Frank Stronach, chairman and founder of Magna International (MGA), launched his empire by making 300,000 sun visor brackets for General Motors. The rest, as they say, is history.

Nine years after the end of World War II, Stronach’s native Austria still struggled to get back on its feet. He headed to Canada and arrived in 1954 with $200 in his pocket.

But Stronach, now 77, knew opportunity when he saw it, even if opportunity had a little trouble finding him at first. During his early years in Canada, he scratched out a living picking up golf balls and washing dishes.

"When I immigrated to North America as a young man, I had very little money and I didn’t know anyone. I experienced what it was like to be hungry, to be discriminated against and to be treated unfairly," he once wrote in a company newsletter.

On his way to success, he worked as a machinist, and in 1957, Stronach and his friend, Tony Czapka, launched a tool and die business. From there it was a matter of long hours (16-hour days, seven days a week) and sweat equity needed to make it successful.

Two years later the company, then known as Multimatic, landed its first auto parts contract -- 300,000 sun visor brackets for what was then the biggest automaker in the world.

Remaining small and successful would be enough for some, but not Stronach. His company merged with Magna Electronics in 1969 and became Magna International in 1973. In 2004, Magna International snapped up an 80% share of New Venture Gear, once a joint venture of General Motors and Chrysler. The company then merged with Magna Powertrain.

In 2005, Magna International purchased CTS Fahzeng Dahhystme from Porsche, the world’s top supplier of roofs for convertibles.

The company now has 242 manufacturing plants and 86 product development sites in 25 countries. A leading supplier to original equipment manufacturers (known as OEMs), the company makes automotive interior parts, seats, locks, metal body and chassis parts, mirrors, exterior trim, roofs, electronic systems, and powertrains. The company has about 72,350 employees.

Competitors include Dana Holding (DAN), Lear (LEARQ), and Robert Bosch.