The Faces Behind the World’s Most Valuable Brands

CEO of: Netflix
Net Worth: $40.8 million*

When Ted Sarandos was a kid, he’d spent hours watching classic TV shows like The Andy Griffith Show, The Jack Benny Program, and I Love Lucy. His family didn’t travel often, so Sarandos said that he saw the world “through books and movies and television.” When he was a teenager, he got a job at a video store, where he developed his knowledge of movies and TV.

Ted Sarandos ©Ernesto S. Ruscio / Gettyimages.com

Sarandos met Reed Hastings, the CEO of Netflix, in 1999. He went from a video store manager to a high-level executive at the streaming service. Sarandos is the CEO and Chief Content Officer of Netflix’s super-successful original programming. 

CEO of: McDonald’s
Net Worth: $17.5 million*

McDonald’s may have come into being due to the vision of one Ray Kroc, but is currently helmed by Chris Kempczinski. Kempczinski took over the CEO position in 2019, after a long career in different leadership roles in the food service industry. 

Chris Kempczinski - McDonald's @1bryant1r / Pinterest.com

Prior to his work at McDonald’s, Kempczinski worked at Pepsi in their corporate strategy department, as VP of marketing for non-carbonated beverages, and then had a stint at Kraft Foods as president of Kraft International.

CEO of: Oracle
Net Worth: $1.8 billion*

Safra Catz is one of two CEOs to take over the reins from Oracle founder and former-CEO Larry Ellison. Catz then shared the role with Mark Hurd for years until becoming the sole CEO after Hurd’s death. Like many others on this list, Catz is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania. 

Safra Catz - Oracle ©Justin Sullivan / Gettyimages.com

Born in Israel and then soon moving with her family to Brookline, Massachusetts, Safra Catz’s career didn’t follow the typical CEO trajectory. After receiving a JD from UPenn, she worked as a banker for many years and then became senior vice president of the investment bank, before joining Oracle’s board of directors in 2001.

CEO of: General Motors
Net Worth: $193 million*

As the first female CEO of any of the so-called “Big Three” automotive companies (comprising Ford, Chrysler, and GM in the United States), Mary Barra has shattered many a glass ceiling in her tenure as head of General Motors, a position she has served in since 2013. 

Mary Barra - General Motors ©Chesnot / Gettyimages.com

Another story of a CEO who worked their way up from within, Barra is a Michigan native who grew up around the industry. She went to the General Motors Institute for college, leaving the state only to get her MBA at Stanford before returning to work at General Motors.

CEO of: PayPal
Net Worth: $218 million*

Daniel H. Schulman has had a long career in finance. Before he was the CEO of the digital payment website Paypal, he was the Group President of Growth at American Express. At AmEx, Schulman was responsible for online payment services, new partnerships, and building new revenue streams.

Dan Schulman @thecoinshark / PInterest.com

Before finance, he was in the mobile sector of tech, working for Virgin Mobile and Sprint. Schulman became the CEO of PayPal in 2014, and the company has done even better since he took the helm. In the first quarter of 2021, PayPal announced that it had its strongest-ever financial results.  

CEO of: Apple
Net Worth: $1.4 billion*

Before Tim Cook became the well-known CEO of Apple, he was the COO under Steve Jobs, the co-founder of the tech giant. Apple’s valuation is in the high hundreds of billions, and it’s a company that just doesn’t seem capable of failing. Cook joined the tech venture in 1998 as a senior VP for worldwide operations.

Tim Cook ©John Gress Media Inc / Shutterstock.com

He then was the executive VP for worldwide operations and sales, working his way off. After Jobs passed in October of 2011, Cook was made the CEO. In 2014, he became the first CEO of a Fortune 500 company to come out publicly as gay.

CEO of: Coca-Cola
Net Worth: $39.2 million*

The London-born James Quincey is now an all-American businessman, taking over as CEO of a company as American as apple pie, Coca-Cola, in December of 2016. Quincey has worked at Coca-Cola since way back in 1996. 

James Quincey - Coca Cola @ThedailyNG / Twitter.com

Surprisingly, Quincey studied electrical engineering at the University of Liverpool, veering away from his college major with his first career at Bain & Company. Then he joined Coca-Cola in ‘96, living in Latin America to work for their international departments before working his way up to CEO from the inside. 

CEO of: Home Depot
Net Worth: $119 million*

Craig Menear is both the CEO and chairman of Home Depot, a home improvement chain that has over 2,200 stores and more than 400,000 sales associates to its name. Menear is a good CEO, and the brand has been on the rise since he took over.

Craig Menear @RIVERSARTWORKS Pinterest.com

Menear gets paid good money to lead Home Depot, and his compensation is around $10.9 million a year, making him the highest-paid executive at the company. Menear, a Flint, Michigan native, learned his business savvy from the Eli Broad College of Business. His first job was as a sales associate at a department store chain called Montgomery Ward.

CEO of: Bang & Olufsen
Net Worth: $3.9 million per year in salary*

Bang & Olufsen is a high-end, Danish consumer electronics company that makes audio products, phones, and TV sets. It was founded in the early 1920s by Svend Olufsen and Peter Bang, and it became famous for designing a radio with an alternating current. The invention was revolutionary at a time when most radios ran on batteries.

Kristian Teär @TheRakeMagazine / Twitter.com

Fast-forward nearly a century, and the high-end company is run by Kristian Tear. Tear has been the CEO of Bang & Olufsen since 2019, and he owns 188,000 shares of the company. Tear replaced Henrik Clausen as the leader of the upscale tech company.

CEO of: AT&T
Net Worth: $30.6 million*

John T. Stankey is a savvy businessman, recognized the world over for his impressive tenure as CEO of AT&T, making major moves since he assumed the role for the second time in the summer of 2020. When he held the role for the first time, AT&T acquired both Time Warner and DirecTV. 

John T. Stankey - AT&T ©Jim Spellman / Gettyimages.com

Stankey grew up in Los Angeles, California, graduating from Loyola Marymount University and then UCLA for business school. After making major acquisitions as the head of AT&T Entertainment Group, he went on to become CEO of WarnerMedia, before returning to AT&T in 2020. 

CEO of: Gucci
Net Worth: $8 million per year in salary*

Italian business executive Marco Bizzarri has worked with a lot of high-end fashion brands, including Stella McCartney and Bottega Venetta. He was the CEO of both of those brands from 2005 to 2008 and 2009 to 2014, respectively.

Marco Bizzarri ©Tristan Fewings / Gettyimages.com

Now, Bizzarri is the CEO of Gucci. He was named CEO in 2014, and his first move was to name a twelve-year Gucci employee, Alessandro Michele, to Creative Director. Michele renewed the brand’s popularity with “geek chic props.” Bizzarri’s other changes included cross-gendered collections, banning markdown policies and fur, and boosting Gucci’s business strategy. In a few short years, Bizzarri has turned Gucci back into a success story.

CEO of: YouTube
Net Worth: $815 million*

Susan Wojcicki is the CEO of YouTube, but she’s been in the tech industry for more than twenty years. She was part of the founding of Google, becoming the first Marketing Manager of the company in 1999. Later, Wojcicki led Google’s online advertising business before she became the head of the tech giant’s Original Video Service.

Susan Wojcicki @kadrigbemisola / Pinterest.com

When Wojcicki observed how successful YouTube was, she proposed to Google executives that the company buy YouTube. In 2006, the transaction was complete and, eight years later, Wojcicki became the CEO of the video platform. The executive has an impressive net worth of $815 million.  

CEO of: Disney
Net Worth: $5 million*

Bob Chapek is the CEO of Disney, one of the largest companies on Earth. Pretty much everyone knows what Disney is, and Chapek was a huge fan of the company as a kid. His family took yearly trips to Walt Disney World when he was growing up. Before Chapek joined Disney, he was part of the H.J. Heinz Company.

Bob Chapek @disneytap / PInterest.com

Chapek went from ketchup to Mickey Mouse in 1993. He began in the company’s Home Entertainment division before becoming the chairman of Disney’s Park, Experiences, & Products wing. On February 25, 2020, Chapek was named the CEO of Disney, a reward for his twenty-six-year-long career with the corporation.

CEO of: Google
Net Worth: $1.3 billion*

While many of us use Google every single day, few actually know that its CEO is Sundar Pichai. Pichai became CEO of Google, and soon took over as CEO of the newly formed holding company, Alphabet. 

Sundar Pichai - Google ©Ron Jenkins / Gettyimages.com

Named one of TIME Magazine’s most influential people in both 2016 and 2020, he is at the helm of one of the most influential companies in the world, not just in the United States. Another story of a CEO who worked their way up internally, Pichai started with Google back in 2004.