Magnate

From Nemo

Business magnate is a phrase sometimes used to describe an entrepreneur who has achieved wealth and prominence from a particular industry (or industries). Other, similar terms are capitalist, czar, mogul, tycoon, baron, oligarch, or industrialist.

Usage

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is a technology magnate consistently ranked in the top five of the most wealthy people in the world.

Such people are savvy businessmen that usually amass substantial fortunes in the process of running their business. Some are widely known in connection with their business(es) or through other pursuits such as philanthropy. The terms "mogul", "tycoon" and "baron" were often attributed to late 19th and early 20th century North American business magnates in extractive industries such as mining, logging and petroleum, transportation fields such as shipping and railroads, manufacturing, including steelmaking, banking, and newspaper publishing. This era was known as the Second Industrial Revolution or the Gilded Age.

Examples of well-known business magnates include Sir Richard Branson of Virgin Group, utility and transportation magnate Samuel Insull, newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst of the Hearst Corporation, oil magnate John D. Rockefeller of Standard Oil, steel magnate Andrew Carnegie, Lakshmi Mittal of Arcelor Mittal, poultry magnate Frank Perdue of Perdue Farms, automobile magnate Ferdinand Piech of Volkswagen Group, and telecommunications magnate Carlos Slim.

In Russia and some other post-Soviet countries, the term "business oligarch" has become popular.