Francois Pinault

Multimillionaires without High School Diplomas

With holdings like Christie's Auction House, Gucci, Samsonite and Puma, it's hard to believe the third-richest man in France quit high school in 1947 to work at his father's lumber mill. One reason he quit school: Classmates made fun of his poor background. Poetic justice: At last count, the retail kingpin and father-in-law to actress Salma Hayek has amassed an $8.7 billion fortune.

(AP Photo/Michael Sawyer)

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Multimillionaire... While the rest of us were negotiating our curfews and cramming for the SATs, some of the world's most successful entrepreneurs ditched high school (or didn't even enroll) to start building multimillion-dollar fortunes.

(AP Photo/Matt Sayle)
Robert De Niro Fans of Vito Corleone and Jake LaMotta can thank one of the world's most popular actors for leaving high school before his 17th birthday. The two-time Oscar winner studied his craft at Lee Strasberg's Actor's Studio and the Stella Adler Conservatory. De Niro learned a thing or two about business along the way, too: His financial portfolio includes film studio TriBeCa Productions and a handful of posh New York eateries.

(Andrew Walker/Getty Images)
Vidal Sassoon After spending seven years in an orphanage, the future British hair guru struck out, at age 14, for a barbering apprenticeship, followed by a stint in the Israeli Defense Force. Best known for his severe geometric cuts, the coiffure connoisseur is credited for Mia Farrow's heavily copied 'do in Rosemary's Baby. Sassoon's personal fortune has been valued at roughly $130 million.

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Kirk Kerkorian At last count by Forbes, this megaresort tycoon, who dropped out of school to pursue amateur boxing when he was only in eighth grade, is now worth $3 billion. Bankrolled Vegas Strip mainstays like the International Hotel and MGM Grand and bought a majority stake in MGM Mirage in 2006. Survived a multimillion-dollar hit in 2008 after unloading Ford stock at a third of original buying value. Kerkorian's Lincy Foundation has donated more than $180 million to Armenian reconstruction efforts and various charities.

(AP Photo/Nick Ut)
Francois Pinault... With holdings like Christie's Auction House, Gucci, Samsonite and Puma, it's hard to believe the third-richest man in France quit high school in 1947 to work at his father's lumber mill. One reason he quit school: Classmates made fun of his poor background. Poetic justice: At last count, the retail kingpin and father-in-law to actress Salma Hayek has amassed an $8.7 billion fortune.

(AP Photo/Michael Sawyer)
50 Cent Curtis James Jackson III, aka multi-platinum rapper 50 Cent, made his entrepreneurial debut at age 12, hustling crack on the streets of South Jamaica, Queens. (He earned his GED while doing time for drug possession.) After his attorney slipped them a demo tape, Eminem and Dr. Dre signed Jackson to their label for $1 million. Good move: Jackson's albums have sold more than 26 million copies. Product endorsements include Reebok sneakers, Vitamin Water and Right Guard body spray. Fifty's film company Cheetah Vision landed $200 million in funding in 2010.

(AP Photo/Carlo Allegri)
Peter Jackson Born to a factory worker and an accounting clerk, this three-time Oscar-winning high school dropout showed signs of filmmaking flair as a child, crafting short movies with a Super 8 cine-camera in New Zealand. At age 20 he worked as a newspaper photo engraver by day and made slapstick horror films by night. His first mainstream hit, the murder drama Heavenly Creatures, came out in 1994. Jackson struck box-office gold with the Lord of the Rings trilogy, which grossed just under $3 billion worldwide.

(AP Photo/Matt Sayle)
Jessica Simpson Southern songstress, fashion designer and reality TV star Jessica Simpson boasts two multi-platinum albums, a shoe line, hair care products and a handful of endorsements--all despite having dropped out of high school. The buxom blonde donned daisy dukes for her 2005 film debut in the Dukes of Hazard and globe-trotted for reality show The Price of Beauty in early 2010. Simpson announced in November she was headed to the altar with one-time NFL tight end Eric Johnson.

(AP Photo/Matt Sayle)
Uma Thurman For this striking high school dropout, beauty and brains runs in the family. Thurman's mother was a model and her father, a professor at Columbia University, was the first Westerner ordained a Tibetan Buddhist monk. Thurman enrolled in the Professional Children's School in New York City but left at 16 for onscreen pursuits. The sexy starlet made her movie debut in 1988 and went on to light up the screen in films such as Dangerous Liaisons and Quentin Taratino's Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill saga, which earned the actress Golden Globe nods.

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Larry Flynt This Hustler publisher and outspoken first amendment advocate didn't need a high school degree to live in his penthouse. Before becoming an adult entertainment icon, the controversial pornographer joined the United States Army using a counterfeit birth certificate at age 15. Flynt ran a fleet of bars and strip clubs before launching his magazine in 1974. In 2003 he threw his hat into the California recall gubernatorial election, finishing 7th in a field of 135.

(Paul Morigi/Getty Images)
Billy Joel "If I'm not going to Columbia University, I'm going to Columbia Records and you don't need a high school diploma over there," Billy Joel once famously declared after learning he had fallen one credit short of his high school graduation requirement in 1967. The six-time Grammy Award winner has sold more than 150 million records worldwide and recently finished touring with Elton John in March 2010. (Joel's old high school finally agreed to award their famous alumnus a diploma--25 years after he left.)Joel was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999. His estimated net worth is $160 million.

(Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images)
Who Else Is On t... Which other multimillionaires never earned a high school diploma? Click here to find out.