7 Billionaires Who Got Undergraduate Business Degrees

Considering a career in business? Browse your options

Guest article by Angelique H. Caffrey

Need some inspiration after pulling yet another draining all-nighter?

Want to feel like that business degree you’re slaving away to earn could actually pay for itself before your own kids go to college?

Thinking of dropping everything and trying your hand at a Vegas blackjack table instead of plowing through another semester?

Stop and take heart. You’re not alone, and you could be on a fast track to buying your own private jet… or island.

Just like you, the following big business billionaires likely experienced frustrations when they were earning their undergrad degrees. Nevertheless, they clawed and scratched and used their education (mixed with heaping helpings of entrepreneurial spirit and moxie) to land them among the richest of the rich.

Who knows? You could be on the list of “who’s who” sooner than you think, luxuriating in the land of those nine coveted zeroes. Forbes.com noted there were only 946 by the beginning of 2007, so there’s always room at the top for one more.

1. Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, Chairman of HDNet

Cuban might have fallen flat on last year’s Dancing with the Stars, but he’s had all the right moves in the corporate world. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business from Indiana University and continues to tango and salsa (figuratively, of course) his way to mega bucks and media appearances.

2. Lakshmi Mittal, chairman and CEO of Mittal Steel Company

You may not hear about Mittal every day, but this Indian-born billionaire used his Bachelor of Commerce degree from Calcutta’s St. Xavier’s College to help become a British steel magnate. Internationally, he’s lauded for his savvy and has never lost a sense of connection with his humble upbringing.

3. Philip Anschutz, American businessman

As the 31st richest man in America, Anschutz was raised in the midwest and earned a bachelor’s degree in business in 1961 from the University of Kansas. Now retired, he invests his wealth in Christian causes.

4. Ronald Perelman, investor

The University of Pennsylvania’s highly regarded Wharton School was Perelman’s choice for both his undergraduate and graduate studies in business. (As a side note, Daddy went there, too. So never assume that parents can’t be an asset to the start of your fortune.)

5. Arthur Rock, Silicon Valley venture capitalist

Rock invested wisely throughout his life… Who knows? He may have been helped by his bachelor’s degree in business administration from Syracuse University. Regardless, he obviously thinks highly of education – he generously gave the Harvard Business School $25 million to open the Arthur Rock Center for Entrepreneurship.

6. Ronald Lauder, businessman

As the son of renowned Estee Lauder, this billionaire could have sat back and enjoyed the good life, awaiting an inheritance worth millions. Instead, he attended the University of Brussels from which he received his Certificate in International Business and today is known as a civic-minded philanthropist.

7. Arthur Blank, co-founder of Home Depot

This Flushing, New York born tycoon graduated from Babson College with a Business Administration degree after studying for just three years (no doubt burning the midnight oil.) As the co-founder of one of the “big boxes” which sell home improvement products and services, he’s helped change the meaning of “do-it-yourself”.