Micky Arison is an Israeli-American businessman and chairman of Carnival Corporation. It is the world’s largest cruise operator. He was born on 29th June, 1949. From 1979 to 2013, he served as the CEO of Carnival Corporation, until he was replaced in June 2013 by Arnold W. Donald, who had served on the company’s board ventures for 12 years.

Micky Arison is also the owner of the NBA’s Miami Heat since 1995. His Miami Heat won the 2006, 2012, and 2013 NBA Finals.

Parents and Siblings

Ted Arison: Father of Micky Arison

He was an Israeli businessman during the British Mandate. He was born as Theodore Arisohn in Tel Aviv in 1924. He served in the Israel Defence Forces and participated in Israeli War of Independence. After his army service, Ted Arison moved to the United States after 1952 and became a business man. He took his family to New York in 1954 and moved to Miami, Florida, in 1966. He conceived Carnival Cruise Lines in 1972 in which he made his fortune. He established the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts based in Miami.

He owned a professional Basketball team in South Florida called the Miami Heat in 1988. He also established the Arison Foundation, a philanthropic institution, in Israel and the United States. Over time he became one of the richest people in the world. Ted renounced his U.S. citizenship in 1990 in an attempt to evade estate tax in the United States and returned to Israel and founded Arison Investments.

In 1997 he acquired most of the controlling shares in Bank Hapoalim, the biggest bank in Israel. His death occurred in the year of 1999. A history of Arison’s involvement in the cruise industry and the Carnival Cruise Company can be found in Kristopher Garin’s book Devils on the Deep Blue Sea.

Marlyn Lin Arison (Mother)

She is the co-founder of the National Young Arts Foundation and the New World Symphony. She married to Ted Arison and later was widowed after his death. She is not the biological mother of Micky Arison. Marlyn Arison is an arts education advocate and a philanthropist. In 2007, she wrote a book about Va Gogh and impressionism. Marlyn Arison was awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Barack Obama at the White House on 10th July, 2013.

Shari Arison (Sister)

Shari Arison was born in 1957 in New York City. She is Ted and Mina Arison’s daughter. She immigrated to Israel with her father and after his death she inherited 35% of her father’s fortune. Her main inheritance was her father’s investments in Israel, among them, the shares of Bank Hapoalim. She left Israel for a brief period following her father’s death, and moved to Miami.

In 2004, she and her then husband Ofer Glazer returned to Israel. As of 2011, she is Israel’s richest woman. Shari Arison has been married and divorced three times. Her first husband was Jose Antonio Sueiras, an officer on one of the ships owned by her father, together they had three children. Her second husband was a basketball player Miki Dorsman, together they had one child. Her third husband was Ofer Glazer.

Kames Arison (Brother)

He is the brother of Micky Arison. He resides in Bal Harbour, Florida.

Early Life

He attended the University of Miami but dropped out.

Net Worth

Micky Arison owns two 200 foot yachts which he uses as homes. In 2011, Forbes magazine calculated Arison’s wealth at $5.9 billion, and thus Micky became the 169th richest person in the world. In 2009, he grossed $7,201,110, which included a base salary of $880,000, a cash bonus of $2,206,116, stocks granted of $3,618,481, and other compensation totalling $496,513.