REAL TIME NET WORTH — as of 5/11/17
$1.2 B
Donald Friese’s fortune stems from C.R. Laurence, which manufactures or distributes more than 65,000 products for the glass industry. The company sells everything from frameless shower door hardware to display cases and cleaning supplies — everything but the glass itself. Friese grew up poor in rural Pennsylvania, and enlisted in the Army straight out of high school in 1958. Three years later he moved to California with $125 in his pocket. He landed in the warehouse of C.R. Laurence, which was just a small distributor of supplies, as employee number six. He climbed the ladder, steadily amassing equity in the company until he owned 100%. He expanded by purchasing competitors and moving into manufacturing. In August 2015, Friese sold C.R. Laurence to Oldcastle BuildingEnvelope, a subsidiary of Irish building-materials conglomerate CRH for $1.3 billion. Out of his proceeds from the deal — about $885 million after taxes — Friese gave his employees $85 million. All 1,600 of the employees who had worked for the company for than a year got a bonus check — some got more than $1 million. Despite cashing out, Friese continues to run the company’s day-to-day operations. He works 12 hour days during the week, plus a half-day every Saturday.
Source:forbes