Born in 1935, Kenneth Langone is a venture capitalist, investment banker and the financial force behind The Home Depot home improvement chain. Langone is also a former director of the New York Stock Exchange. With a net worth estimated at about 1.3 billion dollars Langone was elected Chairman of the Board of Directors of Geeknet in 2010 and is now its CEO.
Langone’s background is modest. His father was a plumber and his mother was a worker in a cafeteria, and took on odd jobs as a ditch digger, caddy and butcher’s assistant as he worked he way through Bucknell University. While working full time during the day Langone went to New York University Stern School of Business at night. Today that part-time evening program is called the “Langone Program” at NYU.
Langone’s first venture after graduating NYU was the IPO deal he arranged for Ross Perot’s company Electroni Data Systems. Over the next decade Langone began to learn about the home improvement industry, and purchased stock in the home improvement chain Handy Dan. This led to the meeting of Langone with Arthur Blank and Bernard Marcus. When Blank and Marcus were fired from Handy Dan in 1978, Langone helped organize the financial backing of the launching of Home Depot. Today Blank, Marcus and Langone are all billionaires, and Home Depot employs over 300,000 people in over 640 stores. Langone’s backing of Home Depot is his most impressive business venture.
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