Working at McDonald’s, Delivering Papers: Business Titans’ First Jobs

Finance heavyweights Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and others had humbling starts.

May 16, 2017 5:00 am
What Jeff Bezos and Others Were Doing in Their Teens and Early 20s
(© Doug Wilson/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

Jeff Bezos is now the second richest person in the world. But it wasn’t always that way. As Business Insider notes, Bezos was literally flipping burgers as a teenager. Yes, he actually worked at McDonald’s.

Business Insider has listed a number of other examples, and we’ve condensed it to our favorite five below, including Bezos.

What Jeff Bezos and Others Were Doing in Their Teens and Early 20s
(© Doug Wilson/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

Bill Gates – Long before Gates became one of the richest man in the world, he was attending the Lakeside School in Seattle, where he started writing gamer code at 13. Per Biography.com, he eventually went into business with Paul Allen, and the rest is history.

What Jeff Bezos and Others Were Doing in Their Teens and Early 20s
Warren Buffett attends ‘Becoming Warren Buffett’ World premiere at The Museum of Modern Art on January 19, 2017 in New York City. (Bennett Raglin/WireImage)

Warren Buffet – Buffett had a number of early jobs including delivering newspapers and selling golf balls. When he didn’t get into Harvard Business School at age 16, he instead went to Columbia, and eventually got into financial services.

What Jeff Bezos and Others Were Doing in Their Teens and Early 20s
Jay-Z (center) in his early years (Al Pereira/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)

Jay-Z – At 20, Jay-Z was just another up-and-coming rapper, who was trying to make an honest living, per Biography.com. It wasn’t until he co-founded Roc-a-Fella Records in 1996, when he was 27, that he gained the notoriety that he has today.

What Jeff Bezos and Others Were Doing in Their Teens and Early 20s
Barack Obama (center) poses for the annual Harvard Law Review class photo in 1991, the year he served as President of the Law Review (Joe Wrinn/Harvard University/Corbis via Getty Images)

Barack Obama – Per Biography.com, after graduating high school in Hawaii, Obama attended Harvard Law School, where he was named the first black president of the Harvard Law Review (that’s him in the center of the picture above).

For the complete list, click here.

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