Sheldon Adelson’s biography: the casinos’ baron all over the world!
An iconic figure in the casino games industry, Sheldon Adelson is today one of the richest men in the world. With a fortune of over $40 billion, he represents the phrase “to start from nothing and to conquer the world”.
Sheldon Adelson is an icon of casinos all over the world: From Las Vegas to Singapore via Macau. We invite you to know a little about his background which teaches us a lot.
Difficult beginnings
Sheldon Gary Adelson was born on August 4, 1933 in Boston. His parents were immigrants from Ukraine. The family was far from being wealthy. Actually, they were quite poor. He lived with his father, a taxi driver, his mother and his other brothers and sisters in a one- piece house. Aware of these difficulties, Sheldon decides very early to work to earn money.
At the age of 12, he borrows $200 from his uncle and starts selling newspapers in the center of Boston. He earns some money, but soon realizes that this will not make him rich. He then starts legal studies, but not for very long. Very quickly, his strong taste for business catches up with him. He then multiplies his commercial experiences. He becomes a sanitary salesman for resorts, a real estate agent, a broker and a financial consultant before buying a candies factory.
Thanks to these many activities, Adelson manages to build a small fortune. Unfortunately, because of poorly evaluated investments, he loses almost everything and has to start from nothing. But this time, he knows exactly what he’s going to do!
COMDEX and wealth
If casinos enabled Sheldon Adelson to make his fortune, the businessman could only start in the casinos industry in 1989, after becoming d a consequent jackpot. This was thanks to the creation, in 1978, of a fair gathering several world computing stakeholders.
The first of its kind, COMDEX is largely supported and grows fast over the years. In 1995, he sells his idea and the business capital at the price of $ 800 million. His fortune is made then!
Las Vegas Sands Group
From 1989, Sheldon Adelson begins to materialize one of his biggest dreams by purchasing the Las Vegas Sands for $128 million. This will be the bedrock of his empire. But rather than refurbishing it, he destroys it and builds one of the largest Casino- Hotels in the world: The Venetian.
It will be completed in 2005, with an extension, the Palazzo, with a total number of 7,000 rooms. In Macau, where the American billionaire is investing since 2002, he builds a larger replica of this complex, The Venetian Macau. The Sands Macau, the Plaza Macau and The Parisian Macau are other properties of his group in the New Mecca of casinos that he developed.
Eccentric for some, a luxury lover and a perfectionist for others, Sheldon Adelson also builds the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore in 2010. A surreal complex building which construction costs $8 billion. Sheldon Adelson wants to be one of the lucky ones to open casinos in Japan in 2019.
Private life and fortune
With a fortune estimated in 2019 in $35.8 billion by Forbes magazine, Sheldon Adelson is ranked 24th in world fortune. In his private life, Adelson supports the Israeli state and he is one of its major donors. He is a member of the Republican Party and financially supported the campaign of the current President of the United States, Donald Trump.