David H. Murdoch Net Worth: $3.7 Billion
David H. Murdoch is a successful American businessman and philanthropist. After becoming homeless and destitute following WWII, he was given a $1,200 loan to buy a closing diner, which he flipped for a $700 profit. He then began working in housing and commercial real estate, leading to a string of acquisitions, including International Mining and Occidental Petroleum.
In 1985, Murdoch acquired Castle & Cooke, a nearly bankrupt Hawaiian firm that owned Dole Food Company. He turned Dole into the world’s largest producer of fruits and vegetables, acquired it privately in 2003, and completed a $446 million initial public offering in 2009. He also owns manufacturing companies and cancer-drug developer NovaRx, where his son is CEO. Murdoch is funding a major study at Duke in North Carolina examining the leading causes of illness and death.
Forbes ranked Murdoch as the 190th-richest person in the “Forbes 400” list and 613th in the “World’s Billionaires” list as of March 2013. He acquired ownership of 98% of Lana’i, the sixth largest island in Hawaii, as a result of the Castle & Cooke purchase. In 2012, he sold his interest in Lana’i to American businessman Larry Ellison.