These billionaires showed they were going to be successful from childhood

Billionaires who showed entrepreneurial flair from a very early age

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Many teenagers deliver newspapers or work a weekend job to earn some extra money, but these billionaires showed an even greater entrepreneurial spark and determination to succeed from a very early age. Read on to find out what they did.

Sergey Brin, $47.5 billion (£36.4bn)

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After moving to the US, Michael taught himself computer programming and worked as a translator of technical texts, both of which rubbed off on his Google founder son.

Larry Page, $48.8 billion (£37.4bn)

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Born to parents who were both computer scientists, Google co-founder Page, along with Sergey Brin, raised $1 million from family, friends and other investors before launching the company in 1998.

Larry Page, $48.8 billion (£37.4bn)

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Aged just six, Page became the first child in his elementary school to submit an assignment in a word-processed form, and while studying at the University of Michigan he made an inkjet printer using LEGO Bricks.

Larry Ellison, $58.5 billion (£38.3bn)

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The CTO and founder of Oracle was born to an unwed mother in New York City, and after contracting pneumonia aged just nine months he was given to his great aunt and uncle for adoption.

Larry Ellison, $58.5 billion (£38.3bn)

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After dropping out of his studies, Ellison worked long hours, including night and weekend shifts, backing up data and doing computer maintenance work.

Read about Larry Ellison: the maverick billionaire who wants to live forever

Carlos Slim, $67.1 billion (£51.4bn)

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The Mexican entrepreneur was born into a family of Lebanese Christian immigrants to Mexico, where his father, Julián Slim Haddad, made a fortune in real estate during the Mexican Revolution of 1910-20.

Carlos Slim, $67.1 billion (£51.4bn)

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Carlos received his first business lessons in early childhood, with Don Julián giving each of his children a savings book with their usual weekly allowance in order for them to learn to manage their income and expenses. Young Carlos bought shares of Banco Nacional de México when he was only 12 years old.

Amancio Ortega, $70 billion (£53.6bn)

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Europe's richest man Amancio Ortega co-founded Inditex, known for its Zara fashion chain, as well as Massimo Dutti, Bershka, Oysho, Pull and Bear, Stradivarius and Uterqüe, with his ex-wife Rosalia Mera in 1975.

Amancio Ortega, $70 billion (£53.6bn)

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However, Ortega left high school at the age of 14 and began working for a shirtmaker in A Coruna, Galicia, Spain. It was there that he learned the art of apparel making.

Read: 25 surprisingly high-paid jobs you don't need a degree for

Mark Zuckerberg, $71 billion (£54.4bn)

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The Facebook CEO got his first PC Quantex 486DX aged 10 and was taught Atari BASIC Programming by his dentist father Edward when he was 12.

Mark Zuckerberg, $71 billion (£54.4bn)

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A young Zuckerberg also developed an early messenger, which he called ‘ZuckNet’, that allowed all the computers between his family's house and his father's dental office to communicate with each other.

Read about: 36 fast facts you probably didn't know about Facebook

Warren Buffett, $84 billion (£64.4bn)

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Known as the Oracle of Omaha, business magnate Warren Buffett bought his first stock at age 11, first filed taxes aged 13, and made $53,000 (£40,600) before he was 16. But that's not where his eye for business first started...

Read about: Billionaires' biggest business blunders ever

Warren Buffett, $84 billion (£64.4bn)

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As a six-year-old boy in Omaha, Nebraska, Buffett bought packs of chewing gum at his grandfather's grocery store and spent evenings going door to door selling them to his neighbours. He also worked at horse tracks, on pinball machines and delivering the Washington Post.

Bill Gates, $90 billion (£69bn)

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The Microsoft co-founder began to show an interest in computer programming at the age of 13 at Lakeside School in Seattle, and was excused from maths classes to pursue his passion.

Bill Gates, $90 billion (£69bn)

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While working with the Computer Center's PDP-10, Gates was responsible for what was probably the first computer virus. Discovering that the machine was connected to a national network called Cybernet, he invaded it and installed a programme, making it crash. When Gates was found out, he was severely punished, and he kept away from computers for his entire junior year at Lakeside.

Jeff Bezos, $112 billion (£85.9bn)

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The world’s richest man founded the e-commerce company Amazon in a garage in Seattle in 1994, after starting out in financial communications and banking, and eventually deciding to open an online bookstore.

Jeff Bezos, $112 billion (£85.9bn)

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Bezos displayed remarkable mechanical talent from an early age – as a toddler, he even managed to dismantle his crib with a screwdriver, and as a teen he developed an electric alarm to keep younger siblings out of his room.

Walton family $174 billion (£132bn)

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Rob, Jim and Alice (pictured) are the children of Sam Walton, founder of Walmart, the world's largest retailer. Although the siblings studied law and business from a relatively early age, it was their father who came from a humble Oklahoma farming family...

Want more? Read Meet the Waltons: the family story behind Walmart's staggering success

Walton family $174 billion (£132bn)

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Although his children had privileged upbringings, Sam Walton sold magazine subscriptions, delivered newspapers to his neighbours and even milked the family cow, bottling the surplus and selling it to customers to make ends meet.

Now read about Billion-dollar businesses bankrolled by their founders' families