We all love stories about scrappy underdogs who overcome the odds and make it big through relentless hard work, unwavering grit, and sheer force of will. However, the stories about how some of the richest and most powerful people made their millions (and billions) are too romanticized and gloss over some very important details.
That’s the point that Aidan Smith made in a viral Twitter thread where he explained how Jeff Bezos and others had a huge leg-up when it came to helping lay the foundations of their business empires. Namely—having families with lots of money.
Aidan told Bored Panda that the US isn't the only country where a lot of people believe myths about businessmen while the truth is a Google search away. "It's far from a U.S.-exclusive phenomenon, but in America, it's easier for most people to imagine becoming a billionaire themselves than it is to imagine an economic order in which a handful of people own half the world's wealth. Social mobility from working-class to middle-class is increasingly out of reach and the illusion that one can conceivably amass a net worth of over a billion dollars is a comforting fantasy for many people." Scroll down for the rest of the interview.
Jon Erlichman posted how Jeff Bezos founded Amazon in his garage, suggesting that he was a self-made billionaire
Image credits: JonErlichman
Image credits: JonErlichman
However, Aidan Smith pointed out that Bezos' parents invested more than 245k dollars into Amazon to help him out
Image credits: AidanSmith2020
Aidan then went on to explain how other famous billionaires had a lot of help because they had wealthy and powerful family members. Here's what he said about Bill Gates
Image credits: AidanSmith2020
Image credits: AidanSmith2020
Image credits: AidanSmith2020
This is what Aidan said about Warren Buffett
Image credits: AidanSmith2020
Image credits: AidanSmith2020
Mark Zuckerberg might not be who he is today without the expensive tuition he received
Image credits: AidanSmith2020
Image credits: AidanSmith2020
Image credits: AidanSmith2020
Image credits: AidanSmith2020
Aidan then talked about the Waltons and the Kochs
Image credits: AidanSmith2020
Not to mention how Kylie Jenner is far from the self-made billionaire some claim her to be
Image credits: AidanSmith2020
The moral of the story is that people shouldn't beat themselves up for being poor because a lot of very successful people had financial help and support
Aidan told us that he has a decent-sized following and is used to his posts going moderately viral. "But I'm pleasantly surprised by how much of an impact this tweet in particular had."
According to him, believing that certain famous billionaires are self-made when they might not be is harmful for a variety of reasons. "For one, even in the rare cases in which people from working-class backgrounds amass exorbitant wealth, it's still not 'self-made' given that amassing wealth on that scale will always have come from ruthless exploitation of others."
While Bezos may have started Amazon in his parents’ garage when he was 30, people tend to focus on this part, not the fact that his parents invested 245,573 dollars in Amazon in 1995, nor that Bezos worked in Wall Street before committing to Amazon.
Bloomberg found that if Bezos’ parents kept all of their holdings in the company, their shares would have been worth around 30 billion dollars in 2018.
As of now, it’s unclear how much of the stock Jackie and Mike Bezos still own. They could secretly be among the world’s wealthiest 30 people (possibly even ahead of Elon Musk at the time).
Bezos and others might be successful, talented, dedicated, and not afraid to take risks (nobody is trying to diminish their accomplishments or effort) but they’re not entirely self-made.
Aidan’s thread definitely got the internet’s attention: it got more than 489k likes, nearly 150k retweets, and started a discussion.
Some people were surprised to learn some of the things that Aidan shared on Twitter. Others fully agreed with his message. Meanwhile, some Twitter users questioned why people are getting upset at people becoming successful, even if they did use their parents’ money. To which some internet users responded that fake underdog stories lead to poor people being told it’s their own fault for not becoming rich.
People had different opinions after reading Aidan's posts. Some thought that success is success no matter what while others agreed with Aidan's ideas
Image credits: Landoooo15
Image credits: _txniz
Image credits: AcmeDarryl
Image credits: Mitochondria95
Image credits: GDGivens
Image credits: d_veebee
Image credits: masonfl
Image credits: David_MuellerMO
Image credits: ocgeorge_
Image credits: AndBuyWolfCola
Image credits: maskedwinemaker
Image credits: MallowyGoodness