Trump International Hotel & Tower in Las Vegas. Donald Trump -- not surprisingly -- is one of the 10 richest hotel owners in America.
Lists of the rich and famous are all over the Internet: The highest paid actors in Hollywood. The richest people in technology. The biggest bonuses on Wall Street.
But here at Oyster, we care about hotels. And we got to thinking: We’re always hearing so much about Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, but who are the biggest big shots in our world? The most recent Forbes 400 had most of the answers, though we went to the trouble of pulling out those who made a substantial portion of their fortunes in the hotel biz, and offering a little historical background on them to boot. Enjoy!
1. Sheldon Adelson: Net worth $9 billion
The 26th richest man in America, Adelson made it to the top of this list by being one of the biggest developers in both Las Vegas and Macao. He bought the Sands Hotel & Casino (a former Rat Pack hangout) in 1988 and soon after built the Sands Expo and Convention Center. He later knocked down (okay, imploded) the Sands to make way for The Venetian Resort Hotel Casino and later The Palazzo. When he opened the Sands Macao in 2004, the one million-square-foot casino was Macao’s — and China’s — first Vegas-like hotspot. He’s since opened the Venetian Macao and has plans to open many more name-brand hotels in the Chinese gambling city, essentially recreating the Vegas Strip.
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