David Green
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Diploma, High School
United States
Hobby Lobby
10
retail, Self Made
$8,200,000,000
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4
#209 Billionaires 2019
#73 Forbes 400 2018
A preacher's son from a poor background, Hobby Lobby founder David Green opened his first crafts shop in 1970 with a $600 loan.His empire has grown from a single 300-square-foot store in Oklahoma City to 850 locations in 46 states, with $5 billion in sales.A devout Christian, he still serves as Hobby Lobby's CEO and goes to work six days a week.He won a 2014 Supreme Court case that exempted "closely held" companies with strong religious beliefs from providing employees the morning-after pill.Green and his family spent $500 million on the Museum of the Bible, which opened in D.C. in 2017.
Green worked as a stock boy at a general store in high school, where he swept floors and unloaded boxes for 60 cents an hour.Hobby Lobby's first product was miniature picture frames, which Green's wife and two young sons made on their kitchen table.
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