One grew up in an Edinburgh tenement delivering milk before sunrise. The other grew up at a Houston dinner table where the conversation never left the stock market. Here is the complete picture of both men.
Sean Connery grew up delivering milk to a school gate in Edinburgh before he was ten. Michael Dell grew up at a dinner table in Houston where his parents debated oil prices and which stocks to buy. Both became famous for what they built in their respective fields. The money each directed toward education and philanthropy is the part of both stories that rarely gets the same attention.
Connery’s milk round included Fettes College, the Edinburgh boarding school Ian Fleming later chose as James Bond’s fictional alma mater. Connery played Bond seven times. In no recorded interview did he mention making that delivery.
Dell enrolled at the University of Texas at Austin in 1983 and had cleared $80,000 in sales from his dorm room by the end of his freshman year. He dropped out in 1984 at nineteen, founded PCs Limited with $1,000 in startup capital, and spent the next four decades building one of the largest technology companies on earth.
Table of Contents
Quick Facts: Michael Dell and Sean Connery
| Michael Dell | Sean Connery | |
|---|---|---|
| Born | February 23, 1965, Houston, Texas | August 25, 1930, Edinburgh, Scotland |
| Died | Living | October 31, 2020, Lyford Cay, Bahamas (aged 90) |
| Net Worth | ~$140B to $150B (2026) | ~$350 million (at death) |
| Known For | Founder and CEO, Dell Technologies | Actor; original James Bond in seven films |
| Career Milestone | $113.5B revenue, FY2026 | Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, 1988 |
| Spouse | Susan Lieberman (married 1989) | Micheline Roquebrune (married 1975) |
| Primary Home | Austin, Texas | Lyford Cay, Nassau, Bahamas |
| Largest Donation | $6.25 billion pledge, December 2025 | Entire Diamonds Are Forever fee, 1971 |
Who Was Sean Connery?
Thomas Sean Connery was born on August 25, 1930, in Fountainbridge, Edinburgh. His family’s flat had no electricity and no hot water. His father drove a lorry and spent most of what he earned on drink. Connery’s first bed was the bottom drawer of a dresser. Locals called the neighborhood “the street of a thousand smells,” after the paper mills and breweries pressing in from both sides.
“We were very poor, but I never knew how poor because that’s how everyone was there.” — Sean Connery
He left school in his early teens and worked a series of jobs before enlisting in the Royal Navy. A duodenal ulcer ended his service. In 1953, at 22, he placed third in the Mr. Universe competition. A casting director noticed him shortly after. His film career followed.
His first Bond film, Dr. No, paid $16,000 in 1962. His deal for Diamonds Are Forever nine years later entered the Guinness World Records.
Sean Connery’s Bond Salary, Film by Film
| Film | Year | Fee |
|---|---|---|
| Dr. No | 1962 | $16,000 |
| From Russia with Love | 1963 | $154,000 |
| Goldfinger | 1964 | $500,000 |
| You Only Live Twice | 1967 | ~$1 million |
| Diamonds Are Forever | 1971 | $1.25M + 12.5% of gross receipts (Guinness World Record deal) |
| Never Say Never Again | 1983 | $3 million |
He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for The Untouchables at the 60th Academy Awards in April 1988. His fee for the decade that followed reached between $10 million and $20 million per film.
In 1999, he earned $20 million for Entrapment and was named Sexiest Man of the Century by People magazine. That same year, he turned down the role of Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings. The offer was $10 million per film plus 15% of gross receipts across all three pictures. He said he could not follow the script. Published estimates of what he walked away from ran to close to $450 million.
Queen Elizabeth II knighted him at Holyrood Palace on July 5, 2000. His final film, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, came out in 2003. He retired from acting in 2006 following kidney surgery.
Connery died on October 31, 2020, in his sleep at his home in Lyford Cay, Nassau, Bahamas. He was 90. Cause of death: respiratory failure, complicated by pneumonia and atrial fibrillation. His estate was valued at approximately $350 million.
Who Is Michael Dell?
Michael Dell was born on February 23, 1965, in Houston, Texas. His father was an orthodontist and his mother was a stockbroker. At eight, he tried to take a high school equivalency exam to skip the grades he found unnecessary. At twelve, he made $18,000 in a summer selling newspaper subscriptions. At fifteen, he bought an Apple II computer and immediately took it apart.
He enrolled at the University of Texas at Austin in 1983 as a pre-med student and was selling custom-built PC upgrade kits from his dorm room within weeks. By the end of his freshman year, sales had reached $80,000. He called home in 1984 and told his parents he was leaving.
“I’ve been fascinated with the idea of eliminating unnecessary steps,” he wrote later in Direct from Dell, his 1999 business memoir. He had $1,000 in startup capital for the company he was formalizing.
He founded PCs Limited that year, later renamed Dell Computer Corporation and eventually Dell Technologies. The company went public in 1988. By 1992, at 27, Dell was the youngest CEO in Fortune 500 history.
He stepped down as CEO in 2004 and returned in 2007. In 2013, he took the company private for $24.4 billion, the largest management buyout since the Great Recession. In 2016, Dell Technologies acquired EMC Corporation for $67 billion, the largest technology deal in history to that point. The company went public again in December 2018.
Dell Technologies posted $113.5 billion in revenue for FY2026. As of 2026, the founder and CEO of Dell Technologies holds a net worth of approximately $140 billion to $150 billion, according to Bloomberg and Forbes tracking. He holds roughly 58.9% of the company.
Real Estate: Two Portfolios, Different Continents
Sean Connery’s Properties
Connery purchased “Out of Bounds” at Lyford Cay, Nassau, Bahamas in 1983 using his earnings from Never Say Never Again. He lived there for 37 years and died there in October 2020. Lyford Cay is a gated private estate on the western tip of New Providence Island; historical residents have included Henry Ford II, Prince Rainier III of Monaco, and members of the Bacardi family.
Other properties he held at various points in his life:
- Villa Roc Fleuri, Nice, France — A 1930 Art Deco villa in the Mont Boron district, Connery’s home with Micheline Roquebrune during the 1970s and 1980s. It was used as a filming location for Never Say Never Again in 1983. Connery sold the property before his death. A separate buyer purchased it in 2015, spent significantly on renovation, and listed it at €18.5 million in May 2026. That listing remains active and is handled by the current owner, not by Connery’s estate.
- Domaine de Terre Blanche, Tourrettes, France — A château Connery bought in 1979 and held for approximately two decades. He sold it to German billionaire Dietmar Hopp in the late 1990s. Hopp converted the estate into the Terre Blanche Hotel Spa Golf Resort, which still operates today.
- Casa Malibu, Marbella, Spain — Held for approximately 20 years and sold in 1999 for approximately €6.4 million.
Michael Dell’s Properties
- “The Castle,” Lake Austin, Texas — A 33,000 sq ft compound on 10 acres, completed in 1996. His primary residence.
- One57, New York City — Purchased in 2014 for $100.47 million, the most expensive residential sale in New York City history at the time. Dell’s identity was kept off the deed for four years. The building’s management reportedly did not know who owned the penthouse.
- “Raptor Residence,” Kukio, Kona Coast, Hawaii — A 4.3-acre compound with 18,500 sq ft of living space on the Big Island
- Four Seasons Private Residences, Boston — Purchased for approximately $40 million
- 6D Ranch, west of Houston — Thousands of acres used for family retreats and recreational hunting, with a working stable of Arabian horses
What Connery and Dell Gave Away
In 1971, Sean Connery received his largest Bond fee, a deal structured as $1.25 million upfront plus 12.5% of gross receipts, unusual enough to be recorded in the Guinness World Records. He signed his entire fee over to a charity he had just co-founded with Jackie Stewart: the Scottish International Education Trust (SIET), set up to fund working-class Scottish students at post-graduate level. The donation came years before his per-film fee reached eight figures.
The Trust has operated continuously since 1971. According to its own published records, it has spent more than $3 million supporting over 1,000 Scottish students across 300 institutions in 50 countries.
Connery’s charitable work extended beyond the SIET:
- He founded Friends of Scotland, an annual benefit that directed funds to the Wounded Warrior Project, Paralyzed Veterans of America, and the Erskine Hospital
- He joined the International Advisory Board of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society in 2011
In October 2022, his family launched The Sean Connery Foundation, committing £6 million in its first year to education and ocean conservation in Scotland and the Bahamas. Grant recipients included St Andrews University, Dyslexia Scotland, the Scottish Youth Film Foundation, the Lyford Cay Foundations, and the Bahamas Reef Environmental Educational Foundation. The Foundation also funds the NFTS Sean Connery Talent Lab, an annual film training programme for emerging Scottish filmmakers at the National Film and Television School.
“Above all, Sean believed that education was a force-multiplier and was most concerned that children from disadvantaged backgrounds, like his own, be given opportunities to succeed.” — Stephane Connery, foundation chairman, Deadline, October 2022
Michael Dell established the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation in 1999, focused on urban education, childhood health, and family economic stability. Total foundation giving exceeds $2.3 billion.
Key contributions:
- $50 million to University of Texas health organizations (2006)
- $50 million to establish Dell Medical School at UT Austin (2013)
- $750 million to the University of Texas at Austin (April 2026), bringing lifetime giving to UT above $1 billion
- $6.25 billion pledged in December 2025, announced at the White House alongside President Trump, to fund investment accounts for 25 million American children — described by Invest America as the largest single private commitment to U.S. children in recorded history
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Michael Dell’s net worth in 2026?
As of 2026, Michael Dell’s net worth is estimated at approximately $140 billion to $150 billion, according to Bloomberg and Forbes. His wealth is tied primarily to his 58.9% stake in Dell Technologies, which posted $113.5 billion in FY2026 revenue, and a significant position in Broadcom.
What was Sean Connery’s net worth when he died?
Connery’s estate was valued at approximately $350 million at the time of his death in October 2020, according to Celebrity Net Worth. His estate was placed in a trust governed by Bahamian law, with his wife Micheline Roquebrune and his sons among the primary beneficiaries. The full financial breakdown has not been publicly released.
How many James Bond films did Sean Connery make?
Connery appeared in seven Bond films: Dr. No (1962), From Russia with Love (1963), Goldfinger (1964), Thunderball (1965), You Only Live Twice (1967), Diamonds Are Forever (1971), and Never Say Never Again (1983). His Bond career spanned 21 years. The last film was produced independently, outside the EON Productions franchise.
Did Michael Dell drop out of college?
Yes. Dell left the University of Texas at Austin in 1984 after one year, at age 19, to run PCs Limited full time. His dorm room business had already generated approximately $80,000 in sales during that freshman year before he formally left.
Where did Sean Connery live before he died?
Connery lived at “Out of Bounds,” his estate at Lyford Cay in Nassau, Bahamas, from 1983 until his death on October 31, 2020. He purchased the property using his earnings from Never Say Never Again and made it his permanent home for 37 years.
What did Sean Connery do with his Diamonds Are Forever salary?
He donated his entire fee to the Scottish International Education Trust, which he co-founded in 1971 with racing driver Jackie Stewart. The Trust has since spent more than $3 million supporting over 1,000 Scottish students across 300 institutions in 50 countries, according to its own records.
When the Sean Connery Foundation launched in October 2022, Stephane Connery described who it was built for: children from disadvantaged backgrounds. He added four words: “like his own.” That phrase reaches back to a tenement flat in Fountainbridge with no electricity, no hot water, and a first bed made from the bottom drawer of a dresser.
Connery gave his largest Bond fee to a Scottish education fund in 1971, years before his career reached its peak earnings, and never spoke about the decision publicly. Dell pledged $6.25 billion at a White House podium in December 2025, when he was worth approximately $140 billion. Both directed their largest charitable commitments toward education. Where each man started is why.
