Sheldon Adelson is a business magnate and investor who is the founder of the largest casino company in the United States: Las Vegas Sands Corporation. He is also a member of the Republican political party in the United States and is popular for the largest donation to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign in 2016.
He was an ordinary kid from a poor family who didn’t think much about it, but that didn’t deter him, as he strived for great heights from the age of 12. He became a serial entrepreneur and was ranked by Forbes as the 15th richest person in the world.
Who is Sheldon Adelson?
The American billionaire was born Sheldon GaryAdelson in the Boston suburb of Dorchester, Massachusetts to Arthur and Sarah Adelson and is of Ukrainian Jewish descent. His parents were migrants to the United States; her father worked as a taxi driver while her mother was a seamstress and owned a small knitting workshop in the neighborhood.
As many would describe, Adelson was still an entrepreneur at heart when he started his business at the age of 12, when he borrowed over $100 from his uncle to open a newspaper selling business. . When he was 16, he bought a vending machine and started another business with it. His only known formal education was at the City College of New York, which he attended after his first business ventures. He then left college and joined the army. He didn’t stay in the army for long as he was discharged soon after. After his time in the army, he resumed his entrepreneurial activities and started selling toiletries.
By the time he reached his 30s, Sheldon Adelson was already a millionaire and he continued to grow. He operated a condominium business, but fell on hard times with the collapse of the real estate industry in 1970. However, during his time in the condominium industry, he had the opportunity to attend conventions co-ownership and noted the success of these agreements. It gave him an idea, a chance to make more money by investing in trade shows and computer conventions.
Although the computer convention was a rare thing at that time, he considered his request in the near future and prepared for it. In 1973, he organized his first computer show which was moderately successful. He did not give up on this idea but continued on his way by collaborating with certain partners to organize the COMDEX computer convention in 1979 at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas. It was a huge success and the history book became the largest IT trade show in the world. Adelson, who could be said to have impeccable business acumen, was right about the explosion of the computer convention business and his wildly successful COMDEX project and expansions.
As a serial entrepreneur, he sought new ends up buying and opening the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas for $128 million in 1988. He demolished the old building and built the largest casino in the United States – the Venetian Casino. The facility housed other businesses such as restaurants, shopping malls, a full-service spa, among various other retail stores. It has grown into a one-stop integrated resort destination called Marina Bay Sands.
Sheldon Adelson’s casino expands to other Macao after the legalization of casinos in China, then in Singapore. Rumor has it that the American entrepreneur plans to expand his casino to Japan as soon as his operations are legalized in the country.
Although he is famous for his casino fortunes, he also has side businesses such as two daily newspapers – one in Israel, Isreal Hayom and the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Sheldon is also a member of the Republican Party and is popular for his donations to the party’s presidential candidates, including Donald Trump.
The billionaire is also a philanthropist; he started giving more to charity when he married Mirian Farbstein. Some of his notable charities include his $25 million donation to Adelson Educational Campus in Las Vegas for the construction of a high school and his establishment of the Adelson Foundation in 2007, which accommodates part of the Israeli and Jewish community.
Net value
The billionaire continued to grow in wealth with his continual business expansions. In 2007, his value was estimated at $26.5 billion, but he suffered a financial crisis in 2009 and lost about 93% of his wealth, dropping to $2 billion. Shocking, right? However, he started all over again and in 2011 he was listed among the 20 richest men in the world with a net worth of $23.5 billion. His value has steadily increased since the decline in 2009. In 2018, Sheldon Adelson was worth $32 billion, making him the 15th richest man in the world.
Family life – wife and children
Sheldon Adelson is a popular business mogul and billionaire for his casino empire. The tycoon has been married twice and has five children in total. His first wife was Sandra Adelson, with whom he had three children: Mitchell, Gary and Shelley (however, Shelley was adopted). It is not known when they married, however, they divorced in 1988. Their son, Mitchell, is late, he died of cocaine and heroin use.
A few years after the divorce, he met Miriam Farbstein, a doctor and married her in 1991. Previously, she was married to a Tel Aviv doctor with whom she had two daughters. Farbstein established an addiction treatment center and is popular for his philanthropic activities.