❌

Normal view

There are new articles available, click to refresh the page.
Before yesterdayMain stream

Larry Ellison is $67 billion richer this year. His career spans software, Hollywood, and yacht racing.

Larry Ellison, Oracle cofounder, speaks onstage in front of background of red circles
Oracle cofounder Larry Ellison is a billionaire with a reputation that precedes him.

Kim Kulish/Getty Images

  • Larry Ellison, the 80-year-old cofounder of Oracle, is one of the most interesting men in tech.
  • Whether yacht racing, buying Hawaiian islands, or trash-talking competitors, he keeps it lively.
  • Now, he's one of the world's richest people with a net worth of about $190 billion.

Larry Ellison is the founder and chief technology officer at software company Oracle. Now, he's also the world's fourth-richest man and has a net worth of $190 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

The billionaire's fortunes have surged by over $67 billion this year, thanks to spiking demand for generative AI. The windfall puts him ahead of tech execs like Google cofounder Sergey Brin and former Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer. 

The 80-year-old started Oracle in 1977, and decades later he's still one of the top dogs in Silicon Valley despite living in Hawaii full time β€” and owning an entire island. Ellison has also been a major investor in Tesla, Salesforce, and even reportedly had a seat on Apple's board of directors for a while.

Outside the office, the billionaire boasts an impressive watch collection and indulges in hobbies like yacht racing. His children have made their own names in the film industry, and his son David Ellison is set to become the CEO of Paramount after its merger with his Skydance Media production company. Through some of Larry's entities, he will control Paramount, per a September filing.

Here's a look at the life and career of Ellison so far.

Lawrence Joseph Ellison was born in the Bronx on August 17, 1944, the son of a single mother named Florence Spellman.
The Bronx
Lawrence Joseph Ellison was born in the Bronx on August 17, 1944.

ANDREW HOLBROOKE/Corbis via Getty Images

When he was 9 months old, Larry came down with pneumonia, Vanity Fair reported. His mom sent him to Chicago to live with his aunt and uncle, Lillian and Louis Ellison.

Vanity Fair reported that Louis, his adoptive father, was a Russian immigrant who took the name "Ellison" in tribute to the place in which he entered the US: Ellis Island.

Ellison is a college dropout.
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Ellison attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Ellison went to high school in Chicago's South Side before attending the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. When his adoptive mother died during his second year at college, Ellison dropped out. He tried college again later at the University of Chicago but dropped out again after only one semester, Vanity Fair reported.

In 1966, a 22-year-old Ellison moved to Berkeley, California β€” near what would become Silicon Valley and already the place where the tech industry was taking off.
Mainframe computer 1970s
Ellison made the trip from Chicago to California in a turquoise Thunderbird.

H. Armstrong Roberts/ClassicStock/Getty Images

He made the trip from Chicago to California in a flashy turquoise Thunderbird that he thought would make an impression in his new life, Vanity Fair reported.

Ellison bounced around from job to job, including stints at companies like Wells Fargo and the mainframe manufacturer Amdahl. Along the way, he learned computer and programming skills.

In 1977, Ellison and partners Bob Miner and Ed Oates founded a new company, Software Development Laboratories.
Larry Ellison in 1990
Larry Ellison in 1990.

James Leynse/Corbis via Getty Images

The company started with $2,000 of funding.

Ellison and company were inspired by IBM computer scientist Edgar F. Codd's theories for a so-called relational database β€” a way for computer systems to store and access information, Britannican said. Nowadays, they're taken for granted, but in the '70s, they were a revolutionary idea.

The first version of the Oracle database was version 2 β€” there was no version 1.
young larry ellison oracle
Ellison was at the forefront of the tech industry before the dot-com crash.

Eric Risberg/AP

In 1979, the company renamed itself Relational Software Inc., and in 1982, it formally became Oracle Systems Corp., after its flagship product.

In 1986, Oracle had its initial public offering, reporting revenue of $55 million.
oracle larry ellison nasdaq
Oracle's offering price was $15 a share.

AP Images

As one of the key drivers of the growing computer industry, Oracle grew fast. The company is responsible for providing the databases in which businesses track information that is crucial to their operations.

Ellison became a billionaire at age 49. Now, he has a net worth of roughly $152 billion, according to Forbes, after racking up $50 billion in gains thanks to Oracle and Tesla stock. That makes him the seventh-richest person in the world.

Still, in 1990, Oracle had to lay off 10% of its workforce, about 400 people, because of what Ellison later described as "an incredible business mistake."
oracle
A plane branded with the Oracle logo.

Scott Olson / Getty Images

Oracle reported a loss of $36 million in September 1990 after admitting that it had miscalculated its revenue earlier that year, The New York Times reported.

It didn't get the decade off to a great start. After adjusting for that error, Oracle was said to be close to bankruptcy. At the same time, rivals like Sybase were eating away at Oracle's market share.

It took a few years, but by 1992, Ellison and Oracle managed to right the course with new employees and the popular Oracle7 database.

Ellison is known for his willingness to trash-talk competitors.
Larry Ellison
Ellison has often been the subject of Silicon Valley gossip.

Business Insider

For much of the '90s, he and Oracle were locked in a public-relations battle with the competitor Informix, which went so far as to place a "Dinosaur Crossing" billboard outside Oracle's Silicon Valley offices at one point, Fortune reported in 1997.

His financial success has led to some expensive hobbies.
larry ellison yacht race
Ellison spends his billions on real estate, water sports, and more.

Ian Mainsbridge/AP Images

With Ellison as Oracle's major shareholder, his millions kept rolling in. He started to indulge in some expensive hobbies β€” including yacht racing. That's Ellison at the helm during a 1995 race.

He also partly financed the BMW Oracle USA sailing team, which won the America's Cup in 2010, according to Bloomberg.

Ellison was an early investor in Salesforce.
Larry Ellison Marc Benioff
Marc Benioff was an early mentee of Ellison.

Stephen Lam/Reuters; Kimberley White/Getty Images

In 1999, Ellison's protΓ©gΓ©, Marc Benioff, left Oracle to work on a new startup called Salesforce.com. Ellison was an early investor, putting $2 million into his friend's new venture.

When Benioff found out that Ellison had Oracle working on a direct competitor to Salesforce's product, he tried to force his mentor to quit Salesforce's board. Instead, Ellison forced Benioff to fire him β€” meaning Ellison kept his shares in Salesforce.

Given that Salesforce is now a $267 billion company, Ellison personally profits even when his competitors do well. It has led to a love-hate relationship between the two executives that continues to this day, with the two taking shots at each other in the press.

The dot-com boom of the late '90s benefited Oracle.
Larry Ellison Oracle 1999
Other companies weren't so lucky.

Laurent Gillieron/AP Images

All of those new dot-com companies needed databases, and Oracle was there to sell them. Although investors lost out in the dot-com crash, Oracle came out of it stronger due to its acquisitions and the demand for software solutions.

With the coffers overflowing, Ellison was able to lead Oracle through a spending spree once the dot-com boom was over and prices were low.
larry ellison scott mcnealy oracle sun
Ellison used the company's success to bet on other businesses.

David Paul Morris/Getty Images

In 2005, for example, Oracle snapped up the HR software provider PeopleSoft for $10.3 billion.

And in 2010, Oracle completed its acquisition of Sun Microsystems, a server company that started at about the same time as Oracle, in 1982. That acquisition gave Oracle lots of key technology, including control over the popular MySQL database.

Ellison has also spent lavishly over the years, so much so that his accountant, Philip Simon, once asked him to "budget and plan," according to Bloomberg.
Larry Ellison
Ellison at the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells Tennis Garden in March 2024.

Matthew Stockman/Getty Images

Ellison has expensive taste. Over the years he's built up an impressive collection of Richard Mille watches, an expert previously told BI. The timepieces start in the six-figure range and can go for over $1 million in some cases.

In 2009, the billionaire purchased the Indian Wells tennis tournament for a reported $100 million, The Los Angeles Times reported.

In 2010, Ellison signed the Giving Pledge.
usc
Has donated millions to charity with plans to give away billions if he follows through with the Giving Pledge.

AP

By signing the pledge, Ellison promised to donate 95% of his fortune before he dies. And in May 2016, Ellison donated $200 million to a cancer treatment center at the University of Southern California, Forbes reported.

Starting in the 2010s, Ellison started to take more of a back seat at Oracle, handing more responsibilities to trusted lieutenants, like Mark Hurd and Safra Catz, then Oracle's copresidents.
Oracle Mark Hurd and Safra Catz
Hurd and Catz shared the helm until Hurd's death in 2019.

AP

Ellison hired Hurd, a former CEO of HP, in 2010, Inc reported. Catz has made a reputation for herself among analysts for what they describe as brilliant business strategy.

But Ellison's spending didn't slow down. In 2012, he bought 98% of the Hawaiian island of Lanai.
Larry Ellison Lanai
He has millions of dollars worth of real estate on the Hawaii Islands.

Andre Seale/VW PICS/Universal Images Group via Getty Images; Noah Berger/Reuters

Ellison founded a startup called Sensei in 2016 that does hydroponic farming and owns a wellness retreat on Lanai.

He also purchased Hawaiian budget airline Island Air in 2014, before selling a controlling interest in the airline two years later after it struggled financially.

In 2014, Ellison officially stepped down as Oracle CEO.
Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison delivers the keynote address during the annual Oracle OpenWorld conference on September 30, 2014 in San Francisco, California.
Hurd and Catz became co-CEOs when Ellison stepped down.

Getty

Ellison handed control over to Hurd and Catz, who became co-CEOs. Ellison now serves as the company's chairman and chief technology officer. Following Hurd's death in 2019, Catz became the sole CEO.

In 2016, Ellison scored a personal coup: the purchase of NetSuite.
Zach Nelson Netsuite
He made billions off of his negotiations with NetSuite CEO Zach Nelson.

Nora Tam/South China Morning Post via Getty Images

Back in 1998, Ellison had made a $125 million investment in ex-Oracle exec Evan Goldberg's startup business-management software firm, NetSuite. It ended up working out well for Ellison when NetSuite CEO Zach Nelson negotiated the sale of the company to Oracle for $9.3 billion, netting Ellison a cool $3.5 billion in cash for his stake.

NetSuite investor T. Rowe Price tried to block the deal, citing Ellison's conflict of interest, but the sale closed in November 2016.

He's used his billions in a variety of ways: he invested in educational platform maker Leapfrog Enterprises and was an early investor in the ill-fated blood-testing company Theranos.
Elizabeth Holmes
Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes.

Mike Blake/Reuters

Ellison has held shares in some of the most recognizable companies, one of which was the infamous blood-testing company Theranos, founded by Elizabeth Holmes. It had a promising future until its flaws were exposed and Holmes received a prison sentence.

When Steve Jobs returned to Apple as CEO back in 1997, he asked Ellison to sit on the board. Ellison served for a while, but felt that he couldn't devote the time and left in 2002, according to Forbes. Compensation for his role was an option to buy about 70,000 shares, which would've amounted to about $1 million at the time of his departure.

Ellison owns homes on the East and West coasts as part of a multibillion-dollar real-estate portfolio.
beechwood mansion newport rhode island
The Astor Beechwood Mansion in Newport, Rhode Island.

Joe Sohm/Visions of America/UIG via Getty Images

Ellison reportedly owns the Astor Beechwood Mansion in Newport, Rhode Island, and a home in Malibu. Ellison also has houses in Palm Beach, Florida and more in a multibillion-dollar real-estate portfolio.

Both of his two children work in the film industry.
David and Meagan Ellison
Ellison has two children: David and Megan.

Getty Images

His daughter, Megan, is an Oscar-nominated film producer and the founder of Annapurna Pictures. The company has produced films like "Zero Dark Thirty" and "American Hustle."

Ellison's son, David, is also in the film business. His company, Skydance Media, has produced movies like "Terminator: Dark Fate" and films in the "Mission: Impossible" franchise.

After months of discussions in 2024, Skydance Media and Paramount agreed to a deal, creating "New Paramount," which David will be CEO of. He has plans to "improve profitability, foster stability and independence for creators, and enable more investment in faster growing digital platforms," the companies said.

Ellison was one of the few tech leaders who had a friendly relationship with former President Donald Trump.
Larry Ellison
He spoke with Trump on the phone about Covid and TikTok.

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Ellison said publicly that he supported Trump and wants him to do well, and hosted a Trump fundraiser at his Rancho Mirage home in February, though he did not attend, Forbes reported. The fundraiser caused an outcry among Oracle employees, who started a petition asking senior Oracle leadership to stand up to Ellison.

Catz, the CEO of Oracle, also had close ties to the Trump administration, having served on Trump's transition team. 

Ellison and Trump remained close during Trump's time in office and reportedly spoke on the phone about possible coronavirus treatments. Trump also supported Oracle's bid to buy TikTok, calling Oracle a "great company."

In December 2018, Ellison joined the board of directors at Tesla, where he's been a major investor.
Elon Musk
Tesla CEO Elon Musk is a close friend to Ellison.

Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Earlier in 2018, Ellison described Tesla CEO Elon Musk as a "close friend," and defended him from critics. When Musk acquired Twitter β€” now X β€” in 2022, Ellison offered to invest $1 billion.

Musk went on to help Ellison reset his forgotten password, biographer Walter Isaacson wrote.

In December 2020, Ellison revealed that he moved to Lanai full-time.
Lanai Hawaii
Although his company moved to Texas, Ellison went to the islands.

Michael Conroy/AP

The announcement came after Oracle decided to move its headquarters to Austin, leading Oracle employees to ask Ellison if he planned to move to Texas too.

"The answer is no," Ellison wrote in a company-wide email. "I've moved to the state of Hawaii and I'll be using the power of Zoom to work from the island of Lanai."

He signed the email: "Mahalo, Larry."

He left Tesla's board in August 2022.
Larry Ellison and Elon Musk
It looks like Ellison and Musk are still close.

Getty Images

In a proxy filing in June 2022, the electric vehicle maker revealed that Ellison would be leaving the board. Since then, he and Musk have appeared to maintain their close relationship.

Oracle had a record-breaking 2023, and cemented itself in the new age of artificial intelligence.
Oracle
Two decades later, and Oracle is still a key player in tech.

Sven Hoppe/picture alliance via Getty Images

Oracle's shares continued to hit records, CNBC reported. The company proved that it's not going any where any time soon.

In 2023, Oracle backed OpenAI rival Cohere.
Larry Ellison talking into microphone
Oracle backed Cohere when it comes to generative AI.

Kimberly White/Stringer/Getty

Oracle joined other tech giants, like Salesforce, in backing the tech startup in June 2023. It began offering generative AI to its clients based on tech made by Cohere.

"Cohere and Oracle are working together to make it very, very easy for enterprise customers to train their own specialized large language models while protecting the privacy of their training data," Ellison previously said.

Oracle announced in April that it would be moving its headquarters to Nashville, Tennessee.
Nashville.
Ellison said in April that the new Nashville location will be a "huge campus."

Malcolm MacGregor/Getty Images

Despite its big move to Austin only four years ago, Ellison said that Oracle is planning to move its world headquarters to Nashville, Tennessee.

In April 2024, the exec announced that Oracle has plans for a "huge campus" in Nashville that will one day serve as the software giant's world headquarters. The company relocated from the San Francisco area to Austin, Texas in 2020.

"It's the center of the industry we're most concerned about, which is the healthcare industry," Ellison said at the Oracle Health Summit in Nashville, CNBC reported.

Ellison's wealth jumped $14 billion after record earnings from Oracle.
oracle
Oracle, and Ellison, are getting richer thanks to the generative AI gold rush.

MANJUNATH KIRAN/AFP via Getty Images

Oracle's cloud applications business saw its shares spike by 13% in June 2024 after the company posted strong annual earnings due to demand for generative AI, Fortune reported. Ellison, who now serves as Oracle's CTO and owns about 40% of the company's cloud sector, got a $14 billion boost to his fortune.

The company also announced a partnership with AI startup Cohere, enabling its enterprise customers to build their own generative AI apps. "Cohere and Oracle are working together to make it very, very easy for enterprise customers to train their own specialized large language models while protecting the privacy of their training data," Ellison said during the company's earnings call.

Ellison to control Paramount as its majority shareholder
Paramount Pictures

Alex Millauer/ Shutterstock; BI

Ellison is set to become the controlling shareholder of Paramount following its merger with Skydance Media, a company founded by his son, David Ellison.

Pinnacle Media, Larry Ellison's investment firm, will acquire 77.5% of the voting interest currently held by Shari Redstone, according to a filing with the Federal Communications Commission. This move effectively transfers control of Paramount from Redstone to Ellison.

While David Ellison has been named Paramount's new CEO and may retain some autonomy in the role, the FCC filing reveals that his father will hold ultimate authority as the primary shareholder and will likely retain significant decision-making power, Brian Quinn, a Boston College Law School professor, told the New York Times.

The deal, valued at $8 billion, includes major assets like CBS and MTV. RedBird Capital Partners, a private-equity firm backing Skydance, will acquire some voting rights, but Larry Ellison will retain the largest stake. He plays a sizable role in the entertainment industry, including cameos in movies such as "Iron Man 2" and through the financial backing of his children's ventures, including his daughter Megan Ellison's Annapurna Pictures. 

Matt Weinberger and Taylor Nicole Rogers contributed to an earlier version of this story.

Correction: May 7, 2024 β€” An earlier version of this story misstated Larry Ellison's role at Oracle. He's the chief technology officer, not the CEO.

Ellison has a reputation as an international, jet-setting playboy.
Larry Ellison of Oracle and Nikita Kahn Chinese State Dinner
Ellison and Kahn at the White House.

(Photo by Chris Kleponis-Pool/Getty Images)

Ellison has been divorced four times. The 80-year-old billionaire is now reportedly remarried to a 33-year-old named Keren Zhu, The Wall Street Journal reported in December.

 

Ellison gave a donation to the University of Michigan's football team and helped secure the top high school quarterback in the country
university of michigan football stadium

SNEHIT PHOTO/Shutterstock

The University of Michigan football team flipped Bryce Underwood, the top high school quarterback in the country, from Louisiana State, thanks to a donation and support from Ellison, according to WSJ. While Ellison had no previously known connection to the school, his wife Zhu is an alum. Both Ellison and Zhu showed up in a Zoom call with Underwood and Michigan football's general manager to help recruit him, the report said. 

Oracle shares are up 60% year-to-date, increasing Ellison's net worth by $67.3 billion
Larry Ellison
Ellison's net worth is estimated at $210 billion as of Monday.

Vincent Sandoval/Getty, Henrik Sorensen/Getty, years/Getty, Solskin/Getty, d3sign/Getty, Tyler Le/BI

Despite an 8% decline in Oracle's stock this month following a weaker-than-expected earnings report, the company's shares are still at some of their highest levels since the 1990s, boosted by cloud partnerships with Google, OpenAI, and Meta.

Ellison's net worth has increased by $67.3 billion this year, bringing his net worth to about $190 billion as of Monday, according to Bloomberg's Billionaires Index.

Read the original article on Business Insider

The Walton family empire: Inside the lives of the billionaire Walmart heirs

the walton family walmart
The Walton siblings.

AP/April L. Brown

  • The Walmart heirs' combined estimated net worth is nearly $380 billion.
  • All three of Sam Walton's surviving children have now made it into the $100 billion club.
  • In public, the Waltons live relatively modest lifestyles despite their wealth.

All three of Walmart founder Sam Walton's surviving children have made it into the $100 billion club as the retail giant's share price continues to soar.

The combined wealth of the Walmart heirs β€” which include founder Sam Walton's children, Rob, Jim, and Alice, as well as his grandson Lukas β€” is nearly $380 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Together, they're significantly ahead of the top individual names on the list, such as Jeff Bezos, Bernard Arnault, or Mark Zuckerberg, though Elon Musk has recently seen his fortune outstrip their collective net worth.

While some have worked in the family business β€” whether that's serving on the company board or working to manage the family's wealth β€” others chose to pursue areas of personal passion.

Sam Walton, the original man behind the company that now encompasses both Walmart and Sam's Club, set his family up for financial success when he divided the ownership before he died.

Most recently, the Walton children have expanded voting control to their own, giving eight of Sam's grandchildren a say in the family holdings.

Sam wasn't a man of flashy luxury, but you can see how his children are living a slightly more lavish life now. Here's a look at how the Walton family empire spends its money: 

Sam Walton opened the first Walmart store in Rogers, Arkansas, in 1962.
sam walton
The original Wal-Mart name tag used to look like this one, worn here by Sam Walton.

Associated Press

As he grew his retail empire, Walton, an experienced pilot, would often fly in unannounced to check in on a particular store location.

He married Helen Robson on Valentine's Day in 1942.
Helen Robson
Sam and Helen had a Valentine's Day wedding.

April L. Brown/Associated Press

Together, they had four children: Rob, John, Jim, and Alice.

By the time Sam died in 1992, he had set up the company ownership in a way that minimized the estate taxes anyone on the receiving end would have to pay.
Walton family
Sam Walton died at the age of 74 of cancer.

Rick Wilking/Reuters

Source: Fortune

He set up his ownership of Walmart's stock in a family partnership β€” each of his children held 20% of Walton Enterprises, while he and Helen each held 10%. Helen inherited Sam's 10% tax-free when he died.
sam walton
The stocks were carefully divided among the family.

Courtesy of Walmart

Source: Fortune

Samuel Robson "Rob" Walton is the oldest Walton child. He is 80 years old.
Rob Walton
Rob served as chairman of Walmart for many years.

Reuters

He served as chairman of Walmart from 1992 until 2015 and remained on the board until this year.
Rob Walton Walmart
He'll retire from the board in 2024.

Rick T. Wilking / Stringer / Getty Images

He retired from Walmart's board at the end of his term in 2024.

Rob made a splash in 2022 by leading an ownership group to buy the Denver Broncos.
Denver Broncos
The group was led by Rob Walton, his daughter Carrie Walton Penner, and her partner Greg Penner.

Joe Mahoney/AP

The group purchased the NFL team for a $4.65 billion in summer 2022 in a record-breaking sale at the time.

Rob has purchased a house in Paradise Valley, Arizona, near the base of Camelback Mountain.
Paradise Valley Arizona
Walton owns a house in Paradise Valley, Arizona.

Tim Roberts Photography/Shutterstock

In the past, protesters have rallied outside of his Arizona home to advocate for better wages and benefits for Walmart workers.
Walmart protest florida
Protesters at a Walmart in Boynton Beach, Florida, called for better wages and benefits.

J Pat Carter/Associated Press

Besides real estate, Rob has a large collection of vintage cars.
vintage cars
Walton's personal vintage car collection is not pictured.

Ben Pruchnie/Getty Images

In 2013, he ran his Daytona Coupe, which was worth $15 million at the time, off the tracks and wrecked it. The car was one of only five ever made.
Daytona Coupe
Walton's Daytona Coupe was totaled in a crash.

AP Photo/Tom Mihalek

Sam Walton's second-oldest child, John Walton, died in a plane crash in 2005.
John Walton
John (right) with his mother (center) and older brother, Rob (left).

April L. Brown/Associated Press

He was 58 years old.

He was married to Christy Walton and had one son, Lukas.
Lukas Walton
Lukas Walton, pictured here, is the grandson of Walmart founder Sam Walton.

Walton Family Foundation/YouTube

John left about 17% of his wealth to his wife, and he gave the rest to charity and to his son.
Christy Walton
John Walton left half of his fortune to charitable trusts and a third to his son.

AP

John served in Vietnam as a Green Beret. When he returned from the war he held a series of jobs β€” like the Walmart company pilot, a crop duster, and the owner a few yachting companies β€” before becoming a Walmart board member.
John T Walton
John (second from left) pictured with members of his family.

AP Photo/Spencer Tirey

Source: Fortune

In 2013, Christy decided to sell their Jackson Hole mansion. She also sold the family's ranch for an undisclosed price in 2016 after listing it for $100 million in 2011.
Christy Walton Wal-Mart wyoming mansion
The family had a mansion in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Jackson Hole Real Estate

The 8,606-square-foot home was put on the market for $12.5 million.
Walton Jackson Hole Mansion
An aerial view of John and Christy Walton's mansion.

Google Maps

Source: Curbed

James "Jim" Walton is the youngest son of Walmart founder Sam Walton. He is 76 years old.
Jim Walton
Jim Walton is now 76.

Walmart

He is chairman of the board of the family's Arvest Bank Group. One of the state's largest banks today, Arvest Bank has assets totaling more than $26 billion.
Arvest
One of many Arvest Bank locations in Bentonville, Arkansas.

Google Maps

Source: Bloomberg

He also served on the Walmart board, starting in 2005 to fill the vacancy after his brother John died. Jim Walton's son, Steuart, took over his father's seat on the board in 2016.
Jim Walton
Jim served on the board for more than a decade.

Rick T. Wilking/Stringer/Getty Images

Now, he presides over Walton Enterprises β€” the private company that deals with the investments and finances of the Walton family only β€” from modest offices in Bentonville, Arkansas.
walton enterprises inc
Jim now manages the family's finances.

Google Maps

Source: Fortune

The youngest of founder Sam Walton's children, Alice Walton is worth $112 billion, according to Bloomberg. She has been divorced twice and has no children. She is 75 years old.
Alice Walton
Alice Walton is the youngest of Walmart founder Sam Walton's children.

AP/April L. Brown

Alice has never taken an active role in running the family business.
Alice Walton (Jim out of focus)
Alice Walton with Jim Walton in 2013.

REUTERS/Rick Wilking

Instead, she became a patron of the arts, which she fell in love with at a young age.
Alice Walton
Alice has spent millions building her art collection.

D Dipasupil/Getty Images

When she was 10, she bought her first work of art: a reproduction of Picasso's "Blue Nude" for about $2, she told The New Yorker.
Picasso Blue Room
Picasso's "The Blue Room."

Evan Vucci/Associated Press

She has an immense private art collection, with original works from Andy Warhol and Georgia O'Keeffe. Alice opened a museum in Bentonville called Crystal Bridges in 2011 to house her $500 million private art collection.
crystal bridges calder
The museum displays both paintings and sculptures, like this one by Alexander Calder (center).

Danny Johnston/Associated Press

The collection includes a Georgia O'Keeffe painting that Alice spent $44.4 million on in 2014 β€” the biggest sale for a woman's piece of art in history.
Georgia O'Keeffe
Georgia O’Keeffe, "Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1" (1932), Sotheby's.

Courtesy of Sotheby's

Source: The Observer

Alice also breeds horses.
FILE - In this Sept. 4, 2013, file photo, mustangs recently captured on federal rangeland roam a corral at the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's holding facility north of Reno, in Palomino, Nev. Two House committee chairmen are trying to put the brakes on money for a new Trump administration proposal to accelerate the capture of 130,000 wild horses across the West over the next 10 years. (AP Photo/Scott Sonner, File)
Besides art, she loves spending time with horses.

Associated Press

Her Millsap, Texas, property, Rocking W Ranch, sold to the Three Amigos Investment Group of Kermit, Texas, in September 2017 for an undisclosed amount.
Rocking W Ranch
Alice Walton's ranch was called Rocking W Ranch.

Courtesy of WilliamsTrew

It had an initial asking price of $19.75 million, which was reduced to $16.5 million. The working ranch had over 250 acres of pasture and outbuildings for cattle and horses.
Rocking W Ranch
It was also next to a large lake.

Courtesy of WilliamsTrew

Source: WilliamsTrew

Her other, 4,416-acre Texas ranch was previously listed at a reduced price of $22 million.
Fortune bend ranch
A huge fire pit was built in the backyard.

Courtesy of WilliamsTrew

The modest, three-bedroom, two-bathroom home overlooks the Brazos River.

Alice also bought a two-floor condo on New York's Park Ave. for $25 million in 2014.
park avenue new york
Park Avenue pictured above at night.

Getty Images/Arata Photography

It has more than 52 large windows overlooking Central Park plus a media room, a winding staircase, and more than 6,000 total square feet of space.
shutterstock_571830520
View of Central Park from the southeast.

evenfh/Shutterstock

In January 2016, Alice donated 3.7 million of her Walmart shares β€” worth about $225 million at the time β€” to the family's nonprofit, the Walton Family Foundation.
Walton Family Foundation
The Walton Family Foundation website.

Facebook/Walton Family Foundation

Sam and Helen started the foundation as a way to teach their children how to give back and how to work together.
Sam and Helen Walton
The Walton Family Foundation was established in 1987, when Walmart celebrated its 25th anniversary.

Walton Family Foundation/YouTube

The charity awards millions of dollars in grants to causes that align with the foundation's values.
Screen Shot 2018 12 05 at 5.29.18 PM
The foundation awarded $566.5 million in grants in 2022, according to its website.

Walton Family Foundation/YouTube

The foundation has three main areas of focus:
Screen Shot 2018 12 05 at 5.30.57 PM
A project put on by the Walton Family Foundation.

Walton Family Foundation/YouTube

The foundation's focus on education was led by John. His brother Jim said John was really interested in being able to give parents choices when it came to their child's schooling.
John Walton
The foundation was dedicated to supporting children's education.

Walton Family Foundation/YouTube

Rob spearheaded the foundation's venture into environmental protection. One of the first grants they gave helped develop a sustainable fisheries label.
Walton Family Foundation
Rob launched the environmental and sustainability branch of the foundation.

Walton Family Foundation/YouTube

A commitment to the family's home of Arkansas is another large part of the foundation. The website says this area of focus is about "advancing our home region of Northwest Arkansas and the Arkansas-Mississippi Delta."
Home Range arkansas
The Bentonville town square.

Walton Family Foundation/YouTube

Walmart Inc., which owns Walmart and Sam's Club, is the largest retailer in the US in terms of revenue.
walmart 1
In fiscal year 2023, Walmart reported $648.1 billion in revenue.

Business Insider/Jessica Tyler

Even though the Walton family is raking in billions as a result of the company's success, they remain relatively under-the-radar in terms of flashing their wealth β€” much like their patriarch, Sam, did in the early years.
the walton family walmart
The Walton siblings.

AP/April L. Brown

In December, Walmart disclosed that Sam's children had granted voting rights to eight of their own children, bringing the total number of voices in the family fortune from three to eight, and keeping with Sam's vision for his legacy.
Sam Walton flying in the late 1980s or early 1990s.

Walmart Museum

Source: SEC filings

Read the original article on Business Insider

Warren Buffett: how the frugal billionaire spends his fortune, from McDonald's breakfasts to the occasional splurge

Warren Buffett
Warren Buffett.

Getty Images

  • Berkshire Hathaway CEO and chairman Warren Buffett's net worth is an estimated $146 billion.
  • He's the world's 10th-richest person, per Bloomberg, above Sergey Brin and the Walton siblings.
  • Buffett is known for living modestly and being one of the world's most generous philanthropists.

Warren Buffett is having a good year β€” his fortune has ballooned by around $26 billion.

With an estimated net worth of $146 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, the 94-year-old Berkshire Hathaway chairman and CEO is the 10th-wealthiest person in the world. He's almost $20 billion richer than Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, and worth considerably more than Michael Dell and any of the three Walton heirs, for example.

Looking at Buffett's frugal ways, though, you might not know it.

Still living in the house he bought in the 1950s and driving an equally modest car, the "Oracle of Omaha" prefers to keep and grow his money rather than take it out of the bank. He often eats breakfast from McDonald's and borrowed furniture when his children were born.

See how Buffett spends β€” or doesn't spend β€” his billions.

Buffett's hobbies include bridge, golf, and playing the ukulele.
Warren Buffett Ukulele

Matt Schifrin/Youtube

Buffett loves playing bridge, sometimes playing for over 8 hours a week, the Washington Post reported. He also likes to hit the green for some golf, spends a great deal of his time reading, and loves to play the ukulele β€” he said in 2020 that he has a collection of 22 ukuleles. He's played the ukulele since he was young and used his skills to court his first wife Susan, their son Peter once told NPR.

Buffett once bought and donated 17 Hilo ukuleles to the North Omaha branch of the nonprofit Girls Inc, and showed up at the group's building to give a group lesson.

His fortune is largely tied to his investment company.
warren buffett
Buffett is the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway.

Steve Pope/Getty Images

The vast majority of Buffett's net worth is tied to Berkshire Hathaway, his publicly traded conglomerate that owns businesses like Geico and See's Candies and holds multibillion-dollar stakes in companies like Apple and Coca-Cola.

Buffett owns about 15% of Berkshire β€” a stake valued at over $130 billion.

Berkshire Hathaway itself has assets worth more than $1 trillion.

Buffett began investing at a young age.
Warren Buffet

Paul Morigi/Getty Images

The CEO of Berkshire Hathaway began building his wealth by investing in the stock market at age 11, according to Forbes, and first filed a tax return at the age of 13.

As a teenager, he was raking in about $175 a month by delivering The Washington Post β€” more than his teachers (and most adults). Berkshire Hathaway later owned nearly 30% of the newspaper for 40 years until shedding the stake in 2014.

He also sold calendars, used golf balls, and stamps. He had amassed the equivalent of $53,000 by the time he was just 16.

Most of Buffett's fortune was built later in life.
warren buffett berkshire hathaway. jpg

Daniel Zuchnik/Getty Images

The vast majority of Buffett's wealth was earned after his 50th birthday. His salary at Berkshire Hathaway last year was just $100,000, the same as it's been the last 40 years, and he reimbursed the company $50,000 in part to cover his personal calls and postage.

The company spent triple Buffett's yearly salary β€” $313,595 β€” on his personal and home security last year, according to the company's proxy statement.

Buffett's worst investment was a Sinclair gas station.
sinclair gas station

AP Images

Buffett's greatest investment mistake is said to be a Sinclair gas station that he bought in 1951 at the age of 21 β€” he bought a stake in the station with a friend, and the business was consistently outsold by the larger Texaco station opposite it.

He eventually lost the $2,000 he invested out of his total net wealth of $10,000 at the time, Yahoo Finance reported, referencing Glen Arnold's book "The Deals of Warren Buffett, Volume 1: The First $100M." 

 

Buffett has been married twice and has three children.
Warren Buffett kids children Howard Susie Peter
Howard, Susie and Peter Buffett.

Nati Harnik/AP

Buffett married his first wife, Susan Buffett, in 1952. Together they had three children: Susie, Howard, and Peter. Though he and Susan remained married until Susan's death in 2004, they had lived apart since the 1970s. He married his second wife and longtime companion, Astrid Menks, in 2006.

When Susie was born, Buffett apparently turned a dresser drawer into a bassinet for her to sleep in, according to Roger Lowenstein's 2008 biography of the billionaire. For his second child, Howard, he borrowed a crib.

Buffett lives a modest lifestyle.
warren Buffett
Warren Buffett

Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Despite his multibillionaire status, Buffett has long lived a relatively modest and frugal lifestyle. He previously told CNBC and Yahoo Finance's "Off the Cuff" that he's "never had any great desire to have multiple houses and all kinds of things and multiple cars."

Buffett lives in the same home he bought in the 1950s in Omaha, Nebraska.
warren buffett home

BI

Buffett lives in a modest home in Omaha, Nebraska, which he once called the "third-best investment" he's ever made in a letter to Berkshire shareholders.

He bought the home for $31,500 in 1958 β€” adjusted for inflation, that's about $342,000. It's now worth an estimated $1.4 million, according to Zillow, and spans 6,280 square feet with five bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms.

Buffett has made some security upgrades since buying it and it's now guarded by fences and security cameras.

Buffett used to own a vacation home in California.
warren buffett laguna

Villa Real Estate

In 1971, Buffett purchased a vacation home in Laguna Beach, California, for $150,000. Part of a gated community called Emerald Bay, the house has six bedrooms, is walking distance from the beach, and was renovated after Buffett bought it. 

He initially put it on the market in early 2017 for $11 million, then cut the price down to $3 million later that year. It sold in October 2018 for $7.5 million, after almost two years on the market. 

Buffett's choice of vehicle has also long been modest.
warren buffett car

Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Unlike many other ultra-wealthy individuals, Buffett has long driven a fairly modest set of wheels.

He previously drove a 2001 Lincoln Town Car with a license plate that read "THRIFTY" for about a decade, before auctioning it off for charity and replacing it with a 2006 Cadillac DTS. In 2014, he replaced the DTS with a Cadillac XTS, according to Forbes.

"The truth is, I only drive about 3,500 miles a year so I will buy a new car very infrequently," Buffett once told Forbes.

Buffett has splurged on a private jet.
private jet

Mikhail St / Shutterstock

One splurge Buffett has made is on a private jet. Buffett spent $850,000 on a used Falcon 20 jet in 1986, then sold the first jet and upgraded to a different used jet in 1989, spending $6.7 million.

He and his late business partner Charlie Munger nicknamed the second jet "The Indefensible," Buffett revealed in a letter to shareholders.

Buffett used a flip phone for years.
Warren Buffett
Warren Buffett shows former CNN host Piers Morgan his flip phone in 2013.

CNN

Despite the fact that Berkshire Hathaway is a major Apple shareholder, Buffett didn't upgrade to a smartphone until 2020.

Before that he preferred the Samsung SCH-U320, which can be bought on eBay for under $20.

Though Buffett did make the switch to an iPhone eventually, he told CNBC that he just uses it "as a phone."

Buffett's style includes suits from a Chinese designer and affordable haircuts.
warren buffett
Warren Buffett's style choices are also understated.

AP Images

Buffett has said he has about 20 suits, all made in China by designer Madame Li, according to CNBC.

He has a longstanding friendship with Li, an entrepreneur who worked her way up in the business. Buffett's gotten the same $18 hair cut for years from a barber shop in the same building as his office.

Buffett regularly eats at McDonald's and drinks a lot of Coke.
Warren Buffett
Warren Buffett sipping a Cherry Coke.

Reuters/Rick Wilking

Buffett once told Fortune that he eats "like a six-year-old." He gets his breakfast at McDonald's almost every morning on the way to work.

In 2017, he was spending no more than $3.17 on his order, paying with exact change, he said in the HBO documentary "Becoming Warren Buffett." He also drinks at least five Cokes a day.

 

Buffett is longtime friends with Bill Gates.
Bill Gates and Warren Buffett
Bill Gates and Warren Buffett in a candy shop.

Bill Gates/YouTube

Buffett once went to McDonald's in Hong Kong with longtime friend Bill Gates and paid with coupons, Gates reminisced in his 2017 annual letter.

The letter reads: "Remember the laugh we had when we traveled together to Hong Kong and decided to get lunch at McDonald's? You offered to pay, dug into your pocket, and pulled out …coupons!"

Gates has described Buffett as a "thoughtful and kind" friend, and has said that every time he visits Omaha, Buffett drives to the airport to pick him up.

Buffett is one of the world's most generous philanthropists.
Warren Buffett
Berkshire Hathaway chairman Warren Buffett gestures at the start of a 5km race.

REUTERS/Rick Wilking

Warren Buffett is considered one of the world's most generous philanthropists. He pledged in 2006 to donate about 85% of his Berkshire Class A shares to five foundations: the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation (named after his late wife), and three foundations run by his three children.

He teamed up with Bill and Melinda Gates in 2010 to form The Giving Pledge, an initiative that asks the world's wealthiest people to dedicate the majority of their wealth to philanthropy. Buffett himself has pledged that 99% of his wealth will go to philanthropy during his lifetime or upon his death.

As of 2023, the shares he's already given away were worth about $50 billion based on their value at the time of donation, or about $130 billion given Berkshire Hathaway's stock value at the time. If Buffett had kept those shares rather than donating them, he'd likely be the world's wealthiest person with a net worth of nearly $300 billion.

Buffett plans on leaving his kids $2 billion each, the Washington Post reported in 2014. He once said in a letter to shareholders that he recommends that super-wealthy families "leave the children enough so that they can do anything but not enough that they can do nothing."

Even for Buffett, there are things that money can't buy.
warren buffett

Bill Pugliano/Getty Images

"There are things money can't buy," Buffett once said at a shareholders' meeting. "I don't think standard of living equates with cost of living beyond a certain point. My life couldn't be happier. In fact, it'd be worse if I had six or eight houses. So, I have everything I need to have, and I don't need any more because it doesn't make a difference after a point."

Read the original article on Business Insider

Dozens of stores you once loved that don't exist anymore

22 November 2024 at 22:14
Foxtrot exterior
Boutique convenience chain Foxtrot collapsed unexpectedly this year.

Bethany Biron/Insider

  • Declining foot traffic and rising e-commerce have led thousands of stores to permanently close.
  • Former household names like Borders, Circuit City, and Blockbuster are now just retail history.
  • BI rounded up dozens of once-beloved stores that no longer have a meaningful brick-and-mortar presence.

Brick-and-mortar retail is a tough business.

One day, your favorite brand can be riding high and enjoying strong sales from loyal customers, while the next it's fighting for survival and fending off creditors.

The only constant is change, especially as emerging trends, shopping patterns, and e-commerce players take larger pieces of the pie.

Here's a look back at some of the retail brands whose stores once greeted thousands of people each day, but are now consigned to retail's history books β€” or exist only online or as a tiny fraction of what they once were.

Blockbuster
Blockbuster
Blockbuster grew from a single store in Dallas to a chain of 9,000 locations over two decades.

Getty

Blockbuster got its start in 1985, and acquired the Sound Warehouse and Music Plus music chains to create Blockbuster Music in 1992. The music division was sold to Wherehouse Entertainment in 1998 before closing for good, but there remains one single Blockbuster video rental store in Bend, Oregon.

Thom McAn
thom mcan
Thom McAn had over 1,400 stores at its peak in the 1960s.

AP Photo/Justin Ide

Thom McAn was a chain of shoe stores that peaked in the 1960's and closed up shop by 1996. The brand's shoes continued to be available at Sears and Kmart.

Kinney Shoes
kinney shoes
Kinney Shoes was known for moderately priced footwear.

Glen Martin/The Denver Post via Getty Images

First opened in 1894, Kinney Shoes had 467 stores at its peak, all of which shuttered in 1998.

Warner Bros. Studio Store
warner bros studio store
Warner Bros. Studio Store sold merch from Loony Toons and DC Comics.

Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

Warner Bros. Studio Store competed with the Disney store until the company closed all of its locations in 2001.

Zany Brainy
zany brainy
Zany Brainy carried products for children aged 4 to 13.

Dan Loh/AP

Zany Brainy filed for bankruptcy in 2001 and closed all locations in 2003. The educational toy retailer's founder, David Schlessinger, co-founded the discount company Five Below.

Ames Department Store
Ames
Ames Department Store once had more than 700 locations.

Wikimedia

Debt and poor sales forced Ames Department Store into bankruptcy twice., and in 2002, the remaining Ames stores closed.

Imaginarium was an educational toy store in the 1980s. Stores started closing in the 1990s, and by 2003, its parent company, Toys R Us, had closed them all.
Toys R Us NJ 2001
Imaginarium-branded toys are still sold through Toys R Us.

AP Photo/Jeff Zelevansky

Imaginarium was an educational toy store in the 1980s. Stores started closing in the 1990s, and by 2003, parent company Toys R Us closed all remaining locations.

Hecht's Department Store
Hecht's
Hecht's Department Store was founded in 1857.

AP Photo/Gerald Herbert

Hecht's was purchased by Macy's in 2005 and all locations were either turned into Macy's stores or closed.

Marshall Fields
Marshalls field
Marshall Fields was founded in 1852 in Chicago.

AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh

Federated Department Stores bought Marshall Fields in 2005 and converted the stores to the company's more recognizable flagship brand, Macy's.

Gadzooks
GadZooks
Gadzooks stores typically featured a VW beetle sawed in half.

Getty

Gadzooks was a teen clothing store that was around from 1983 to 2005. It filed for bankruptcy in its final year and was purchased by Forever 21, which then closed all of the stores.

Kaufmann's
kaufmanns
Kaufmann's was a department store that had 44 locations at its peak.

AP Photo/Keith Srakocic

In 2006, Macy's retired the Kaufmann's name, and the brand disappeared.

Tower Records
Tower Records
Tower Records was one of the largest record stores in the 1990s.

Getty

Tower Records couldn't keep up with the rise of digital music, and all stores in the US were closed in 2006.

Media Play
media play
Media Play was owned by the same company as shopping mall record store Sam Goody.

Flickr/AdamL212

Media Play was a big box store selling books, movies, software, toys and video games. It closed for good in 2006.

Discovery Channel
Discover Channel Store
Discovery Channel stores sold educational books, videos, and gifts.

AP Photo/Terry Gilliam

Discovery Channel's 103 stand-alone stores closed in 2007.

KB Toys
KB Toys
KB Toys once operated over 1,300 stores across all 50 states.

AP/Damian Dovarganes

KB Toys announced it would be going out of business in 2008, and by early 2009 all locations were closed.

Sharper Image declared bankruptcy in 2008. But the company still sells merchandise through its website, catalog, and third-party retail partners.
sharper image
Sharper Image still sells merchandise through its website, catalog, and third-party retail partners.

Eric Risberg/AP

Sharper Image declared bankruptcy and wound down its physical retail operation in 2008.

Levitz Furniture
Levitz
Levitz Furniture was founded back in 1910.

Wikicommons/Laurie Avocado

Levitz Furniture declared bankruptcy twice β€” first in 1997, and then in 2005. It closed all of its stores in 2008.

Linens 'n Things had over 500 stores in 2006, but by the end of 2008, they were all closed. The company still does business online.
Linens N Things
Linens 'n Things still does business online.

Getty

Linens 'n Things had over 500 stores in 2006, but by the end of 2008, they were all closed.

Mervyn's
Mervyns
Mervyn's was a California-based department store founded in 1949.

AP Photo/Ben Margot

Mervyn's once had almost 200 locations in the western US. In 2008, the company declared bankruptcy and closed all of its stores.

Limited Too
limited too store
Limited Too, The Limited's children's store, launched in 1987.

Associated Press

Limited Too's success began dwindling in the early 2000s, and all stores were eventually rebranded as Justice by 2008.

Tweeter
Tweeter
Tweeter was an electronics chain that started in 1972.

Flickr/Dalvenjah FoxFire

Tweeter filed for bankruptcy in 2008 and all of its stores were closed by the end of the year.

Circuit City
Circuit City
Circuit City had 567 stores in 2008.

Getty

Circuit City filed for bankruptcy in 2008 and shuttered all stores the following Spring.

Steve & Barry's
Steve and Barrys
Steve & Barry's sold inexpensive sportswear for teens.

AP Photo/Mark Lennihan

Steve & Barry's filed for bankruptcy in 2008 and closed all of its stores in 2009.

Filene's and Filene's Basement
Filene's Basement
Filene's Basement was an off-price store that started in Filene's and eventually grew to 20 locations.

Getty

Filene's Basement's parent company went bankrupt in 2009, and by 2011 all of its stores were closed.

B. Dalton Books
B.Dalton Books
B. Dalton started in 1966.

AP Photo/Ricardo Santos

B. Dalton was acquired by Barnes & Noble in 1987, which officially closed the bookstore in January 2010, except for a single location in Oviedo, Florida.

Waldenbooks
garrison keillor waldenbooks
Waldenbooks was founded in 1933.

Tim Boyle/Getty Images

Waldenbooks merged with Borders in 1994, and all Waldenbooks stores closed when Borders Group liquidated in 2011.

Borders Books & Music
Borders
Borders Books was founded in 1971 by University of Michigan graduates Tom and Louis Borders.

Getty

Borders Books & Music stores closed shortly after the company was forced to liquidate in 2011.

CompUSA
compusa
CompUSA specialized in computer hardware and software.

AP Photo/Donna McWilliam

CompUSA started in 1984, but by 2007, Best Buy and other superstores had taken over, and the last CompUSA closed in 2012.

Sam Goody
sam goody
Sam Goody first opened back in the 1940s.

Dawn Villella / AP

Sam Goody music stores suffered from the rise of digital media, and most Sam Goody stores were either ultimately shuttered or converted into other brands like FYE by 2012. Two locations remain: one in Clairsville, Ohio, and one in Medford, Oregon.

A&P
A&P grocery store
A&P was the largest grocery store chain in the US from 1915 to 1975.

Chris Hondros / Getty Images

A&P filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2010 and again in 2015, closing its stores that year.

 

Sports Authority
Sports Authority
Sports Authority once had more than 200 locations in the US.

Getty

Competition drove Sports Authority into bankruptcy in 2016, when it closed all its stores and sold its website to Dick's Sporting Goods.

Sport Chalet
Sports Chalet
Sport Chalet once had more than 50 locations.

AP Photo/Reed Saxon

Sport Chalet, which first opened in 1959, abruptly closed all of its stores in 2016.

Wet Seal
wet seal
Wet Seal once operated over 500 locations.

Kirsten Acuna/Business Insider

Wet Seal, a teen clothing store, filed for bankruptcy in 2015 and closed for good in 2017.

Virgin Megastores
Virgin Megastore
Virgin Megastores were hit hard by the rapidly declining CD market.

Getty

Virgin Megastores stopped operating in the US in 2017, but the brand continues online and in select international markets.

The Limited
The Limited
The Limited had 250 in 2017.

Facebook/The Limited

The Limited abruptly shut down all of its stores in 2017, and the brand is now sold exclusively through Belk.

Teavana's 379 locations were closed by its parent company, Starbucks. in 2018.
Teavana logo iced tea cups
Teavana is owned by Starbucks.

Starbucks

Starbucks closed Teavana's 379 locations in 2018.

Bon-Ton Stores
Bon Ton Stores
All 256 of the Bon-Ton group's stores were liquidated in 2018.

AP Images / Rusty Kennedy

The Bon-Ton stores included its namesake brand, as well as Bergner's, Boston Store, Elder-Beerman, and Younkers.

Toys R Us
babies r us nyc 7
Babies R Us before it closed.

Business Insider/Jessica Tyler

Toys R Us and its subsidiaries closed in 2018, but in 2021 Macy's announced that it would open Toys R Us sections in hundreds of its stores, while Babies R Us is opening within Kohl's stores across the US.

Henri Bendel
Henri Bendel
Henri Bendel first opened in 1895.

After 123 years of business, luxury retailer Henri Bendel closed all of its stores in 2019.

Dress Barn
Dress Barn
Dress Barn had 650 stores in 2019.

Getty

Dress Barn shut down in 2019 after 50 years in business.

Papyrus
Papyrus store
Papyrus greeting cards are still available at retailers like Target.

Geri Lavrov / Contributor / Getty Images

At its peak in 2009, Papyrus had 500 stores across the US and Canada, but the company ultimately filed for bankruptcy and closed its 254 stores in 2020.

Lord & Taylor
Lord & Taylor
Lord & Taylor was once America's oldest department store.

Jessica Rinaldi/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

Lord & Taylor filed for bankruptcy in 2020, leading to the closure of its 38 stores. An attempt at reviving the brand as a "digital collective" was unsuccessful.

Century 21
century 21 store 2001
New York discount department store Century 21 β€” not to be confused with the realty group.

REUTERS/Chip East

Century 21 closed its 13 locations after going bankrupt in 2020. The company reopened its New York flagship store in 2023 with a greater focus on e-commerce.

Olympia Sports
Olympia Sports
Olympia Sports shut down its remaining stores in 2022.

AP

After a slow decline and a tumultuous stint with private equity owners, Maine-based Olympia Sports shut down its remaining stores in 2022.

Bed Bath & Beyond
Bed Bath and Beyond closing Louisivlle
Bed Bath & Beyond had a fleet of more than 1,500 locations at its peak.

Ben Tobin

Bed Bath & Beyond filed for bankruptcy and closed its 896 remaining stores in 2023, though the brand was sold and relaunched online.

In October 2024, Beyond and Kirkland's Home announced a $25 million deal to open 15,000-square-foot small-format "neighborhood" Bed Bath & Beyond locations across the US. The companies said the concept would include an assortment of classic BB&B products.

Tuesday Morning
Tuesday Morning

Xinhua News Agency / Contributor/Getty Images

The Dallas-based home goods company shut down all of its stores in 2023 after it had only planned to close half of its stores amid bankruptcy proceedings.

Christmas Tree Shops
A customer leaves a Christmas Tree Shop in Pembroke, Massachusetts, carrying a holiday wreath and a shopping bag
A customer leaves a Christmas Tree Shop in Pembroke, Massachusetts.

John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

The Massachusetts-based seasonal specialty retailer filed for bankruptcy in 2023, winding down the remaining 72 locations across 20 states.

Moosejaw
A Moosejaw storefront
Moosejaw was founded in 1992 and acquired by Walmart in 2017.

Stephen Zenner/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Just months after buying Moosejaw from Walmart, Dick's Sporting Goods closed most of the brand's locations and formed one team that would handle both the Public Lands and Moosejaw brands moving forward. Only three Moosejaw locations remain open.

Foxtrot
Foxtrot shuttered operations across all 30-plus of its locations on Tuesday.
Foxtrot was a boutique convenience store

John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images

Chicago-based Foxtrot abruptly shuttered its 33 locations in April 2024 after it came up $35 million short of its 2023 sales goal.

Rue21
Clothing is displayed in the window of a rue21 store at Solano Town Center on May 03, 2024 in Fairfield, California.
Clothing is displayed in the window of a rue21 store at Solano Town Center on May 03, 2024 in Fairfield, California.

Getty/Justin Sullivan

Teen apparel retailer rue21 β€” known for its presence in shopping malls β€” filed for bankruptcy for the third time in May 2024. The company's 540 locations also shut down.

The retailer had attempted multiple turnaround plans after a 2017 bankruptcy and 2023 bankruptcy filing.

Conn's HomePlus
Shoppers in front of a Conn's Home Plus store in Texas
Shoppers in front of a Conn's Home Plus store in Texas.

James Nielsen/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images

Conn's HomePlus, a home goods retailer known throughout the South, filed for bankruptcy protection in July 2024 before announcing that it was shuttering all of its stores.

The chain operated more than 170 stores in 15 states.

Read the original article on Business Insider

❌
❌