John Edson – Billionaire

John Edson worked a paper route and earned enough to build his first boat at age 13. An entrepreneur who loves the water, in 1955 he purchased the brand name “Bayliner” for $100 and started a company to build affordable plywood motorboats. He sold Bayliner to The Brunswick Corporation in 1986 for $425 million and spent some years cruising the world on his 161-foot boat Evviva (Italian for “long live”). In 1994 boat building lured him back and he bought Westport Yards, which he sold in 2014. He has endowed the University of Arizona with $5.4 million for the Edson Student Entrepreneur Initiative. Through the J Orin Edson Foundation he makes donations to medical establishments that fight diseases, primarily cancer.

John Edson net worth: John Edson is an American businessman and craftsman who has a net worth of $1 billion dollars. Based in Jackson, Wyoming, John Edson attended the University of Washington, but subsequently joined the Army and fought in the Korean War. He did not go back to school after he returned to the United States, and began building sailboats in his garage. The success of his boat building eventually led to the founding of Bayliner Marine Corp., a company devoted to the manufacture of affordable plywood boats, in 1955. Thirty-one years later, he sold Bayliner to the Brunswick Corporation for $425 million. He still has a small stake in the company, and also owns a portion of Westbrook Shipyard. He is a major supporter of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. He donated $5.4 million to Arizona State University to fund an entrepreneurship program in 2005. In addition to his philanthropic work, he is an avid pilot, and spends time on his 164-foot yacht.

Source:

1. forbes

2. celebritynetworth