The top four places of richest people in the cruise industry are held by the family members of the founders of Cruise Titans Royal Caribbean International and Carnival Corporation PLC. The richest man in the industry is the son of the founder of Royal Caribbean, Mr. Idan Ofer, followed by his brother Mr. Eyal Ofer. The founder of Carnival Cruise Lines, Mr. Ted Arison, left his fortune to his children Micky Arison and Shari Arison who are ranked third and fourth on this list of richest people in the cruise industry.
Idan Ofer
Net Worth
$6.2 B As of March 2012
#161 Forbes Billionaires
• #1 in Israel
• Source of Wealth: Inherited (Shareholder in Royal Caribbean Cruises)
• Residence: Tel Aviv, Israel
• Country of Citizenship: Israel
Idan and his older brother Eyal inherited a fortune from their father, shipping magnate and formerly Israel's richest man, Sammy Ofer, who died in June 2011. He is the principal of Quantum Pacific Group, which holds the Ofer stake in Israel Corporation, the largest public holding company on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange; and Pacific Drilling SA. He is also chairman of Better Place, the Silicon Valley electric car infrastructure startup. He shares his father's shipping empire and vast art collection, said to be one of the most magnificent in the world.
Eyal Ofer
Net Worth
$5.8 B As of March 2012
#173 Forbes Billionaires
• #3 in Israel
• Source of Wealth: Inherited (Shareholder in Royal Caribbean Cruises)
• Residence: Monte Carlo, Monaco
• Country of Citizenship: Israel
Since Sammy Ofer death in 2011 Eyal has taken on the family's stake in Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, Mizrahi Tefahot bank, and the family's international real estate, including the Altria Building and 15 Central Park West in New York.
Micky Arison
Net Worth $4.7 B As of March 2012
#223 Forbes Billionaires
#72 in United States
• Source of Wealth: Carnival Cruises
• Residence: Bal Harbour, FL
• Country of Citizenship: United States
• Education: Drop Out, University of Miami
Micky Arison, is a son of Ted Arison, the founder of Carnival Cruise Lines which earned him a fortune as it grew to be the biggest Cruise Corporation in the world.
He is the CEO of the Carnival Corporation PLC. Micky Arison managed to develop Carnival in one of the world biggest vacation companies. Carnival Corporation PLC is owner Eleven cruise line companies with more than 100 Cruise ships.
Shari Arison
Net Worth
$3.9 B As of March 2012
#288 Forbes Billionaires
• #5 in Israel
• Source of Wealth: Carnival Cruises
• Residence: Tel Aviv, Israel
• Country of Citizenship: Israel
• Education: Drop Out, Miami Dade College
Shari Arison Is a sister of Micky Arison who inherited half of the family fortune from her late father Ted Arison. She is the richest woman in Israel and is big shareholder in Carnival Cruises,
Also she inherited shares in Israel's Bank Hapoalim, and infrastructure behemoth Shikun u'Binui Holdings Ltd.
Arison has tried to position herself as a force for good in business with investments in a number of green projects, including a massive desalination plant and a green shopping mall in Israel, She also launched International Good Deeds Day to advocate community service, and in 2009 published the book Birth: When the Spiritual and the Material Come Together.
Leon Black
Net Worth
$3.4 B As of March 2012
#330 Forbes Billionaires
• #106 in United States
• Source of Wealth: Private equity, Self-made (Shareholder in Apollo Management - Oceania, NCL, Regent Seven Seas)
• Residence: New York, NY
• Country of Citizenship: United States
• Education: Bachelor of Arts / Science, Dartmouth College; Master of Business Administration, Harvard University
A former M&A boss at Drexel Burnham Lambert, Black and his two younger colleagues, Marc Rowan and Joshua Harris, also billionaires, formed Apollo in 1990 after Drexel collapsed. A prodigious art collector, Black owns works by old masters and impressionists, serves on the board of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and MoMA and also helped fund a biography of Pablo Picasso.
Marilyn Carlson Nelson
Net Worth
$2.5 B As of March 2012
#491 Forbes Billionaires
• #164 in United States
• Source of Wealth: Hotels, restaurants (Shareholder in Regent Seven Seas)
• Residence: Long Lake, MN
• Country of Citizenship: United States
• Education: University of Paris; Bachelor of Arts / Science, Smith College
Marilyn Carlson Nelson jointly owns Carlson Inc. with her sister, Barbara. An industry-wide recovery benefited its restaurants (T.G.I. Friday's) and travel agencies, and Carlson is now focused on growing its hotel division (Radisson, Regent Seven Seas Country Inns & Suites).
Thomas Pritzker
Net Worth
$2.2 B As of March 2012
Forbes Lists
#578 Forbes Billionaires
• #206 in United States
• Source of Wealth: Hotels, investments (Shareholder in Royal Caribbean Cruises)
• Residence: Chicago, IL
• Country of Citizenship: United States
• Education: Master of Business Administration, University of Chicago; Doctor of Jurisprudence, University of Chicago; Bachelor of Arts / Science, Claremont McKenna College.
Thomas Pritzker, chairman of Hyatt Hotels, is one of 11 members of the extended Pritzker family on the Billionaires' list. Along with his sister Jean (Gigi) Pritzker, he has picked up more stock in Hyatt from cousins Linda and James, who sold shares last year. For the past decade, Tom and his cousin Penny Pritzker have been in charge of selling assets the family owns jointly. Tom remains chairman of Marmon Holdings and sits on the board at Royal Caribbean Cruises.
Penny Pritzker
Net Worth
$1.8 B As of March 2012
• Source of Wealth: Hotels, investments (Shareholder in Royal Caribbean Cruises)
• Residence: Chicago, IL
• Country of Citizenship: United States
• Education: Master of Business Administration, Stanford University; Bachelor of Arts / Science, Harvard University; Doctor of Jurisprudence, Stanford University
In January, it was announced that Penny Pritzker stepped down as chairman of Vi (formerly Classic Residence), Hyatt's retirement community business. Back in 2007, the family sold control of industrial conglomerate Marmon Holdings to Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway for $4.5 billion.
Arne Wilhelmsen & family
Net Worth
$1.6 B As of March 2012
#804 Forbes Billionaires
• #4 in Norway
• Source of Wealth: Royal Caribbean
• Residence: Oslo, Norway
• Country of Citizenship: Norway
• Education: Bachelor of Arts / Science, Harvard University
Arne Wilhelmsen's is a co-founder of Royal Caribbean. This Harvard graduate owns one of Norway's largest real estate companys Linstow,. He chairs the family investment company, with stakes in oil tankers, Russian hotels and Baltic shopping centers.
Marc Rowan
Net Worth
$1.5 B As of March 2012
#854 Forbes Billionaires
• #303 in United States
• Source of Wealth: Leveraged buyouts, Self-made (Shareholder in Apollo Management - Oceania, NCL, Regent Seven Seas)
• Residence: New York, NY
• Country of Citizenship: United States
• Education: Master of Business Administration, University of Pennsylvania Wharton School; Bachelor of Arts / Science, University of Pennsylvania Wharton School
Marc Rowan is the low-profile co-founder of buyout shop Apollo Global Management, which he started in 1990 with former Drexel Burnham colleagues Leon Black and Joshua Harris. The firm, which has $75 billion in assets under management, went public in March 2011; its shares were down since its listing though they have rebounded from their low. Rowan and the other partners didn't sell shares at the time of the IPO but did cash out some of their stake back in 2007, when CALPERS and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority invested.
Source: Forbes
