4. Andrew Carnegie: $ 310 billion (293 billion euros)
Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist naturalized, it is one of the leading players in the development of the steel industry in the United States in the late nineteenth century. The success of his company, Carnegie Steel, is mainly linked to its ability to produce in large quantities and at low prices railroad rails, the high demand at that time. He founded in 1865 including the Keystone Bridge Company that is causing the Eads Bridge. He also participates in the manufacture of railway material with the Pittsburgh Locomotive and Car Works. In 1901, for the sum of 480 million dollars, he sold his patent rights to a group of financiers led by JP Morgan, which is at the time a record for a commercial transfer. It is called the richest man in the world and becomes the perfect embodiment of the American dream.
We remember especially Andrew Carnegie as a benefactor and philanthropist. Until his death in 1919, has left more than 350 million US dollars to various foundations, and the last 30 million of his fortune remaining at his death bequeathed to various charities.