The world of finance has many facets: loans, accounts, savings. Investments are one of the most important aspects of money management. Getting rich with one investment – that’s what many dream of. However, very few can successfully complete such an investment. Here we give you some examples of how investors have made sensational profits with sometimes insane investments. Here are 7 of the biggest investments ever.
1. Warren Buffett: See’s Candy
Today Warren Buffett is one of the richest people in the world. In the 1970s, the fast food fan was already a multi-millionaire. In 1972, the investor, now known as the Oracle of Omaha, made an investment that is still considered legendary to this day. Buffett bought a candy chain called See’s Candy for $ 25 million. At that time, hardly anyone understood why, but today everything is clear. With inimitable foresight, Buffett has earned more than $ 1.35 billion on this investment to date. And another $ 100 million is added every year because Buffett still holds shares in the company.
2. Howard Hughes: TWA
Howard Hughes became known to many people when Leonardo Di Caprio embodied him in the film “The Aviator". Hughes was an eccentric as he is in the book. An eccentric with a sensation for business. His most spectacular deals included his $ 7 million investment, which bought him 78% of the airline TWA in 1952. The airline, which no longer exists today, had to be sold to Hughes in the course of a defeat in court. But this alleged defeat, the sale of the shares brought him more than $ 550 million. Today, that was just under $ 4 billion when adjusted for inflation.
3. Ray Kroc: Mcdonalds
Today McDonalds is mostly associated with unhealthy food, burgers and a not very upscale restaurant culture. Nevertheless, children and adults still love the fast food around Big Mac and Chicken Nuggets. As early as 1961, the investor Ray Kroc had the idea to put $ 2.7 million into the company – money with which, by the way, he extracted the founders of the restaurant chain. The investment eventually went down in history as one of the best: Until 1984, Krocs’ stake in McDonald’s was a whopping $ 500 million. More than 180 times as much as he had once invested.
4. Henry Flagler: Standard Oil
When Henry Flagler invested $ 100,000 in Standard Oil in 1867, not a single car drove on the world’s roads – yes, there weren’t even roads for the vehicles that weren’t invented! Adjusted for inflation, that would have been $ 1.6 million in venture capital. When he joined John D. Rockefeller’s company, he couldn’t even guess that this investment would be worth $ 75 million in 1913, 46 years later, which would equate to $ 1.7 billion today. Flagler’s investment is an incredible 700 times what it is used for. And as wise as Flagler was, he also built numerous roads and hotels for travelers, which only made his fortune even bigger.
5. Peter Thiel: Facebook
In 2005, famous investor Peter Thiel invested $ 500,000 in 10% of the shares of a small company founded by a certain Mark Zuckerberg. The rest is history. Within a few years, the social network Facebook was by far the largest in the world. It reached more than $ 800 billion on the stock exchange. Thiel had already sold 80% of its shares by 2012. Until then, these had been worth more than $ 400 million.
6. John Gray: Ford Motor Co.
A crazy Henry Ford had the crazy idea of building a car on the assembly line around 1903. His uncle John Gray supported his nephew’s project with an investment of $ 10,500, which is today’s equivalent of $ 264,000 inflation-adjusted Would correspond to dollars. Ford was an unprecedented success – a few years later, the entire United States drove across America with models from the car factory. When Gray died long ago, and his descendants sold his shares, they received more than $ 26 million. That corresponds to more than 1300 times the investment of her ancestor.
7. Asa Candler: Coca Cola
A legendary story: in 1891, a pharmacist developed a recipe for a soft drink that he called Coca Cola. When a certain Asa Candler tried it, he was convinced and offered the pharmacist $ 2,300 for the prescription, which he gladly accepted. It may be that the pharmacist has regretted this initially lucrative business. Because 32 years later, Coca Cola had become a well-known brand, and Candler himself sold Coca Cola for an incredible $ 25 million. According to today’s monetary value, this corresponds to approximately $ 330 million, as well as a return of investment of 833x.
Aren’t they impressive, the best investments in history? Certainly. But the thing is this: there is no fetching without risk. If everyone were convinced that their investment would turn out to be so good, then these bargains would not be so cheap to buy. So you need the right nose for such business, and of course good luck. But it is definitely worth getting enough information about your planned investments. Because the more you know, the better you can judge whether it is a good chance or not.
