Russ Weiner

For Weiner, who reportedly owned 85% of Rockstar, the PepsiCo deal was the culmination of an "American dream" that began in 2001 when he took a job at a vodka maker after losing a bid for California's State Senate. Weiner mortgaged his condo in the suburbs of San Francisco and relied on help from his family to launch the company and has since built a $4 billion fortune. Russ Weiner's Rockstar energy drinks was a rocket for the first six years of its existence, a cheaper alternative to Red Bull, offering more flavors. Over the last seven years it has been stuck in an orbit that Weiner can't seem to blast out of. A major reason: He has starved the company of resources. It is a distant third player behind Red Bull and Monster Beverage, which started a year after Rockstar, in 2002, by fellow billionaires Rodney Sacks and Hilton Schlosberg. Weiner, who operates as an absentee landlord from his houses in Florida and California and seldom comes into the office, has restricted Rockstar's marketing to a narrow focus. It sponsors music festivals and low-tier extreme sports, and spends just an estimated 3% of revenue on marketing, while Monster puts in 8%. Weiner disputes Forbes' valuation, characterization of his business and the horror stories his past employees recount (firings ordered on Christmas Eve, to start). "Character assassination," he says. Weiner is one of two children of far-right talk radio host Michael Weiner, who goes by Michael Savage online. Both of Weiner's parents helped him found Rockstar, and Weiner's connection to Savage has kept some store owners from carrying Rockstar. Weiner's mother Janet is Rockstar's CFO and owns 15% of the company. Janet Weiner plans to use her portion of the windfall from the PepsiCo sale to "devote her life to helping animals through animal rescues." Weiner attended San Diego State University and graduated with a Bachelor's degree in political science. He ran for a seat in the California State Assembly in 1998. Then 28 years old, Weiner ran on a conservative platform and only garnered 30.5% of the vote. Skyy Vodka founder Maurice Kanbar was impressed with Weiner's performance on the campaign trail and gave the future billionaire a job at his company. Kanbar was also a friend of Weiner's father. Forbes added Weiner to its Billionaires List in 2015, when he had a net worth of $2.1 billion. The magazine currently estimates that Weiner is worth $4 billion, and placed him as No. 195 on the Forbes 400.