Bhargava is not as well known as many of the other names on that list, but his approach to giving invites a closer look. Bhargava entered an exclusive strata of mega-wealth by taking this pledge, one in which philanthropy is the primary status symbol. The Giving Pledge is the Hall of Fame for rich people who want to look virtuous. 311) for the first time, and joined Mark Zuckerberg and Richard Branson as signees on Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates’s Giving Pledge, vowing to earmark the vast majority of his money for philanthropy. That year, he climbed onto the Forbes list of the 400 wealthiest people in the U.S. “I’m probably the wealthiest Indian in America,” Bhargava, in a typical flourish, told a Forbes reporter in 2012. The brand is so dominant among energy shots, it’s a near monopoly.ĥ-Hour Energy has made its creator, 64-year-old, Michigan-based, India-born entrepreneur Manoj Bhargava, tremendously wealthy. supermarkets, drugstores, mass-market retailers, gas/convenience stores, military commissaries, and select club and dollar retail chains. Red Bull might have flashier promos and more name recognition, but 5-Hour is a quiet titan of its industry.Īccording to IRI, a Chicago-based market-research firm, in the past year 5-Hour Energy has sold more than 271 million bottles, generated $1 billion in revenue, and accounted for 91 percent of the dollar share of the market, based on checkout data from U.S. The grabbable bottles and primo product placement - always right by the register at the convenience store by the highway or by the checkout at Wal-Mart or Target - have made the drink a staple for weary travelers looking for a legal upper. (“Five hours? That’s a weird amount of time!”) When a product is ubiquitous enough to land a Seinfeld whinge, it cannot possibly get more mainstream. Jerry Seinfeld called them “meth lab Hawaiian punch Jell-O shots” in a stand-up bit. They contain just four calories, an adorable number. They are lighter than a fat can of Monster, more convenient than waiting for coffee to brew. 5-Hour Energy shots are meant to be gulped, swallowed whole, their vaguely medicinal citrus tang traveling from lip to throat in seconds. It was an appropriate choice: I was headed to a research center funded by the eccentric creator of 5-Hour Energy. A few weeks ago, I pulled into a BP gas station somewhere around Kalamazoo to shake off the doldrums and grabbed a squat bottle of 5-Hour Energy from the small convenience store. Sloping, landfilled hills and bare trees are the most exotic things one sees. Driving through Southwest Michigan in February is the kind of road trip that makes a person want to nap.
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