• Financial wizardry Financial wizardry Forbes magazine’s annual list of the world’s richest people includes – in addition to the usual software and investment tycoons, Saudi princes and Wal-Mart heirs and heiresses – a woman named Joanne Kathleen Rowling, who
• Financial wizardry
Financial wizardry
Forbes magazine’s annual list of the world’s richest people includes – in addition to the usual software and investment tycoons, Saudi princes and Wal-Mart heirs and heiresses – a woman named Joanne Kathleen Rowling, who 10 years ago was a single mother living on public assistance in a flat in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Today J.K. Rowling, 38, having written five “Harry Potter” novels and spun them into franchise gold, is worth slightly more than $1 billion, Forbes says, making her the 552nd-richest person in the world. Though we’re a tad envious, she richly deserves to reap the rewards of luring millions of young eyeballs away from PlayStation 2 and back to the printed page.
We like the idea that someone can pull herself up by her word processor. We also like her attitude, since we never heard Bill Gates say what Ms. Rowling said to Forbes: “I feel guilty. The rewards were disproportionate.”
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
