D. Rockefeller. Rockefeller is the richest man of all time when adjusted for inflation and is certainly one of the ten most successful businessmen. He created Standard Oil and completely monopolized the oil industry, controlling every level of production from start to finish.
   
   
   
2. Henry Ford. Ford created the Ford Motor Company and essentially, the automobile industry. His developments changed the way factories ran, the way society operated and the face of the country. His company remains a major world force today.
   
   
3. Bill Gates. Gates became one of the ten most successful businessmen of all time in the 1980’s when the software he developed—Microsoft—took over the computing world. Nearly all computers run Microsoft, and Gates is a major player in world economics.
   
   
4. Thomas Edison. Edison not only invented an item nearly every person in the world uses everyday, the light bulb, he also was the holder of over 1,000 patents at the time of his death. A symbol of innovation, persistence and entrepreneurship, he is definitely one of the ten most successful businessmen in history.
   
   
5. Soichiro Honda. Honda is certainly one of the ten most successful businessmen in world history. He began making small motorcycles in Japan in the mid 20th century and then moved into the auto industry. His eponymous car company grew and gained a significant foothold in the United States, opening the way for Japanese exports and establishing a reputation for quality and reliability.
   
   
6. Steven Jobs. Jobs was co-founder of Apple, the company that introduced a practical personal computer to the world, and is one of the ten most successful businessmen in the country. He has stayed at the helm of Apple, a company that continues to release incredibly popular products.
   
   
7. Carlos Slim. Slim moved into the spot of “world’s richest man” and obviously, one of the ten most successful businessmen in the world. He has made his money in the telecom industry and is the CEO of three companies.
   
   
8. Andrew Carnegie. Carnegie was an immigrant bobbin boy in a factory as a child, and decades later, he became the biggest steel magnate the world had ever seen. In his later years, he gave away a large part of his vast fortune.
   
   
9. JP Morgan. Morgan, one of the ten most successful businessmen ever, was one of a handful of corporate titans on the American scene at the turn of the 20th century. He was a banker and oversaw industrial consolidations in major industries, such as steel and electronics. He stepped in during a financial crisis and saved many New York banks in 1907.
   
   
10. Michael Dell. Dell was an engineering whiz as a youngster and started a computer building business while in college. His company, today, is one of the biggest tech firms in the world, and most Americans spend their time online using a Dell computer.

Reference: http://www.mademan.com/mm/10-most-successful-businessmen.html