Don Vultaggio

Growing up in Brooklyn, he was always a head taller than his peers, a size-12 shoe by age 12. When he started brewing beer in the 1980s, he stirred up publicity with racy posters and a malt liquor named after the Sioux warrior Crazy Horse that ended up being banned by Congress following protests by Native American groups. Then he jumped into the ready-to-drink tea industry in the early 1990s. His innovation—a 24-ounce tallboy can of iced tea, dressed in flamboyant pastels and priced at just 99 cents—was bigger, bolder and a better bargain than the competition. It was a hit. And he hardly spent a dollar on advertising. Last year Arizona sold more than 3 billion containers of the stuff—an estimated $1.2 billion worth of Lemon Tea, Green Tea, Arnold Palmer Half & Half and 85 other varieties of teas, juices, waters and beers. That kind of scale makes Arizona the second-largest ready-to-drink tea brand in America, behind only Lipton. It also makes Vultaggio—who owns 100% of the company with his two sons—a billionaire, worth an estimated $3 billion, enough to rank No. 264 on this year's Forbes 400. Other than its colorful cans, the company might be best known for the nearly decade-long bare-knuckle legal brawl between Vultaggio and John Ferolito, his friend and 50% partner for 40 years. Meanwhile, competitors like Gold Peak and Pure Leaf have elbowed their way in, grabbing market share while Arizona tried to get its house in order.