5 Billionaires Who Got Fired From Their Jobs — And Went On To Get Ridiculously Rich
Written by
Laura Beck
Edited by
Molly Sullivan
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Getting fired feels like the end of the world when it happens. But for some of the world’s wealthiest people, losing their job turned out to be the push they needed to build empires. Here are five billionaires whose careers early on included a pink slip.
Mark Cuban Thought He Knew Best
Right out of college, Cuban landed a job selling software at a company called Your Business Software. He didn’t last a year.
Cuban got fired after he left the store without telling his boss in order to close a big sale. Despite the $10,000 check he had secured, his boss wasn’t happy and fired him.
That willingness to break rules when he thought he was right became a pattern. Cuban went on to launch his own tech businesses and eventually bought the Dallas Mavericks. The same aggressive sales instinct that got him fired made him a billionaire.
Michael Bloomberg Got a $10 Million Severance
Bloomberg lost his job at Salomon Brothers back in 1981 when the firm got acquired. Most people would panic. Bloomberg saw an opportunity.
His severance package came to around $10 million. Instead of looking for another Wall Street gig, he used that money to start his own company. Bloomberg LP became the financial data and media giant that made him one of the richest people on the planet.
Getting fired turned into the best business decision someone else made for him. That severance check became seed capital for a multibillion-dollar empire.
Ray Dalio Punched His Boss at a Party
Dalio worked at Shearson Hayden Stone in 1974. His career there ended abruptly at a New Year’s Eve party when he punched his boss in the face — something that is not recommended, even if Dalio was able to recover from it.
Getting fired for workplace violence would sink most careers before they started. Somehow, for Dalio, it cleared the path to something bigger. The following year he founded Bridgewater Associates.
Bridgewater grew into the largest hedge fund in the world. Dalio’s tendency toward blunt confrontation (but not violence) became part of his management philosophy rather than a career-ending problem. Sometimes getting fired is the universe telling you to work for yourself.
Jim Ratcliffe Lasted Three Days at BP
Ratcliffe had a job at BP working with chemicals. He made it three days before the company let him go.
The reason wasn’t performance. Ratcliffe had eczema, and BP deemed him medically unfit for chemical work. Being fired for a skin condition three days into your first job sounds devastating.
Instead, Ratcliffe eventually founded INEOS Group, which became one of the world’s major chemical companies. The industry that rejected him for a medical issue became the source of his billions. He proved BP wrong in the most expensive way possible.
Stephen Ross Called Getting Fired the Best Thing That Happened
Ross started his career on Wall Street at Bear Stearns. It didn’t go well. He clashed with a superior and got fired early in his tenure.
Years later, Ross said getting fired “was the best thing that happened to me.” He left Wall Street and founded The Related Companies, which grew into a massive real estate development firm.
Sometimes you need to get kicked out of the wrong industry to find the right one. Ross couldn’t make it work in finance, but he built billions in real estate instead.
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