Not Just Elon Musk, Here Are 5 Other Businessmen Who Own Or Have A Town Named After Them

Last week, it was reported that the world¡¯s second-richest person, Elon Musk, and his companies have been acquiring thousands of acres of land in Texas, a state in the US. This is being done because the billionaire hopes to own a town of his own where his employees could live and work.

Elon Musk's Own Town

indiatimes

While Elon Musk remains busy with building a town of his own, which is reportedly being named Snailbrook, an apparent reference to the mascot of Musk¡¯s tunnelling firm, the Boring Company, not many are aware that he is neither the first nor the only businessman to do so.

If and when the town gets ready under his ownership, Musk wouldn¡¯t be the first person seeking to play god over an entire piece of land.

5 Businessmen Who Own Or Have A Town Named After Them

1. Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata

tata group

The city of Jamshedpur in the state of Jharkhand was named after Indian industrialist Jamshedji Nusserwanji Tata, who founded the city in 1919 and was also the founder of the Tata Group.

Jamshedji Tata is regarded as the legendary "Father of Indian Industry". He was so influential in the world of industry that former Indian PM Jawaharlal Nehru referred to Tata as a One-Man Planning Commission.

Known as a pioneer and a visionary, Jamsetji Tata sowed the seeds for the Tata group in the year 1868 and went on to remain its chairman till his death in 1904, during which he established the JN Tata Endowment in 1892 for his workers' welfare, and also built the iconic Taj Mahal Hotel in 1903.

Click here to know more about his story.

2. Les Wexner

AP

Victoria¡¯s Secret billionaire Les Wexner built up New Albany, Ohio, from a tiny community outside of Columbus into one of the state¡¯s toniest addresses.

Wexner landed in New Albany in the late 1980s while driving around looking for a place to build his country home. At the time, it was just ¡°a community of plain topography,¡± he told Bloomberg in 2019. He started out buying 30 acres, and eventually acquired 10,000 ¡ª the entire town and then some. He assembled a team of architects and landscapers, and spent Saturday mornings designing his vision, as per a Bloomberg report.

Today, New Albany has a population of nearly 11,000, with a median household income of more than $200,000 ¡ª almost three times that of the US as a whole. Each red-brick Georgian home is nearly identical to the next and the copper street lamps are handmade on Martha¡¯s Vineyard, Massachusetts. Wexner still lives there, in a 60,000-square-foot (5,575-square-meter) mansion.

3. Larry Ellison

AFP

In 2012, Oracle Corp's co-founder Larry Ellison bought up 98% of Lanai, a Hawaiian island that¡¯s home to roughly 3,000 people. Practically overnight, he became nearly every resident¡¯s boss, landlord or both.

Ellison has reportedly renovated the hotels that drive the island¡¯s economy, created a new wellness company with a resort and is building a five-house complex for his personal use.

It was reported last year that tech billionaire Larry Ellison¡¯s purchase of a Hawaiian island has made life so expensive in the tropical paradise that families who had been living there for generations have been forced to leave as they can't afford to live there anymore.

4. Rai Bahadur Gujar Mal Modi

modicare.com

The town of Modinagar in UP was named after Rai Bahadur Gujar Mal Modi, who founded the town in 1933 and also established the Modi Group of Industries.

In the 1930s, from being called ¡®dirty Indian¡¯ by an Englishman, to being banished from the state of Patiala for refusing alcohol (a glass of wine), it all happened with Gujarmal Modi.

But little did anyone know that these events proved to be a boon for him. Gujarmal Modi went on to co-establish the Modi Group of companies as well as the industrial city of Modinagar in the year 1933.

Click here to know more about his story.

5. Brunello Cucinelli

fashionnetwork

In Italy, luxury magnate Brunello Cucinelli is a lord-like figure in Solomeo, which is a picturesque Umbrian village where his apparel company is headquartered. The town, as per the report, was semi-abandoned when Cucinelli bought its medieval castle from its absentee owner in 1987.

He moved his company headquarters there and set about buying and renovating the surrounding 12th-century buildings. The commune now hosts his corporate campus, a school for artisans, an open-air theatre and a library heavy on his favourite philosophers, like Kant and Ruskin.

¡°I wanted to be a guardian,¡± Cucinelli revealed in 2015. ¡°Someone who basically spent his life in this very tiny corner of the world and embellished, restored, and built something new.¡±

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