6 Of The Richest Billionaires From BC In 2023 & Here's How They Made Their Money
One of them used to work at McDonald's flipping burgers.
Chip Wilson. Right: Changpeng Zhao
Ever wondered just how rich Canada's biggest billionaires are? Safe to say, they're pretty damn rich and it turns out a lot of them have pretty strong ties to British Columbia.
These billionaires made their fortunes in everything from cryptocurrency to car dealerships and even a pretty well-known athleisure brand, and Bloomberg's Billionaires Index sheds some light on just how they did it.
If you're curious to find out a bit more about B.C. largest billionaires and how they made their fortunes, here's everything you need to know.
Changpeng Zhao
Changpeng Zhao, has a net worth of a whopping US $19.6 billion, according to Bloomberg. Zhao is the chief executive of Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, which 90 million users in 2021.
According to Forbes, Zhao was born in Jiangsu, China, before moving to Vancouver where he flipped burgers at McDonald's and worked overnight in a gas station as a teen.
James Pattison
According to Bloomberg, Pattison is the owner of Jim Pattison Group, the largest car dealership in Western Canada. The group also has a ton of different divisions now from entertainment to food and beverage. The group is also the publisher of Guinness World Records.
Pattison's wealth is estimated to be around US$7.28 billion, which could buy the businessman around a very casual 3.81 million ounces of gold.
Joseph Tsai
When Joseph Tsai co-founded China's largest e-commerce site Alibaba with Jack Ma. His initial salary was just US $50 a month, Forbes reports.
However, Alibaba's vice chairman Tsai – who has Canadian citizenship – now has a net worth of around $6.89 billion, according to Bloomberg. Now he owns a basketball team, the Brooklyn Nets.
Anthony von Mandl
Anthony von Mandl began his career as a wine importer when he was just 22 years old and went on to create the huge alcoholic beverages White Claw hard seltzer and Mike's Hard Lemonade, according to Forbes.
Von Mandl, who owns five wineries in Canada including Mission Hill in the Okanagan Valley, is estimated by Bloomberg to have a net worth of $6.86 billion.
Chip Wilson
Lululemon founder Chip Wilson also finds himself on the list of Canada's richest billionaires with a total net worth of around US$5.61 billion.
According to Forbes, Wilson started Lululemon with a single store in 2000. These days, you'll be hard-pressed to find anyone in Vancouver not wearing the brand. Wilson also studied at the University of Calgary.
David Cheriton
David Cheriton made his fortune by investing $100,000 in Google while it was getting set up, Forbes said. Cheritan who was born in Vancouver, according to the Financial Post, went on to co-found three different tech companies including Arista Networks, Granite Systems and Kealia.
Despite having an estimated net worth of $5.28 billion, Cheriton still cuts his own hair.