Business Tycoons

What is a tycoon?Tycoon  /tai.ˈkuːn/

A tycoon is a wealthy and powerful business person, particularly someone who has made a great deal of money all on their own, rather than inheriting some money or a company from relatives.

The word tycoon is derived from the Japanese word taikun (大君 ), which means "great lord," and it was used as a title for the shogun. The word entered the English language in 1857 with the return of Commodore Perry to the United States.

John D. RockefellerJohn Davison Rockefeller (July 8, 1839 – May 23, 1937) was an American oil magnate and philanthropist. He was the founder of the Standard Oil Company, which dominated the oil industry and was the first great U.S. business trust. In 1870, he founded the Standard Oil Company and aggressively ran it until he officially retired in 1897. Standard Oil began as an Ohio partnership formed by John D. Rockefeller, his brother William Rockefeller. As kerosene and gasoline grew in importance, Rockefeller's wealth soared, and he became the world's richest man and first American worth more than a billion dollars. Adjusting for inflation, he is often regarded as the richest person in history.

Andrew CarnegieAndrew Carnegie (November 25, 1835 – August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist, businessman, and entrepreneur who led the enormous expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century. He was also one of the most important philanthropists of his era.Carnegie was born in Scotland, and migrated to the United States as a child with his parents. His first job in the United States was as a factory worker. Later on he became a messenger boy. Eventually he progressed up the ranks of his company. He then founded the Carnegie Steel Company, which was later became U.S. Steel. By the 1890s, his company was the largest and most profitable industrial enterprise in the world.

William Randolph HearstWilliam Randolph Hearst (April 29, 1863 – August 14, 1951) was an American business magnate and leading newspaper publisher. Hearst entered the publishing business in 1887, after taking control of The San Francisco Examiner from his father. Moving to New York City, he acquired The New York Journal and engaged in a bitter circulation war with Joseph Pulitzer's New York World which led to the creation of yellow journalism—sensationalized stories of dubious veracity. Acquiring more newspapers, Hearst created a chain that numbered nearly 30 papers in major American cities at its peak. He later expanded to magazines, creating the largest newspaper and magazine business in the world.

Hearst Castle

Beginning in 1919, Hearst began to build the never-completed Hearst Castle, on a 240,000 acre (97,000 ha) ranch at San Simeon, California, which he furnished with art, antiques and entire rooms brought from the great houses of Europe.

Hearst Castle is now a National Historic Landmark in the United States, and a state park of California.

What do you think?

• Who are some famous tycoons from Chinese history?

• Are people who are famous for becoming rich admirable, or should they serve their community in other ways?

• Do you think that we can learn more about business by studying the lives of business tycoons?

Bill GatesWilliam Henry "Bill" Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American business magnate, investor, philanthropist, author, and former CEO and current chairman of Microsoft, the software company he founded. He is consistently ranked among the world's wealthiest people and was the wealthiest overall from 1995 to 2009, except in 2008, when he was ranked third. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions of CEO and chief software architect, and remains the largest individual shareholder, with 6.4 percent of the common stock.

Gates is one of the best-known entrepreneurs of the personal computer revolution. Although he is admired by many, a number of industry insiders criticize his business tactics, which they consider anti-competitive, an opinion which has in some cases been upheld by the courts.

Mark ZuckerbergMark Elliot Zuckerberg (born May 14, 1984) is an American computer programmer and Internet entrepreneur. He is best known for co-creating the social networking site Facebook, of which he is chief executive and president. It was co-founded as a private company in 2004 by Zuckerberg and classmates Dustin Moskovitz, Eduardo Saverin, and Chris Hughes while they were students at Harvard University. In 2010, Zuckerberg was named Time magazine's Person of the Year. As of 2011, his personal wealth was estimated to be $17.5 billion and he is one of the youngest billionaires in history. Zuckerberg’s story can be seen in the 2010 film The Social Network.

Richard BransonSir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson (born 18 July 1950) is an English business magnate, best known for his Virgin Group of more than 400 companies. His first successful business venture was a magazine called Student at age 16. In 1970, he set up an audio record mail-order business. In 1972, he opened a chain of record stores, Virgin Records, later known as Virgin Megastores. Branson's Virgin brand grew rapidly during the 1980s, as he set up Virgin Atlantic Airways and expanded the Virgin Records music label.

Branson is the 4th richest citizen of the United Kingdom and 254th richest person in the world, according to the Forbes 2011 list of billionaires, with an estimated net worth of US$4.2 billion

Branson’s Aquacar

Branson’s New Currency: the Branson

Virgin Galactic

Virgin Galactic is a company within Richard Branson's Virgin Group which plans to provide sub-orbital spaceflights to the paying public, along with suborbital space science missions and orbital launches of small satellites. In the near future Virgin Galactic plans to offer orbital human spaceflights to tourists for several million dollars a ticket.

What do you think?

• Are business tycoons really talented people, or are they just lucky?

• What do you think about aggressive business practices? Is it right for people to force other companies out of business?

• Who do you know that is very good at business? What are they like?

• What is your great business idea? How can you become a billionaire?If you would like to review this English corner, go to www.englishslide.com