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Abusiness magnate, also known as anindustrialist ortycoon, is a person who has achieved immense wealth through the creation or ownership of multiple lines ofenterprise. The term characteristically refers to a powerfulentrepreneur andinvestor who controls, through personal enterprise ownership or a dominant shareholding position, a firm or industry whose goods or services are widely consumed. Such individuals have been known by different terms throughout history, such asrobber barons,captains of industry, moguls,oligarchs,plutocrats, ortai-pans.
The termmagnate derives from theLatin wordmagnates (plural ofmagnas), meaning "great man" or "great nobleman".
The termmogul is an English corruption ofmughal, Persian or Arabic for "Mongol". It alludes to emperors of theMughal Empire inEarly Modern India, who possessed great power and storied riches capable of producing wonders of opulence, such as theTaj Mahal.
The termtycoon derives from theJapanese wordtaikun (大君), which means "great lord", used as a title for theshōgun.[1][2] The word entered the English language in 1857[3] with the return ofCommodore Perry to the United States. US PresidentAbraham Lincoln was humorously referred to asthe Tycoon by his aidesJohn Nicolay andJohn Hay.[4] The term spread to the business community, where it has been used ever since.
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Modern business magnates are entrepreneurs that amass on their own or wield substantial family fortunes in the process of building or running their own businesses. Some are widely known in connection with these entrepreneurial activities, others through highly-visible secondary pursuits such asphilanthropy, political fundraising and campaign financing, and sports team ownership or sponsorship.
The termsmogul,tycoon, andbaron were often applied to late-19th- and early-20th-century North American business magnates inextractive industries such asmining,logging andpetroleum, transportation fields such asshipping andrailroads, manufacturing such asautomaking andsteelmaking, inbanking, as well as newspaper publishing. Their dominance was known as theSecond Industrial Revolution, theGilded Age, or theRobber Baron Era.
Examples of business magnates in the western world include historical figures such as pottery entrepreneurJosiah Wedgwood, oilmenJohn D. Rockefeller andFred C. Koch, automobile pioneerHenry Ford, aviation pioneerHoward Hughes, shipping and railroad veteransAristotle Onassis,Cornelius Vanderbilt,Leland Stanford,Jay Gould andJames J. Hill, steel innovatorAndrew Carnegie, newspaper publisherWilliam Randolph Hearst, poultry entrepreneurArthur Perdue, retail merchantSam Walton, and bankersJ. P. Morgan andMayer Amschel Rothschild. Contemporary industrial tycoons include e-commerce entrepreneurJeff Bezos, investorWarren Buffett, computer programmersBill Gates andPaul Allen, technology innovatorSteve Jobs, vacuum cleaner retailer SirJames Dyson, media proprietorsSumner Redstone,Ted Turner andRupert Murdoch, industrial entrepreneurElon Musk, steel investorLakshmi Mittal, telecommunications investorCarlos Slim, Virgin Group founder SirRichard Branson, Formula 1 executiveBernie Ecclestone, and internet entrepreneursLarry Page andSergey Brin.
Origin of TYCOON Japanese taikun
First Known Use: 1857