Ray Kroc - McDonalds

Arthur (Ray) Kroc Biography : McDonalds Corporation Founder

Famous for : Giving the world fast food with the spread of McDonalds

Kroc details : Born - USA October 5 , 1902 Died - January 14, 1984 USA

We provide food that customers love, day after day after day. People just want more of it - Ray Kroc

It's easy to have principles when you're rich. The important thing is to have principles when you're poor - Ray Kroc

Ray Kroc changed the way many people eat across the world by creating one of the most successful fast food restaurants in history. Kroc began as a humble salesman selling milkshake making machines, when at the ripe old age of 52 he saw an opportunity to open his first store. Two brothers (McDonald brothers) in California that Kroc sold his milkshake makers had a small chain of stores that were doing very well. Kroc decided to replicate their success in Illinois by acquiring the franchise rights from the brothers. Kroc's Illinois store was a great success and he eventually bought the brothers out in 1961. McDonald's rapidly expanded and improved over the years to become a giant fast food corporation of more than 30,000 stores in 117 different countries serving 47 million customers each day."I was 52 years old. I had diabetes and incipient arthritis. I had lost my gall bladder and most of my thyroid gland in earlier campaigns, but I was convinced that the best was ahead of me." Ray Kroc quote

Jack Welch Biography

Jack Welch Biography : Former General Electric Chairman and CEO.

Famous for : being the General Electric (GE) Chairman and CEO, and Leadership skills.

Welch details : Born - USA 1935 Lives - USA.

My main job was developing talent. I was a gardener providing water and other nourishment to our top 750 people. Of course, I had to pull out some weeds, too - Jack Welch

An organization's ability to learn, and translate that learning into action rapidly, is the ultimate competitive advantage - Jack Welch

Jack Welch grew to fame in the business world through his management success and skills during his many years at General Electric. Welch turned the struggling slow moving giant of a company into a dynamic growth company revered by many. During his 20 years of leadership at General Electric (GE) Welch increased the value of the company from $13 billion to several hundred billion.Born John Frances Welch Jr. in Salem Massachusetts USA in 1935. Welch received his B.S. degree at the University of Massachusetts in Chemical Engineering and then went on to receive his M.S. and Ph.D degrees (as a Chemical Engineer) at the University of Illinois.After graduating in 1960 Welch joined General Electric as a Chemical engineer and worked his way through the ranks to become the Chairman and CEO of GE, making him the eighth and youngest leader. During his 20 year reign of General Electric, one of Americas largest and most well known companies Jack Welch's management skills became almost legendary. His no nonsense leadership style gave him a reputation of being hard, even ruthless, but also fair when making business decisions. Welch had little time for bureaucracy and archaic business ways. If managers didn't change they were replaced with someone that could change. Managers were given free reign as long as they followed the GE ethic of constant change and striving to do better. He ran GE like a small dynamic business able to change as opportunities arose or when a business become unprofitable.In his pursuit to change and streamline the General Electric giant Welch once earned the nickname of Neutron Jack. More than 100,000 GE employees had their jobs taken from them during his reign. GE businesses had to be the best performing business in their field or they were sold.General Electric saw great growth and expansion under Jack Welch's leadership. Through streamlining operations, acquiring new businesses, and ensuring that each business under the GE umbrella was one of the best in its field the company was able expand dramatically from 1981 to 2001.Love him or hate him, there is no denying that Jack Welch is an exceptional manager and improved the General Electric company dramatically. His management ideas and leadership skills are both admired by business commentators and imitated by business leaders worldwide.Since retiring from his role as GE Chairman in 2001 Welch has written a best selling memoir "Jack, Straight from the Gut" and consults with several Fortune 500 businesses.

Warren Buffett

Warren Edward Buffett Biography : Famous American Investor - Stock Market Guru
Famous for : The successful Berkshire Hathaway Company, 2nd Richest man in the world, & Philanthropist
Buffet details : Born - August 30, 1930 Omaha, Nebraska / Lives - United States of America - Omaha.

Wide diversification is only required when investors do not understand what they are doing - Warren Buffett

Only buy something that you'd be perfectly happy to hold if the market shut down for 10 years - Warren Buffett

Warren Buffett was born in Nebraska, Omaha USA on the 30th of August in 1930. He is one of the worlds richest men, with a fortune that is only surpassed by Bill Gates of Microsoft fame. He is considered one of the most successful investors of all time and has picked up the nickname of the "Oracle of Omaha".Buffett was born to Leila and Howard Buffett and was the second of three children, he being the only boy. Buffett's father, Howard was a stockbroker and also became a member of congress. Warren Buffett showed early signs of being entrepreneurial through being involved in various business dealings as a child, including purchasing bottles of cola cheaply and selling them for a profit. He also made his first investment in the stock market when he was just 11 years old.Buffett began studying at the Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania, but transferred to the University of Nebraska where he graduated. He then went on to the Columbia University to do a Masters in economics. This was where he met the influential value investor Benjamin Graham. Buffett was very influenced by Benjamin Graham and went to work for him in his company "Graham-Newman". It was here that Buffett developed many of his stock market investing skills that have now become legendary. Graham developed a method where investors could work out the intrinsic value of a company and make intelligent investing decisions by comparing the stock price to the intrinsic value.Warren Buffett's Berkshire Berkshire HathawayAfter Graham's retirement, Buffett returned to Omaha and began a limited investing fund partnership with a group of friends, family and associates. The "Buffett Partnerships Ltd" fund racked up amazing returns for its investors over a ten year period, with returns 10 times higher than the Dow Jones Industrial average for the same time. Buffett liquidated the fund and took control of the textile company Berkshire Hathaway.It was a difficult time for the textile industry and Buffett eventually wound up Berkshire Hathaway's textile activities, but kept the name for Buffett's portfolio of companies and investments. The insurance industry was the first major area of success that Berkshire Hathaway had, with the funds used to acquire carefully selected investments each year. Major undervalued companies that Buffett took advantage of included "American Express", "Coca-Cola" "The Washington Post" and "Gillette". Berkshire Hathaway owns large holdings of each of the above major brand companies (more than 5% each).Selected Berkshire subsidiary companies include:
Borsheim's Fine Jewelry
Acme Brick Company
Buffalo NEWS, Buffalo NY
Clayton Homes
Fruit of the Loom
GEICO Direct Auto Insurance
General Re
Helzberg Diamonds
Nebraska Furniture Mart
The Pampered Chef
See's Candies
United States Liability Insurance Group
Warren Buffett lives with his long time partner Astrid Menks in Omaha, USA. He was married to Susan Thompson up until her death from stroke in July 2004, but the couple were separated in 1977. They chose not to divorce and remained good friends and business associates. Buffett's late wife was set to inherit much of his fortune upon his death.

Buffett is a generous philanthropist and was giving more than $USD12 million each year to the Buffett Foundation (no called the "Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation"). His largest charitable donation was to be upon his death when he had planned to give 99% of his massive fortune to the foundation.In June 2006 Buffett announced plans to give much of his wealth away while he is still living. The majority of the Buffett billions will go to the foundation of his Bridge partner and friend of fifteen years, Bill Gates.Read more about the Warren Buffett philanthropy plans

Lakshmi Mittal

::: Lakshmi Mittal - Billionaire Steel Magnate :::
Lakshmi Mittal Biography (Lakshmi Niwas Mittal) : Mittal Steel Company

Famous for : The controversial "Garbagegate" scandal in Britain and being the 3rd richest man in the world in 2005.

Mittal details : Born - India Lives - United Kingdom.

Always think outside the box and embrace opportunities that appear, wherever they might be. -Lakshmi Mittal

When people can see which direction the leaders are going in it becomes easier to motivate them. -Lakshmi Mittal

Lakshmi Mittal heads the multi national steel company Mittal Steel that his father Mohan began. Mittal has grown the family business into one of the largest steel companies in the world, with steel making facilities in fourteen countries and employing more than 150,000 people. The Indian born, British based steel magnate was the third richest man in the world in 2005 according to the Forbes business magazine. Lakshmi Mittal saw his estimated wealth increase by $US18.8 billion in 12 months, due to surging steel prices and when he merged his Ispat International with Ohio-based International Steel Group. Mittal reportedly paid $US100+ million for a twelve bedroom residence in Kensington Palace Gardens, London.

Henry Ford

::: Henry Ford - Ford Motor Company
:::Henry Ford Biography : Ford Motor Company Founder
Famous for : Maker of the Model T Ford car, Businessman and American Philanthropist
Ford details : Born - July 30, 1863 United States Died - April 7, 1947




A market is never saturated with a good product, but it is very quickly saturated with a bad one. Henry Ford

Failure is the opportunity to begin again, more intelligently. Henry Ford

Henry Ford was an inventor, philanthropist and successful American businessman. Ford was the founder of the still popular Ford Motor Company which had its first success with the Model T Ford car that was released in 1908. Henry Ford revolutionized the way cars were designed and built, introducing assembly line factories for producing mass amounts of vehicles that led to lower prices for consumers and an explosion in car ownership throughout the United States.Henry Ford was born on July 30, 1863 in Dearborn, Michigan, United States, in what was then known as Springwells Township. Ford's parents were Irish immigrants and the family lived on a farm, with Henry Ford being the eldest of six children. The family had a comfortable upbringing on the farm with a decent income, but even as a young person, Ford believed there was too much work and not enough income living from the land."It was life on the farm that drove me into devising ways and means to better transportation. I was born on July 30, 1863, on a farm at Dearborn, Michigan, and my earliest recollection is that, considering the results, there was too much work on the place." Henry Ford QuoteFord began his career as an apprentice machinist in 1879, then returned to his family farm in 1882 before starting work with the Westinghouse company to service their steam engines. Ford then went to work at the Edison Illuminating Company where he became chief engineer in 1893. Henry Ford had always enjoyed mechanical things and was always trying to improve or create more useful machinery. In 1893 he created his first gasoline driven buggy or Quadricycle that was completely self propelled. He then started the Detroit Automobile Company with several other investors to improve on his design, but the company went bankrupt soon after. Ford then started the Henry Ford Company, which he also left, before eventually starting the Ford Motor Company in 1903.The Ford Motor Company released the successful Model T car in 1908. Generally cars were built one at a time and were only accessible to the very wealthy, but Ford continued to improve the way the cars were manufactured. In 1913 the cars were being mass produced by one of the first moving assembly lines. In 1918, half of the total amount of cars in the United States were Model T's, 15 million cars were sold, and production of the Model T was finally stopped in 1927.Ford also had interests in politics but was never successful as a politician, and unsuccessfully ran for Senate as a Democrat. He also had strong views on labor and how the workforce should be treated. He paid his workers more money for less working days and made the 5 day 40 hour working week a normal part of working life. Henry Ford created the Ford Foundation in 1936 to promote human welfare through research grants, educational grants and development.In 1947, at the age 83 Henry Ford died of a cerebral hemorrhage and was buried in the Ford Cemetery in Detroit.