Sheldon Adelson: Success Story and Biography Highlights
Sheldon Adelson is a dollar billionaire who started from the bottom, as is often the case. His business acumen has helped him succeed in most of his business projects: Adelson has amassed a fortune of $33.5 billion and is ranked 17th on Forbes’ list of the wealthiest people in the USA and 28th among the richest people in the world.
| Years of life | 1933-2021 |
|---|---|
| Born in | Boston |
| Died in | Los Angeles |
Interesting Points From Adelson’s Biography
Sheldon was born in Boston; he was the son of immigrants, and his ancestors lived in several European countries: the United Kingdom, Ukraine, and Lithuania. Immigrants’ lives were not easy: they lived in poverty, so the future successful businessman had to find ways to earn money at a young age.
When Sheldon was 12 years old, he started selling newspapers; this business required a license, and he borrowed $200 from his uncle to buy one.
Adelson had to deal with such things as loans and interest early, but he repaid his uncle’s debt and four years later borrowed from him a much more significant sum of $10,000 (more than a hundred thousand US dollars by today’s standards).
The money was spent wisely: Sheldon set up his first business in the sweet trade. Then the young man had to join the US army, and only after the service ended did Adelson’s truly successful entrepreneurial activity begin.
Top Facts From the Billionaire Biography
In different years of his business and parapolitical life, Adelson was known for many successful business projects, as well as loud statements. We suggest taking a look at the most curious fragments of the tycoon’s biography:
- Adelson is a creator of the popular COMDEX exhibition, which promoted such giant corporations as Microsoft and Apple. Two decades after the exhibition’s inception, Adelson sold the rights to the show along with related companies to Japanese business people for $862,000,000.
- Overall, the businessman founded more than 50 companies of varying scales, which he eventually sold, earning a good profit.
- The tycoon was an active opponent of marijuana legalization.
- Sheldon lobbied for sanctions on Iran’s nuclear program and even threatened that country with an atomic bomb, after which he claimed it was just hyperbole.
- Adelson was a serious political player. For example, thanks to Sheldon’s $65 million help, Donald Trump won the election race and became president in 2017.
It is interesting that Adelson, who made billions in the gambling and hotel business, supported the ban on online gambling in the USA.
Major Projects in the Gambling Industry
Sheldon became interested in gambling investments at the end of the last century. He bought The Sands Hotel & Casino from Kirk Kerkorian in 1988, and a year later, he built The Sands Expo Convention Center next to the resort complex. However, after three years, Sheldon decided to take a bold step: to demolish the casino and the hotel and build Las Vegas Venetian on this vacant place. As it turned out, the game was worth it: later, the Venetian became one of the best entertainment complexes in the city.
A trip to Venice inspired the businessman to build the new luxury casino complex.
Las Vegas Venetian was inaugurated in 1999, but the building story didn’t end there: four years later, the expansion resulted in the Venezia Tower, 18 restaurants, more than 4,000 luxury hotel rooms, and natural canals with gondolas floating on them. Adelson spent more than a billion and a half US dollars on all this luxury, and today the complex still retains its status as one of the largest in the USA and in the world.
Adelson’s large gambling ambitions also touched China: in 2004, the Sands Macao casino was built in Macao in the style of the best Las Vegas gambling venues; it was unparalleled in China at that time. By the way, the Celestial Empire gave the best ground for the growth of Adelson’s business: his fortune has grown 14 times in 15 years.
Three years later, the tycoon invested $2,400,000,000 in the construction of Venetian Macao, designed to repeat the success of the complex in Las Vegas. According to some estimates, the project has even surpassed its American prototype. In general, the corporation Adelson’s Las Vegas Sands expected to spend on the development of the gambling business in the Celestial Empire over $12,000,000,000, but plans were implemented only in part due to the corruption scandal.
Another destination for Adelson’s business was Singapore. In 2010, Sheldon built the luxury Marina Bay Sands complex, which was probably his most expensive project in the gambling industry: it required an investment of $5,500,000,000.
Sheldon’s other notable projects include Sands Cotai Central, St. Regis Macao, The Parisian Macao, Sands Bethworks, and Sands Casino Hotel Bethlehem. Even in his old age, the billionaire continued planning and funding various projects, including philanthropic ones. Among Adelson’s latest goals was to build several Las Vegas-style casinos in Europe.
