What Are ‘Stealthy Wealthy’ Entrepreneurs? Meet the 1 Percenters Hiding in Plain Sight
20th May 2025
Despite the millions of dollars some business owners earn each year to become part of the nation’s 1 percent—or, in some cases, 0.1 percent—those individuals aren’t associated with the flashiness and glitter that Jeff Bezos, George Clooney, or top Goldman Sachs executives are. Instead, these entrepreneurs represent the “stealthy wealthy” who build their fortunes by turning bland business activities into potent, albeit discreet money-making machines, according to the Wall Street Journal.
“The road to riches is paved with cup holders, burgers and miles of elementary school carpeting,” the Journal said in a story profiling prospering founders whose styles and success are far more Buffet (Warren) than Kardashian (take your pick).
Why focus on relatively rare entrepreneurs who’ve wound up becoming millionaires? Because statistically speaking, the Journal says, those owners of thriving small and medium-sized regional businesses are the “largest source of income for the 1 one highest earners in the U.S.”