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Frank Stronach. I'm sure you know the name, but what about the man ?
Well, I bet you know this - he's rich - a billionaire, in fact. And he founded Magna International, a worldwide auto parts company, headquarters right here in Canada.
Frank was born in Austria, and grew up during the depression and the Second World War. At fourteen, he dropped out of school, to train as a tool and die apprentice. But life was tough. So, in 1954 at twenty-two years old, Frank got on a boat, left Austria with a one way ticket, and came to Canada, with forty dollars.
At first, he worked any job he could get, before opening a tool and die shop in Toronto. A couple years in, Frank scored his first auto parts contract, supplying three hundred thousand sun visor brackets for GM. Over the next fifty years, he turned Magna into a global empire, selling about twenty billion dollars worth of parts.
Now, he has a new plan. Stronach is giving up full control of Magna. As part of the deal, he'll lead a new Magna division that will focus on developing electric cars.
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