Billionaires are a dime a dozen in this day and age. In 2021 alone, there were a total of 3,311 billionaires in the world. These people also hold up 11% of the world’s wealth. However, only a portion of the wealthy are self-made billionaires. Most of them come from generational wealth, with businesses and investments passed down from ancestor to ancestor.

An even smaller percentage of these billionaires are women. Many of them are heiresses to their family’s fortune, and only 11 of them are self-made. Now that is a glass ceiling that’s tough to crack. Today, we’ll talk about one self-made billionaire, Diane Hendricks. The 72-year-old embodies the definition of a strong, independent woman. Diane’s current net worth stands at $7 billion, making her the wealthiest self-made female billionaire in the US. Curious to see how she managed to amass such fortune? Keep on reading to find out!

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Diane Hendricks As A Daughter Of A Simple Dairy Farmer

Diane Hendricks was born and raised in a small town in Wisconsin. She was the daughter of simple dairy farmers. In a previous interview, Diane described her experience growing up on a farm. She said that watching her parents work on their dairy farm helped establish her work ethic. Diane got pregnant at 17 while she was still a senior in high school. At 21 years old, Diane divorced her husband and persevered as a single mom. She worked odd jobs for a while before pursuing a real estate license.

It had been ten years since she divorced her first husband when she met Ken Hendricks. The couple met in 1975, while Diane was selling custom-built houses and Ken was a roofing contractor. They married and started a business together. In 1982, Diane and Ken co-founded ABC Supply, a company that sells roofing, gutters, and sidings for buildings. Little did they know that the humble shingle supply company they started is now the largest roofing distributor in America.

The Business That Made Her The Richest Self-Made Billionaire

Young with a head full of dreams, American businesswoman Diane Hendricks continued to follow her passions. In an interview, Diane mentioned that some of her dreams were simple, such as moving to a bigger city or wearing a suit to work every day. She also developed a strong love for business when she got a job on the assembly line of Parker Pen. Three months later, she resigned and found a job selling new homes. Not long after that, Diane met her husband, Ken Hendricks.

The pair got married in the 1970s and have seven children together. As mentioned above, they built ABC Supply from the ground up. By 1994, the modest shingle supplier had evolved into a major supply company with over 100 locations in the US. A couple of years after that, ABC Supply had more than $1 billion in annual revenue.

However, in 2007, Ken Hendricks met an untimely death when he accidentally fell through the roof of his house in Wisconsin. Diane was left with no choice but to spearhead the business she shared with her late husband. She mentioned in another interview that she worked out of her house for the first year after Ken’s death. Diane also ventured into other projects, such as revitalizing Beloit, a small town located on the border of Wisconsin and Illinois.

Diane spent millions to change the small town, even going so far as to build a luxurious and stunning mall, purchase a country club, and renovate and buy abandoned buildings and other properties in the area. However, this move met some resistance and backlash. A past video showed Diane and then-Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker discussing a plan to divide and conquer various unions in the state. At this point, it was revealed that Diane did not pay her state income tax from 2012 until 2014. Reports also stated that Diane didn’t owe money in state taxes in 2010. However, this instance isn’t necessarily illegal as per legal experts.

If anything, this scandal just propelled Diane to continue growing her company. She continued to grow their life’s work and even led ABC to make two of the biggest acquisitions in the company’s history. Because of Diane’s determination and leadership, the company acquired its rival Bradco in 2010, and building materials distributor L&W in 2016.

Because of this career move, one of the biggest corporations ABC Supply went from earning $3 billion per year in revenue, to $9 billion annually. Diane said that she became more selective about the acquisitions and focused on capital repairs instead of capital replacements. The company also grew bigger in numbers. In 2021, it was reported that ABC Supply now had over 800 branches in 49 states in the US and nearly $15 billion in annual revenues.

Diane Hendricks’ Other Business Ventures

Diane used her wealth to invest in other projects aside from real estate and buying rival companies. She helped start the Beloit International Film Festival in an effort to further refine the town of Beloit. The wealthy 71-year-old has since produced three films since starting the film festival over a decade ago.

Diane is also a well-known philanthropist. She is a regular donor to WisconsinEye, a nonprofit private-public affairs cable network. Diane has also served on the board of trustees of Beloit College.

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Sources: CNBC, Forbes, Business Insiders, 

 

 

 

 

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