Some of the richest people in the world were born into their wealth. But many of them started with nothing, and through hard work, talent, grit, and a bit of luck, managed to rise to the very top. These 20 stories remind us that it's possible to overcome just about anything, from parents passing away, to extreme poverty, and more. _Max Nisen and Eric Goldschein wrote an earlier version of this story. _ SEE ALSO: THE INCREDIBLE RAGS-TO-RICHES STORY OF STARBUCKS BILLIONAIRE HOWARD SCHULTZ GEORGE SOROS SURVIVED THE NAZI OCCUPATION OF HUNGARY TO BECOME ONE OF THE WORLD'S MOST SUCCESSFUL INVESTORS. George Soros survived the Nazi occupation of Hungary after his father paid a government employee, whose Jewish wife he had helped hide in the countryside, to let him pose as his godson. In 1947, he escaped the country, which had come under communist rule after the war, to stay with relatives in London. Soros put himself through the London School of Economics by working as a waiter and railway porter. After graduating, Soros sold goods at a souvenir shop, writing countless letters to managing directors at merchant banks in London until he finally got a job. That was the beginning of a long and enormously successful career in finance, including his famous bet against the British pound in 1992, which earned him more than a billion dollars in profit in one swoop. LARRY ELLISON GREW UP IN A POOR CHICAGO NEIGHBORHOOD BEFORE CO-FOUNDING ORACLE. Ellison was born on the Lower East Side of New York City. After he contracted pneumonia as a baby, his mother was unable to care for him, and instead sent him to live with her aunt and uncle on the South Side of Chicago. He has never met his birth father, and didn't even know he was adopted until much later in life. In 1977, he co-founded a database management company called Software Development Laboratories. They changed the name to Relational Software in 1979, and in 1982, it became Oracle. Today, Oracle has annual revenues of around $38 billion, and Ellison has an estimated net worth of $46.2 billion. He's amassed all of the toys you'd expect from a billionaire — planes, yachts, multiple mansions, and even an entire Hawaiian island. He stepped down from his CEO role in 2014. JOHN PAUL DEJORIA LIVED IN HIS CAR BEFORE JOHN PAUL MITCHELL SYSTEMS TOOK OFF. As a first-generation American, DeJoria had it rough from the beginning. His Greek and Italian parents divorced when he was two, and he sold Christmas cards and newspapers to help support his family before he turned 10. He was eventually sent to live in a foster home in Los Angeles. DeJoria spent some time with an L.A. gang before joining the military. After trying his hand as an employee for Redken Laboratories, he took a $700 dollar loan and created John Paul Mitchell Systems. He hawked the company's shampoo door-to-door, living out of his car while doing so. But the quality of the product could not be denied, and now JPM Systems has annual revenues of nearly $1 billion. He also created Patron Tequila and has a hand in a variety of industries, from diamonds to mobile phones. See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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