We created a poll at YoungEntrepreneur to determine who is the top celebrity entrepreneur. There has been much discussion as to American Idol’s Simon Cowell and whether he deserves to top the list as an entrepreneur.

So far the top vote getters are Simon Cowell, Bill Gates, Donald Trump, and Richard Branson.

Here is how Wikipedia introduces our top four:

Simon Phillip Cowell (born 7 October 1959) is an Emmy-nominated English artist and repertoire (”A&R”) executive for Sony BMG in the United Kingdom and a television producer, more commonly known as a judge on television programmes such as Pop Idol, The X Factor, American Idol and Britain’s Got Talent. He is also the owner of the television production and music publishing house Syco.

William Henry Gates III (born 28 October 1955) is an American entrepreneur, software executive, philanthropist and chairman of Microsoft, the software company he founded with Paul Allen. During his career at Microsoft he has held the positions of CEO and chief software architect, and he remains the largest individual shareholder with more than 9 percent of the common stock.

Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946 in Queens, New York, New York, United States) is an American business executive, entrepreneur, television and radio personality and author. He is the CEO of Trump Organization, an American-based real estate developer, and the founder of Trump Entertainment, which operates several casinos. He received a great deal of publicity following the success of his reality television show, The Apprentice (in which he serves as both executive producer and host for the show). He is the son of Fred Trump who was a wealthy real estate developer based in New York City.

Richard Branson (born 18 July 1950) is an English entrepreneur, best known for his Virgin brand of over 360 companies. Branson’s first successful business venture was at age 15, when he published a magazine called Student. He then set up a record mail-order business in 1970. In 1972, he opened a chain of record stores, Virgin Records, later known as Virgin Megastores and rebranded as zavvi in late 2007. With his flamboyant and competitive style, Branson’s Virgin brand grew rapidly during the 1980s - as he set up Virgin Atlantic Airways and expanded the Virgin Records music label.Honorable mention so far in the poll goes to:

• Warren Buffet
• Ted Turner
• Mary Kate and Ashley
• Morgan Freeman
• Robert Redford
• Prince
• Steve Jobs
• Oprah Winfrey
• Michael Dell
• Jay-Z
• Sean Combs
• Simon Fuller
• 50 cent
• Robert Kiyosaki
• Robert Allen
• Gene Simmons

Do you have a favorite celebrity entrepreneur? Vote for them in our poll to help us determine who is the top celebrity entrepreneur!

Evan Carmichael
YoungEntrepreneur.com Blog Manager

Did you enjoy this article? If so, then subscribe to our RSS Feed.