Billionaires
Joseph Lau Net Worth
Joseph Lau's Net Worth as of 2024
$15.1 Billion
Born Joseph Lau Luen Hung on the 21st July 1951 in (then) British Hong Kong Territory, he is a businessman, a real estate investor best known to the world as partial owner and chairman of the Chinese Estates Holdings.
Have you ever wondered how rich Jospeh Lau is, as of early 2017? According to authoritative sources, it has been estimated that Lau’s net worth is as high as $15.1 billion, an amount earned largely through his successful career in the real estates.
Joseph Lau Net Worth $15.1 Billion
Joseph is the oldest of four siblings, which includes brother Thomas, who is also a successful businessman, CEO and chairman of Lifestyle Holdings. Joseph moved to Canada to attend the University of Windsor, from where he obtained his degree.
He started the Chinese Estate Holdings with a focus on property investment, management and development, but soon ventured into other business areas, including brokerages and securities investment. As the firm grew, Joseph’s net worth increased commensurately, and soon he became one of the most successful company owners in Hong Kong. So far he has invested HK$1.9 billion in Hong Kong, and has plans to invest even more assets, which would potentially further increase his wealth.
The amount of his wealth is mirrored in numerous luxurious assets which Joseph possesses. He is one of few to own a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, while he is also an avid art collector, buying several rare pieces, including Paul Gauguin’s Te Poipoi which cost him $39.2 million. He has also purchased several luxurious jewelry pieces such as, for his daughter, a 7.03 carat blue diamond, a 9.75 carat blue diamond for his second daughter and, perhaps for himself, a 12.03 carat blue diamond at Sotheby’s for $48.4 million, which became the most expensive diamond ever.
Regarding his personal life, Joseph has married twice, firstly to Bo Wing-kam from 1977 to 1992 – they have two children. Following, he was in a relationship with Yvonne Lui from 2002 to 2014 with whom he also has two children. Since 2016, Joseph has been married to his second wife Chan Hoi-wan, and they have two children.
Having amassed such wealth, Joseph wanted to return some to the community, and has started the Joseph Lau Luen-hung Charitable Trust, supporting several causes, including education, arts and sports.
However, despite – or perhaps because of – his riches, Joseph Lau has had legal problems, and has been convicted in Macao of bribery and money laundering and sentenced to five years in jail; perhaps fortunately Hong Kong where he resides doesn’t have an extradition treaty with Macao, so Joseph remains free for the time being. Having said that, his health gives some cause for concern, as he has had a kidney transplant, and suffers from heart problems too. Apparently there are some things which money cannot buy!
Billionaires
Warren Buffett Net Worth
Warren Edward Buffett was born on 30 August 1930, in Omaha, Nebraska USA, and is known worldwide variously as the “Sage”, “Wizard” or “Oracle of Omaha”, as is currently ranked in the top three richest people in the world by Forbes and Bloomberg, being primarily an extremely knowledgeable investor and financial advisor, also a business magnate, financier and generous philanthropist.
So just how rich is Warren Buffett? According to Forbes, Warren’s net worth in mid-2017 is estimated to be a very impressive $77 billion, the vast majority of his wealth having been accumulated as a result of his consistently successful investing through his company Berkshire Hathaway.
Warren Buffett Net Worth $77 Billion
Warren Buffet is the only son of US Congressman Howard Buffett and mother Leila (née Stahl). Warren went to school in Washington DC, and then to the University of Pennsylvania for two years (including joining the Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity) before transferring to the University of Nebraska from where he graduated at nineteen with a BSc in business administration. After unsuccessfully applying to Harvard Business School, Buffett enrolled at Columbia Business School, and graduated with a MSc in economics in 1951. Buffett also attended the New York Institute of Finance.
Even in primary school, Warren Buffett made money in all sorts of ways, including owning second-hand pinball machines, working in his grandfather’s store, selling golf balls, chewing gum, and magazines door-to-door. Buffett’s interest in the stock market and investing began in his schooldays too, sometimes spent in the customers’ lounge of a regional stock brokerage near his father’s office, plus visiting the NYSE when he was 10. At 11, he bought three shares of Cities Service for himself, and three for his sister Doris (founder The Sunshine Lady Foundation). In high school, he invested in a business owned by his father, and bought a farm worked by a tenant farmer.
Warren Buffett began his full-time working career as an investment salesman for Buffett-Falk & Co., then as a securities analyst in Graham-Newman Corp, and subsequently went on to work at Buffett Partnership, Ltd. In 1957 he had three partnerships operating, increasing to five the next year, and which by 1962 made him a millionaire – that year his partnerships had assets of over $7 million, $1 million of which belonged to Buffett.
Buffett’s first private investment was the department store Hochschild, Kohn and Co. However, it was Berkshire Hathaway that brought him huge financial success, firstly from buying the shares of this multinational conglomerate holding company, then becoming chairman in 1965. The company became the portal for virtually all of Buffett’s investments, giving him a spot on the Forbes 400 in 1979, and making him a billionaire by 1990. Warren Buffett is now chairman , CEO and the largest shareholder of the company. In 2008, he was listed by Forbes as the richest person in the world, and in 2012, Time magazine named Buffett one of the most influential people in the world, a position which he has held in every year since, regardless of formal acknowledgement.
In addition to the profits gained from his company, Buffett has accumulated a large amount of his net worth due to forward contracts, the value of which by 2006 was over $2 billion. That same year Buffett announced that he would give away 85% of his Berkshire holdings to five charitable organizations – the largest amount going to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation co-founded with Bill Gates with the aim of reducing poverty and enhancing healthcare – plus others such as Nuclear Threat Initiative, Glide Foundation, and Buffett Foundation, created in order to manage his charitable donations. As a result of his philanthropy, Warren Buffett’s annual salary in recent years amounts to only $100,000.
Buffett’s humble and generous personality has inspired many authors such as Robert Lowenstein, Alice Shroeder, Janet Lowe, and John Train to release books about him. Warren Buffett is also a known writer himself, and has been publishing annual reports and various articles for a number of years, the most prominent of which is “The Super Investors of Graham-and-Doddsville”.
In his personal life, Warren was married to Susan from 1952 until her death in 2004, although they lived separate lives from the late 70s; they have one daughter. In 2006 he married Astrid Menks, with whom he had been co-habiting for many years. Warren Buffett lives in a house in Omaha, which he purchased in 1957 for $31,000. During his free time, Buffett enjoys playing bridge, and has even sponsored a Buffett Cup bridge match.
Billionaires
Jefferey Hildebrand Net Worth
Jeffery Hildebrand is a successful American businessman, born in 1959, and best known as the founder, CEO and chairman of the Hilcorp Energy Company, which is now one of the largest oil and natural gas exploration and production companies privately-held in the US.
Have you ever wondered how rich Jeffery Hildebrand is? According to sources, it has been estimated that Jeffery Hildebrand’s overall net worth is $4.2 billion, accumulated through an outstandingly successful and lucrative career as an entrepreneur, since the early ‘90s. As he is still an active businessman, his net worth continues to increase.
Jeffery Hildebrand Net Worth $4.2 Billion
Jeffery attended the University of Texas at Austin, where he first earned a bachelor’s degree in geology in 1981 and then a master’s degree in petroleum engineering four years later. During his studies, Hildebrand was also a member of the Pi Epsilon Tau fraternity. His career beginnings were at the American Energy Capital Corporation, Exxon Company and the Dan A. Hughes Company.
However, his career really started moving upwards in 1989, when he founded Hilcorp Energy Company. This oil and gas exploration and production company, headquartered in Houston, soon became one of the leaders in the US. It now has operations in multiple states including the Rockies, the Gulf Coast and Northeast US, as well as Alaska. In 2011, the company sold its interests in Eagle Ford Shale to Marathon Oil for approximately $1.4 billion. Years after its foundation, it appeared on Fortune Magazine’s 100 Best Companies to Work For three years in a row – in 2013, 2014 and 2015. This proved to be true, as Jeffery gave each one of his 1400 employees a $100,000 bonus to thank them for their efforts in making his business the most profitable privately held oil and gas company in the US.
Apart from this, Hildebrand is a member of several other associations, including the Engineering Advisory Board, The National Petroleum Council, the Houston Energy Finance Group, the All American Wildcatters, the Independent Petroleum Association of America, the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, the Texas Independent Petroleum Royalty Owners Association, the Louisiana Independent Oil and Gas Association among many others. He was also appointed to the University of Texas Regent Wallace Hall in 2011.
The successful businessman that he is, Jeffery holds several other positions, on the boards of Central Houston, Inc. the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo and the Houston Police Foundation. He is Vice-Chairman of the University of Texas Systems Board of Regents, chairman of the University of Texas Investment Management Company, and a member of the University Lands Advisory Board.
When it comes to his private life, Jeffery is married to Mindy; they have three children and reside in Houston, Texas. As for political involvement, since the beginning of the 2000s, Hildebrand has donated more than $360 000 to politician Rick Perry.
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