The 25 richest self-made billionaires

Net worth: $19.7 billion

Age: 80

Country: Italy

Industry: Eyewear

Source of wealth: Self-made; Luxottica Group

Even at 80, Leonardo Del Vecchio still chairs Luxottica, the nearly $30 billion company he founded in 1961. The largest eyewear company on the planet, Luxottica not only owns Sunglass Hut, Ray-Ban, and Oakley, but manufacturers glasses for nearly every luxury brand out there, including Burberry, Chanel, Prada, and Versace.

Though Del Vecchio started Luxottica as a tiny one-room enterprise in Milan, it now operates 10 factories worldwide, employs 35,000 people, and produces more than 65,000 pairs of glasses per day, holding a veritable monopoly on the eyewear industry.

Del Vecchio isn’t all business, though. Last March, he showed his generous side by giving his Italian employees $10 million worth of sharesin the company to celebrate his 80th birthday.