Successful Entrepreneurs Who Started Ventures After 50

Aging with the wisdom of a seasoned chef, Martha Stewart has remained at the top of her game by constantly developing new ventures and branching out to newer markets. In 1997 she founded The Martha Steward Living Omnimedia Company, which at its height was valued at $2 billion. Martha herself has amassed an impressive personal net worth of $400 million.

The Great Depression was a dark time for America. Family incomes plummeted, and many people were unemployed or underemployed while the prices of goods went up dramatically. Leo Goodwin's story defies these statistics. He had an idea to start his own insurance company during this challenging period!

Despite the risks, Leo and Lillian created GEICO because they recognized that military personnel was a financially stable group. They kept their costs low to ensure they could price competitively and by year's end had 12 employees. Today Geico is a thriving business with $35 billion in revenue.

Harland Sanders, better known as Colonel Sanders, started Kentucky Fried Chicken at age 62. What he found in 1939 changed the course of his life. He had been trying to create that perfect flavor for so long and with no success until one day, when a new device showed him just what it takes: pressure cooking. KFC has become the most popular chicken restaurant globally, with more than 18,000 locations and $27.9 billion in annual revenue.

Ray Kroc became an entrepreneur at age 52 when he took over the McDonald brothers' burger operation. Kroc was one of the wealthiest people during his time with a net worth of $600 million, and his company has grown into a global chain with more than 39000 locations worldwide and over $21 billion in revenue.

When Bernard Marcus was 50 years old and working in his father's cabinet shop, he never imagined that one day the company he would co-found with a friend could make him worth as much as $7.8 billion. All of this from someone who wanted to become a doctor but couldn't afford tuition to do so.

He built his company from a small hardware store into the largest home improvement retailer with $110 billion worth of revenue!

The risks were worth it when Blume used his savings to launch Denali Flavors at 54. This was a calculated move because he had 35 years of experience in the dairy industry despite lacking entrepreneurial experience. Since then, the company has grown into $23.4 million in annual revenue.

When Arianna Huffington was 55, she launched The Huffington Post and named herself the editor in chief. She had already been writing biographies, but it wasn't until her website gained momentum that people started to take notice of this unique woman who defied expectations. Her news outlet is known worldwide for having insightful commentary on politics and current events, which has earned her both fame and fortune with a net worth of $100 million.

Julie Wainwright has had a long career in the business world that spans more than two decades. After seeing her previous company shut down, she decided to found The RealReal, a luxury consignment store, with hopes of avoiding what happened at Pets.com. This time it was different! In 2011 when Julie launched The RealReal website and sold $10 million worth of products in just one year, she proved herself as an incredible entrepreneur once again.

Aiming to disrupt the stock market, Bill Porter founded E-Trade at 54 years old. He took trading online and created a company that has assets worth around $60 billion today. Despite starting the company with $15K in its first year, by 1982, it had revenues of more than $850,000 from customers eager for an affordable way to trade stocks.

Charles Flint was an entrepreneur who became famous for founding the Computing Tabulating Recording Company, which later changed its name to IBM. Today IBM is a multinational computer and technology company with over 345,000 employees and annual revenue of $73.6 billion.

After decades of being entrenched in the academic world, Joe DiSimone decided to take on the world of entrepreneurship. He had no idea that it would lead him to be one of the most successful entrepreneurs ever when he started at age 50. With over 700 million dollars raised for his venture, Carbon is now worth an estimated $2.5 billion! Investors include brands like Adidas, and BMW among others, have all jumped aboard this ship because they know what will happen when he succeeds - their pockets get filled too!

Amadeo Giannini started Bank of America in 1908. He was 61 years old when he founded this company, which now has over $85 billion in annual revenue and is one of the world's largest banks!

Gordon Bowker started Starbucks when he was 52 years old. Since his childhood, he had been a coffee lover, and it wasn't until 1971 that this passion led him to open the first-ever store in Seattle, Washington. The company has grown into one of the most successful chains with more than 32,000 locations worldwide and annual revenue of over $26.5 billion.