Background
Economou was born in Athens, where his father owned a small paper-products company.
Economou was born in Athens, where his father owned a small paper-products company.
He studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), where he obtained an Master of Science in naval architecture and marine engineering, and another Master of Science in shipping and shipbuilding management.
Economou owns oil tankers as well as dry bulk ships and manages them through Cardiff Marine. He was on the Forbes Magazines list of the world"s billionaires on place 707. In 2005, DryShips was listed on Nasdaq, but Cardiff Marine is privately owned by Economou.
Economou owns 34% of DryShips, but has been accused of running it like a private company.
In March 2015, he had a Netto worth of $1.5 billion, and a fleet of 116 ships, according to Bloomberg. In 2006, he started collecting art, mainly from European artists of the early 20th century such as George Grosz, Pablo Picasso, Christian Schad, Werner Schramm, Andy Warhol, Diego Rivera, Fernando Botero, Hermann Scherer and Heinrich Hoerle.