Beanie Billionaire

Karen Blumenthal, Wall Street Journal

If you were or had a child growing up in the '90s, chances are good that you still have a Beanie Baby or two somewhere in your house. We have a plastic bin full of them. The man who created them, Ty Warner, was always very secretive about himself and his company, but that's all over now. Once you end up in court, as Warner did for tax evasion, your life's pretty much an open book, so we now know, for example, that he apparently had a very difficult childhood and that he worked as a busboy, bellman, car parker, and door-to-door salesman, among other things, before finding his calling: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-01-03/reclusive-beanie-babies-creator-goes-to-court-is-forced-to-talk-about-himself#r=hpt-ls