The 28 youngest billionaires in tech, from Stripe's founders to the owner of TikTok

Advertisement
The 28 youngest billionaires in tech, from Stripe's founders to the owner of TikTok
Bobby Murphy Evan Spiegel

Lucas Jackson/Reuters

Advertisement

Snap cofounders Bobby Murphy, left, and Evan Spiegel.

  • Many of the world's youngest billionaires hail from the tech industry.
  • Snap's Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy are 29 and 31, respectively, as are Stripe's John and Patrick Collison.
  • Not every tech billionaire is young - the world's two richest people, Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates, are in their 50s or 60s. And Oracle's Larry Ellison was 49 when he reached billionaire status.
  • Still, companies like Airbnb, TikTok-parent ByteDance, and social networking behemoth Facebook are run by millennials.
  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

It pays to be young in tech.

Complimentary Tech Event
Transform talent with learning that works
Capability development is critical for businesses who want to push the envelope of innovation.Discover how business leaders are strategizing around building talent capabilities and empowering employee transformation.Know More

While there are currently plenty of over-50 and over-60 billionaires who hail from the tech world - Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates chief among them - there are also dozens of newly minted millennial billionaires. Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy (29 and 31, respectively) became billionaires in their mid-20s, and Spiegel is one of only a few self-made billionaires under the age of 30.

And Mark Zuckerberg became the world's youngest billionaire at age 23 (though he's since been unseated by Kylie Jenner). He's still among one of the youngest, richest people in the world.

Advertisement

That's not to say youth is a requirement in the tech world. Oracle founder Larry Ellison, who's currently worth over $58 billion, was 49 when he reached billionaire status. Elon Musk and Meg Whitman were in their 40s as well.

But these days, some of tech's biggest or most exciting companies are run by billionaires in their 20s and 30s. Thanks to Forbes' annual billionaires list, we've identified the 28 youngest billionaires in tech.

Signup Today: Connectivity and Tech Briefing by Business Insider Intelligence

{{}}

Tobi Lutke

Tobi Lutke

Age: 39

Net worth: $1.6 billion

What he does: Tobi Lutke is the founder and CEO of ecommerce technology company Shopify.

Peter Szulczewski

Peter Szulczewski

Age: 39

Net worth: $1.4 billion

What he does: Peter Szulczewski is the cofounder and CEO of ecommerce platform Wish.

Advertisement

Sachin Bansal

Sachin Bansal

Age: 38

Net worth: $1 billion

What he does: Sachin Bansal is cofounder of Flipkart, India's biggest ecommerce site.

Joe Gebbia

Joe Gebbia

Age: 38

Net worth: $3.7 billion

What he does: Joe Gebbia is cofounder and chief product officer of short-term home rental company Airbnb.

Advertisement

Brian Chesky

Brian Chesky

Age: 38

Net worth: $3.7 billion

What he does: Brian Chesky is cofounder and CEO of short-term home rental company Airbnb.

Evan Sharp

Evan Sharp

Age: 38

Net worth: $1 billion

What he does: Evan Sharp is cofounder and chief creative officer of inspiration and trend discovery site Pinterest.

Advertisement

Ben Silbermann

Ben Silbermann

Age: 38

Net worth: $1.6 billion

What he does: Ben Silbermann is cofounder and CEO of inspiration and trend discovery site Pinterest.

Eduardo Saverin

Eduardo Saverin

Age: 38

Net worth: $9.7 billion

What he does: Eduardo Saverin cofounded Facebook along with Mark Zuckerberg.

Advertisement

Su Hua

Su Hua

Age: 37 or 38

Net worth: $2.9 billion

What he does: Su Hua is the cofounder and CEO of Kuaishou, a Chinese GIF and video-sharing app.

Binny Bansal

Binny Bansal

Age: 37 or 38

Net worth: $1 billion

What he does: Binny Bansal is cofounder of Flipkart, India's biggest ecommerce site. He was CEO of Flipkart Group until his resignation in November 2018 after allegations of "serious personal misconduct."

Advertisement

Cheng Wei

Cheng Wei

Age: 37

Net worth: $1.2 billion

What he does: Cheng Wei is the founder and CEO of Chinese ride-hailing platform Didi Chuxing.

Brian Armstrong

Brian Armstrong

Age: 37

Net worth: $1.3 billion

What he does: Brian Armstrong is the cofounder and CEO of cryptocurrency trading platform Coinbase.

Advertisement

Daniel Ek

Daniel Ek

Age: 37

Net worth: $2.2 billion

What he does: Daniel Ek is the cofounder and CEO of music-streaming company Spotify.

Drew Houston

Drew Houston

Age: 37

Net worth: $2.3 billion

What he does: Drew Houston is the cofounder and CEO of file-sharing service Dropbox.

Advertisement

Ryan Graves

Ryan Graves

Age: 37

Net worth: $1.6 billion

What he does: Ryan Graves was the first full-time employee and first CEO of Uber. He's currently the CEO of investment firm Saltwater Capital.

Nathan Blecharczyk

Nathan Blecharczyk

Age: 37

Net worth: $3.7 billion

What he does: Nathan Blecharczyk is the cofounder and chief strategy officer at short-term home rental company Airbnb.

Advertisement

Zhang Yiming

Zhang Yiming

Age: 36

Net worth: $16.2 billion

What he does: Zhang Yiming is the chairman of ByteDance, a Chinese content company behind the short-form video app TikTok.

Bill Liu

Bill Liu

Age: 36

Net worth: $1.7 billion

What he does: Bill Liu is the CEO and chairman of Royole, which makes flexible displays and sensors that are used in devices like foldable phones.

Advertisement

Kevin Systrom

Kevin Systrom

Age: 36

Net worth: $1.4 billion

What he does: Kevin Systrom is the cofounder and former CEO of photo-sharing app Instagram, which was acquired by Facebook in 2012.

Mark Zuckerberg

Mark Zuckerberg

Age: 35

Net worth: $62.3 billion

What he does: Mark Zuckerberg is the cofounder and CEO of social networking company Facebook.

Advertisement

Dustin Moskovitz

Dustin Moskovitz

Age: 35

Net worth: $11.1 billion

What he does: Dustin Moskovitz cofounded Facebook along with Mark Zuckerberg. He left Facebook to cofound the workplace management company Asana, where he is CEO.

Pavel Durov

Pavel Durov

Age: 35

Net worth: $2.7 billion

What he does: Pavel Durov is the founder of messaging app Telegram. He also created VK, the biggest social networking app in Russia.

Advertisement

Chris Wanstrath

Chris Wanstrath

Age: 34

Net worth: $2.2 billion

What he does: Chris Wanstrath is the cofounder and former CEO of GitHub, a social network for software developers that was acquired by Microsoft.

Jihan Wu

Jihan Wu

Age: 34

Net worth: $1.5 billion

What he does: Jihan Wu is the cofounder and chairman of Bitmain Technologies, the largest cryptocurrency mining company in China.

Advertisement

Bobby Murphy

Bobby Murphy

Age: 31

Net worth: $2.1 billion

What he does: Bobby Murphy is cofounder and chief technology officer of Snap, the social media and camera company that makes Snapchat.

Patrick Collison

Patrick Collison

Age: 31

Net worth: $2.1 billion

What he does: Patrick Collison — along with his brother, John — founded payments company Stripe. He currently serves as the company's CEO.

Advertisement

Evan Spiegel

Evan Spiegel

Age: 29

Net worth: $2.1 billion

What he does: Evan Spiegel is cofounder and CEO of Snap, the social media and camera company that makes Snapchat.

John Collison

John Collison

Age: 29

Net worth: $2.1 billion

What he does: John Collison — along with his brother, Patrick — founded payments company Stripe. He currently serves as the company's president.

Advertisement