Eric Smidt
Beverly Hills, California
United States
hardware stores, Self Made
$3,100,000,000
838
2
#838 Billionaires 2019
#271 Forbes 400 2018
Eric Smidt was a teenager when he started Harbor Freight Tools with his father Allan in 1977. He graduated high school through a work study program.In the beginning, Harbor Freight was a mail-order business that sold tools out of a small shop in North Hollywood.Smidt became the president of the company in 1985, and CEO in 1999.It is now a chain store with over 900 locations and 20,000 employees in 47 states.In February 2018, Eric pledged over $50 million towards building the Cedars-Sinai Smidt Heart Institute.
In 2010, his father Allan sued Eric for "looting" the company and leveraging it to finance his own lavish lifestyle. The case was settled out of court.In 2013, Smidt and his wife created Harbor Freight Tools for Schools, a philanthropic initiative that supports skilled trades education in America.
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