Forbes and Bloomberg do not exactly agree on the place of our history in the world ranking of billionaires.
In 24th place is Forbes, with a fortune of 36,2 billion dollars, and in 25th place Bloomberg, talking about 34 billion.
Small things, of course, but this is how Sheldon Andelson has always been, he divided the world into supporters and critics.
Owner and president of the world's largest casino company, Las Vegas Sands, Adelson did not withdraw his money from gambling. On the contrary! He entered the industry relatively late in his business history, at the age of 55, but when he did, he swept everything.
It currently employs 50.000 people, has an annual turnover of $ 13,7 billion (2018 figures) and continues to hold the lion’s share of The world's top gaming provider.
Adelson is said to be overthrowing governments in America, remaining one of the Republicans' most ambitious and long-time financiers, shaping public opinion and moving the threads of the US Jewish lobby, as he is often accused of being behind many things. .
An orderly philanthropist for some, America's shadow boss for others, Andelson continues to be controversial. Not bad at all for the son of a taxi driver who started his life without one in his pocket and no prospects.
A difficult life that brought him to the sidewalk when he was already 12, to freeze every day selling bass newspapers and eat something in the afternoon.
This is his story, one of the greatest success stories in our world…
The son of a Boston taxi driver, Andelson was born in 1933, living in the cursed poverty of a run-down suburb. The son of Lithuanian immigrants, the father, immigrant from England, the mother, he worked in a taxi all day and she knew how to sew.
They gossiped, but not every day. And of course the little one was sleeping on the floor. So at the age of 12, Sheldon escaped misery and went to his uncle, who was clearly better off, lent him $ 200 (2.500 euros at current prices) and bought a license to sell. newspapers in town.
Relentless from an early age, 4 years later he knocked on his uncle's door again with a better, and infinitely more expensive, business plan. Now the 16-year-old was asking for $ 10.000 (somewhere around 90.000 euros today) to make vending machines for sweets! He did not get one. But he made the machines.
Growing up he found himself studying at New York University. Not that it would end. He was thirsty for money and adventure, he was not made for study and books. He wanted to become a court reporter, but he gave up and left military. He was fired from the armed forces with another business idea in mind: to sell a toiletry bag full of personal hygiene items. It did not go well at all. No problem, set up a new company. Now he was selling a spray to defrost the windshield.
The 1960s will see him in the tourism industry trying to make money from groups and tours. But there was something he did not know in all these failures, that he would soon become a millionaire! And he would lose them all. And he would become a millionaire again. And he would stay with the ace once again…
In a Forbes profile, we read that Andelson "built his empire by selling vending machines, selling newspaper advertising space, helping small companies get started, building apartments and hosting trade shows."
Only these are a few for the "serial businessman", as he is typically called, the man who built more than 50 companies with his own hands! However, he made his first serious money from trade fairs.
In 1979 he made the move-mat, made his own technology exhibition at Las Vegas, Comdex, which became one of the most famous exhibitions in the world. Result; In 1995 he sold what he had built at the trade fair to Japan's SoftBank for $ 862 million. His personal share was 500 million! And he was 62 years old…
Andelson became a gambler in 1988. At the age of 55, a well-respected and respected businessman, he was persuaded to invest in the historic Sands Hotel and Casino in Vegas, where Sinatra and the Rat Pack used to gather.
They would buy it cooperatively, since it cost 128 million, and so it was. Sheldon also wanted to build a conference center in the casino. It was built the following year and was in fact the only such center in the hands of an individual in all of America. It remains one of the most successful even today.
In 1991 he went on a honeymoon with his second wife, Dr. Miriam, to Venice. What did he discover there? But the idea for a huge hotel and casino that brings the sunken Italian city into the Nevada desert. The Venetian everyone knows that today!
The mega resort of 4.049 rooms mortgaged all of Sands, as it cost $ 1,5 billion, but it was a personal bet of Sheldon. The Venetian opened in May 1999 and the rest is obviously History. To build, Adelson demolished the Sands Hotel and waited 2 years to build the new gambling mammoth.
Beyond that, his story is another story of unparalleled success. In 2004, Sands Macau opened the first Asian "American-style" casino, which cost another $ 265 million. "Extremely successful" was later described by Forbes. And he was right. In April 2019, the casino in Macau made its owner richer by 2,2 billion dollars in one week! His huge profits raised the share of Las Vegas Sands by 8,8%.
At the time when one casino and hotel was opening one after the other, like the famous one Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, in 2015 decided to deal with the press, acquiring the newspaper "Las Vegas Review-Journal" for 140 million dollars. It was one of the few US newspapers to openly take a stand in favor of Trump in the 2016 race.
Andelson lives in a huge mansion in a very expensive Las Vegas suburb, has another 52 million in Malibu, California, vacations in the 90-meter and $ 70 million "Queen Miri" superyacht, flies in his private jet , a modified Airbus A345 somewhere around 380 seats, and gives incredible money to Republicans.
More than $ 17 million was entrusted in 2012 to Newt Gingrich for his presidential race and gave another 25 million to Trump, forcing the "New York Times" to call him "patron saint of Donald". In 2018, as the newspaper tells us, Andelson gave out of his pocket 123 million dollars in campaigns, committees and actions of the Republicans, a record amount, alas.
He belongs to the closest circle of presidential contacts as the No. 1 financier of Trump. Andelson also makes a lot of money for various purposes, remaining one of the main levers of the US Jewish lobby.
Sheldon even lost most of his money a third time due to the global economic downturn of 2008. But he came back stronger and today he is the least known of the top 30 richest people in the world. It has reached the top 10.
In March 2019, Andelson was treated for cancer. And he returned to his duties during the year, as despite his 86 years he continues to work as president and CEO of his colossus…