Today several people in Canada have accumulated a significant amount of wealth in the last few years. All of these Canadian born billionaires won their status through talent and hard work. But while some scale from the bottom to the top, others inherited the legacy from their powerful families. Whether you want to know in which industry you could obtain your billionaire Canadian fortune or just for pure fun. Here is a list of the top 12 wealthiest billionaires born in Canada.
The 12 Richest Canadian Born Billionaires
1. David Thomson
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that David Thomson is at the top of our list since due to his wealth he is known all over the world. Apart from inheriting the successful Thomson Corporation after the death of his father in 2006. He also became the 3rd Baron Thomson of Fleet, obtaining the British title that was given to his father. After two years of being the chairman of the company, Thomson acquired Reuters. Today, Thomson Reuters is one of the largest media companies based in Canada.
2. David Cheriton
David Cheriton, born in Vancouver, has obtained all his fortune by working in the technology industry. Even though Cheriton founded around 20 companies. He has the majority of its wealth, thanks to being one of Google’s first investors. At the moment, Cheriton is recognized as the “billionaire professor” since his current job is as a computer science teacher at Stanford University. Cheriton is also famous for making generous contributions to the University of Waterloo, University of British Columbia, and Stanford University.
3. James Irving
The wealth of the Irving family started in the 19th century. This happened when the grandfather of James Irving launched several farming and lumber companies. In 1992, after K.C Irving died, the responsibilities of the current company were distributed among his sons. As a result, James Irving ended up being the owner of Brunswick News and J.D Irving Limited. Irving focuses on running services in forestry, frozen foods, retail, and transportation. Further, he is also part of the Canadian Business Hall of Fame, thanks to all his achievements.
4. Jim Pattison
Jim Pattison is the chairman and owner of the Jim Pattison Group, which has more than 25 divisions such as food, entertainment, and packaging, among others. Through this group, Pattison owns several advertising companies, media stations, and even grocery stores. Also, in his entertainment division, you can find the Guinness World’s Records and Ripley’s Believe It or Not. It might come as a surprise to know that Pattison is right now in his early 90s. However, he is reportedly a hard-working man who shows up to work every day.
5. Alain Bouchard
Alain Bouchard is one of the examples of how Canadians can grow their wealth from the ground up. In 1980 Bouchard co-founded the Alimentation Couche-Tard conglomerate with just one shop located in Quebec. Since then, the company has turned into the operator of several convenience stores in different countries. In September of 2014, Bouchard retired as president and CEO of Alimentation Couche-Tard. But he still holds the position of executive chairman of the company.
6. Peter Gilgan
The wealth of Peter Gilgan comes from founding Mattamy Homes, a Canadian home building company back in 1978. However, working in the construction industry was not the first job of Gilgan. Before founding his company, he worked as an accountant for several years. Right now, Gilgan is the CEO of Mattamy, and since the company started, it has built homes for more than 90,000 homeowners. At the moment, the residence of Gilgan is in Oakville, and he has eight children.
7. Eugene Melnyk
Most people know Eugene Melnyk as the current owner of the successful hockey team, the Ottawa Senators. But, as a businessman, Melnyk’s career started with Trimel Corp. in 1982 which he sold in 1989. Later he founded Biovail Corp, which turned him into a leader in the pharmaceutical industry. After he retired as chairman of the Biovail Corp., he started expanding his business portfolio. Nowadays, Melnyk is the owner of the Clean Beauty Collective and Neurolign Technologies. To learn more about Melnyk, visit the following link globalnews.ca/tag/eugene-melnyk/.
8. Daryl Katz
Daryl Katz is a businessman who is today the chairman and CEO of the Katz Group started building his fortune in 1991 when he bought the Canadian rights of Medicine Shoppe. During the time that Katz dedicated to the pharmaceutical industry bought many successful businesses. However, today he has sold all his pharmacy operations, turning his focus into the real estate and entertainment industry. Katz is now co-developing a complex in Edmonton downtown, and it’s the legal owner of the NHL team, the Edmonton Oilers.
9. Garrett Camp
Garrett Camp is an entrepreneur who earned his fortune founding the web discovery tool StumbleUpon. Later he sold the firm in 2007 to eBay for $75 million. Two years later, along with Travis Kalanick, Camp co-founded Uber. Right now, Camp only owns four percent of the platform, since, in 2019, the company listed its shares in the New York Stock Exchange. Camp is also the founder of Expa, which is a startup studio. At the moment, he is living in San Francisco, California.
10. Mitchell Goldhar
Mitchell Goldhar built his wealth in the real estate industry with his firm SmartCentres. From the early 1990s until 2015, he developed hundreds of shopping centers across the country. Then, in May 2015 he sold the majority of the assets of his firm to Smart REIT. Goldhar now possesses a significant amount of the ownership of Smart REIT, plus his title as chairman. Golhar also owns a series of developments through his company Penguin Investments. Further, he also holds ownership of the Maccabi Tel Aviv FC, an Israeli soccer club.
11. Lawrence Stroll
Lawrence Stroll started his path as one of the richest men in Canada when he invested a significant amount of money in various fashion companies. In 2014 he increased his wealth by selling all the shares he held in the fashion industry. Stroll is also considered one of the masterminds behind the success of Michael Kors. Later Stroll bought, with help of a group of investors, purchased the Force India Formula One team, which today is known as the Aston Martin F1 team.
12. Carlo Fidani
Carlo Fidani is the chairman of the successful real-estate company Orlando Corp. located in Toronto, Ontario. Fidani took over the company after his father’s death back in 2000. The company right now manages developments in office and commercial spaces. Additionally, Fidani is the president of the Carlo Fidani Foundation.
Billionaire Bosses Born Canadian
There are a growing number of billionaires around the world, but not all of them were born in Canada. We hope you enjoyed this list of the top Canadian billionaires!
