Why is Sam Zell a billionaire?
According to some sources, he's worth $4.9 billion. According to my research, he was successful even in college. How was Sam Zell able to build this size of a fortune in one life time? What is his skillset that sets him apart?
[{"id": "cs8fso6", "text": "Savvy real estate investments, over a time period where there was massive growth in real estate values. \n\nA good part of it is luck.  He happened to have investments in the right places.  Obviously we don't spend a lot of time talking about the people who made bad decisions, or didn't put their money in the right places. Hell, just look Bucksbaums, they were lucky as well, but one mistake pretty much differentiates Zell from the Bucksbaums. \n\nIn real estate, a high percentage of wealthy investors were ones invested in California or Manhatten.  The guys who bought up shitty property in Kansas are still sitting on it and broke.   Irvine company is a good example as well, being in the right place at the right time, and some decent decision making. ", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "cs95b03", "text": "He started investing in Michigan after graduating law school in the 70's. His strategy at the time involved acquiring distressed properties and selling them later for a premium after stabilization; hence his nickname \"grave dancer.\" He believes few opportunities exist today due to government interference, which he feels prevents business failures and the entire creative destruction process. He is old-school; likes getting to know the neighborhood and kicking-the-bricks as opposed to strict DCF number crunching. He is business savvy and charismatic as all hell, for sure, which I am sure helped him amass his fortune but I do not believe he did anything radically different besides adhering to sound investment practices.       ", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "cs9ie64", "text": "He gets ahead of trends and he dreams big !!!!\n\nPlenty of guys do exactly what he does but they do it on a local scale.  What sets guys like Zell apart is the fact that they dream big !!!!", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "csgbfnd", "text": "Timing. An uncanny ability to forecast market conditions and the balls to do big deals. The man is an absolute legend.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}]