Every fear, the Forbes 400 list covers the 400 richest people in America.
Whilst calculating somebody’s net worth is a notoriously difficult task (if you know exactly how much you’re worth, it’s probably not much), this year sees 13 people under the age of 40 make the cut.
Four of those peeps don’t deserve too much praise, because their wealth is inherited (Lynsi Snyder, Scott Duncan, Lukas Walton and Julio Mario Santo Domingo III), but the other nine are worth taking a closer look at.
Not surprisingly, they have all started companies that operate online. Over to Forbes for a little on each of them:
Sean Parker
Age: 39, net worth: $2.7 billion, source of wealth: Facebook
Parker at 19 founded Napster, the free online music-sharing platform that later faced several copyright lawsuits. He scored a meeting with Mark Zuckerberg in 2004 and became Facebook’s first president, though he didn’t stay long. He’s an early backer of Spotify and was one of the major forces behind the creation of Opportunity Zones.
Perhaps you know him as the guy Justin Timberlake played in The Social Network.
Joe Gebbia
Age: 38, net worth: $4.2 billion, source of wealth: Airbnb
A situation many recent grads can relate to: Even after getting dual degrees in graphic design and industrial design from the prestigious Rhode Island School of Design, Gebbia struggled to find a job. Two years later he cofounded Airbnb, where he’s now chief product officer. He’s also had a hand in overhauling its hiring practices.
Struggling to find a job – can relate. Starting a multibillion-dollar empire – must be nice.
Brian Chesky
Age: 38, net worth: $4.2 billion, source of wealth: Airbnb
Like his cofounder Gebbia, Chesky is a RISD grad. In 2007 Chesky needed money for rent, so he and Gebbia charged a few attendees of a San Francisco design conference to sleep on an air mattress on their apartment floor. He previously worked as an industrial designer in L.A.
Ernest Garcia III
Age: 37, net worth: $2.3 billion, source of wealth: Online sales of used cars
Garcia launched Carvana as a subsidiary of his dad’s used car retailer DriveTime Automotive, where he was a vice president. Prior to that he did a short stint in investment banking.
I think that counts as a helping hand, but at least he didn’t rest on his laurels.
Nathan Blecharczyk
Age: 36, net worth: $4.2 billion, source of wealth: Airbnb
Airbnb cofounder Blecharczyk says he ran a software business in high school that sold to clients in over 20 countries. A former roommate of cofounder Gebbia, Blecharczyk was tapped to help build an early Airbnb site. The computer science grad is now the house-rental platform’s chief strategy officer and the chairman of Airbnb China.
Mark Zuckerberg
Age: 35, net worth: $69.6 billion, source of wealth: Facebook
The ultimate dorm-room entrepreneur launched Facebook in 2004. One month in, the social network expanded to Stanford, Yale and Columbia; by the end of the year, it had one million users. Zuckerberg dropped out of Harvard the same year, though Harvard did award him an honorary doctorate in 2017.
The cyborg makes an appearance.
Dustin Moskovitz
Age: 35, net worth: $11.6 billion, source of wealth: Facebook
Moskovitz, who was Zuckerberg’s roommate, cofounded Facebook from their Harvard dorm and became its first chief technology officer; he left Facebook in 2008. Most of his wealth is tied to his estimated 2% stake in the social network. His second act, a work management software company called Asana, is now valued at $1.5 billion.
I would be feet up in a hammock somewhere in Central America, but some people just want to keep on working.
Bobby Murphy
Age: 31, net worth: $3.7 billion, source of wealth: Snapchat
Murphy and Stanford fraternity brother Evan Spiegel released Snapchat, the popular disappearing-photo-sharing app, in 2011. Now Snap Inc.’s chief technology officer, Murphy has helped the app weather a string of executive departures and technical issues; Snap has seen a turnaround this year, with the number of users growing and its stock price rebounding.
To round off the list, here’s a name you may well be familiar with.
Evan Spiegel
Age: 29, net worth: $3.6 billion, source of wealth: Snapchat
In high school, Spiegel promoted Red Bull as an intern. He debuted on The Forbes 400 in 2015 at age 25. For the second year in a row, Spiegel is the only Forbes 400 member in his 20s. He later returned to Stanford after dropping out to get his bachelor’s in 2018.
The man is worth billions, and he’s still in his 20s.
Just when you think you’re starting to get it together, along comes a Spiegel.
You can see the full Forbes 400 list here.
[source:forbes]
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