American businessman David Howard Murdock has an estimated net worth of $2.4 billion as of March 2013 according to Forbes. Murdock amassed most of his net worth from his real estate investments and Dole.

David Murdock was born on April 11, 1923 in Montgomery Township, Ohio. After dropping out from high school, he was drafted by the U.S. Army to World War II. After moving to Arizona, he started his housing and commercial real estate business. Despite the collapse of the real estate industry in the 1960's, Murdock still continued making money by developing real estates.

It was in 1978 when he took over the International Mining. In early 1980's, he became Occidental Petroleum's largest shareholder. It was in 1985 when he took control of Castle & Cooke which was at that time at the verge of declaring for bankruptcy. Castle & Cooke owned Dole Food Company, a renowned banana and pineapple producer. Under his leadership, he was able to expand Castle & Cooke's portfolio into commercial and residential real estate properties while Dole became the largest producer of vegetables and fruits in the world. In 2003, Dole went private and today, it trades on the New York Stock Exchange. In addition to Dole and Castle & Cooke, David Murdock is also the owner of Pacific Clay.