This story appears in the March 22, 2015 issue of Forbes. Subscribe
It's difficult enough to make a billion bucks - and even harder to earn it back once you have lost it. But several members of the Forbes Billionaires list have made a ten digit fortune not once but twice. Among them, Iceland's Thor Bjorgolfsson, who returns to the ranking this year for the first time since 2009. To learn how Thor earned it back, read Crazy Comeback: The Man Many Blamed For The Economic Meltdown Is A Billionaire Again. Here's how others did it:
U.S.
Net Worth: $4.1 Bil
The Donald shot to billionaire status in the 1980s as he borrowed big to finance ambitious real estate projects. His fortunes turned quickly with a 1990 real estate crash that sent him tumbling into debt and a negative net worth. But Trump kept building, and scraped his way back to billionaire status by 1997. He is now worth more than ever, thanks to trophy New York properties.
JAPAN
Net Worth: $1.95 Bil
College dropout founded mobile phone distributor Hikari Tsushin in 1988 at age 23. He made and lost $39 billion in four months during the dot-com craze of 2000. He reinvented himself as a medical insurance provider and returned as a billionaire in 2005.
U.S.
Net Worth: $1.2 Bil
Wild spending and a historic housing crash put 84 Lumber (a
U.S.
Net Worth: $1.7 Bil
Hunt and his brother Nelson Bunker Hunt invested heavily in silver in the 1970s, but as the commodity collapsed in the 1980s, Hunt slipped into bankruptcy. Hunt stayed in the oil game and in 2012 sold a chunk of his acreage for $1.5 billion. He returned to billionaire status in 2013.
U.S.
Net Worth: $1.2 Bil
Founder of Keurig Green Mountain Bob Stiller made a fortune selling coffee and K-cups, joining the three-comma club in 2011. His spending caught up with him: In 2012 he sold 5 million shares to pay off money he borrowed against his stock. Price gains made him a billionaire once more.
