Adelson was born to a poor Jewish family. He sold newspapers at age 12. The following years, he worked as a mortgage broker. To this point , Adelson has created and developed to maturity more than 50 different companies. He is a property developer and public company CEO based in Las Vegas, Nevada. Adelson is the 6th richest person and the third richest American in the world, with a net worth estimated at US $26.5 billion in 2007. Forbes estimates he has been earning about $1 million an hour for the past two years.