Youngest Billionaires in America
While many people dream of wealth, the 50 people on this list have it in spades. What makes this even more amazing is that they've achieved such spectacular and incomprehensible wealth at such a young age. The oldest billionaire comes in at 47, while the youngest, who was born in 1990, is only 30.
To learn more about the youngest billionaires in America, Stacker compiled net worth data from Forbes' Real-Time Billionaires List as of Aug. 28, 2020. The list is in real-time, and any ties in age were broken by net worth.
Included are those who made their billions as heirs to family fortunes as well as those who are self-made. Fortunes come from tech companies including Google, Snapchat, and Facebook, though technology isn't the only way to strike it rich. Others have made their money through hedge funds, retail, and even by creating a burger that relies upon the simplest recipe and ingredients.
While many came from backgrounds that allowed opportunities only afforded to those with money, others came from more humble beginnings. Some immigrated from other countries seeking opportunity, while others were born to single parents who struggled to provide for them. While several billionaires on the list attended and graduated from top-notch colleges, including the Ivies, others never went to college or dropped out, sometimes to pursue the ideas that made them rich. One billionaire on the list never finished high school, proving that with ingenuity and grit, it really is possible to obtain unimaginable wealth.
Many of the billionaires on the list are well known, others are less obvious. Curious to see if you can guess who the youngest billionaire is? It may be a snap to figure it out, or you may really have to think about it. Click through and find out who made the exclusive and enviable list.
You may also like: 50 best colleges in the Midwest
#50. Jose Feliciano
- Age: 47
- Net worth: $2.1 billion (#1,301 Forbes rank)
- Source of wealth: private equity
Born to a middle-class family, self-made billionaire Jose Feliciano earned degrees from Princeton and Stanford before landing in the world of finance. He held jobs at both Goldman Sachs and Tennenbaum Capital before cofounding Santa Monica based, private equity firm Clearlake Capital in 2006. Feliciano's company invests in consumer and industrial companies and technology and recently acquired a Dallas-based $6 billion asset manager.
#49. Sergey Brin
- Age: 47
- Net worth: $70.6 billion (#11 Forbes rank)
- Source of wealth: Google
Sergey Brin met Google cofounder Larry Page when the two studied computer science at Stanford in the late '90s. Born in Moscow, Russia in 1973, Brin emigrated with his family to the U.S. in 1979 to escape Jewish persecution. By 2016, Google, a company started as a college research project, racked up over a trillion searches per day.
#48. Larry Page
- Age: 47
- Net worth: $72.6 billion (#10 Forbes rank)
- Source of wealth: Google
Google started in a garage in California's technology haven, Silicon Valley in 1998. In December 2019, Larry Page stepped down as the CEO of Google's parent company, Alphabet, though he still remains on as a controlling shareholder and board member. He invests his time fostering his interest in flying cars with company Kitty Hawk Corp.
#47. Greg Mondre
- Age: 46
- Net worth: $1.2 billion (#2,029 Forbes rank)
- Source of wealth: private equity
Co-CEO of Silver Lake, a Silicon Valley-based private equity firm, specializing in technology investments, Greg Mondre is a graduate of Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. After working at Goldman Sachs and Texas Pacific Group, Mondre joined Silver Lake in 1999.
#46. Jared Smith
- Age: 46
- Net worth: $1.2 billion (#2,024 Forbes rank)
- Source of wealth: cloud computing
Cloud-computing company Qualtrics was acquired by a German software firm SAP in January 2019, but not before making its cofounders, Jared Smith, his brother, Ryan, and father, Scott, billionaires. The brothers started their business in their parents' basement in Utah and continue to run it even after its acquisition.
You may also like: Highest-paying jobs that only require a 2-year degree
#45. David Zalik
- Age: 46
- Net worth: $1.4 billion (#1,829 Forbes rank)
- Source of wealth: financial technology
When he was four, David Zalik's father, a mathematics professor, was hired by the University of Rhode Island, and he and his family immigrated from Israel to the United States. Zalik is the co-founder and CEO of the Atlanta-based financial technology company GreenSky and amassed his fortune providing instant lending to consumers. Excelling in math, Zalik started college and his first business at the age of 14.
#44. Alexis Lê-Quôc
- Age: 46
- Net worth: $2.0 billion (#1,387 Forbes rank)
- Source of wealth: cloud computing
Alexis Lê-Quôc is the co-founder and CTO of cloud-monitoring company, Datadog. He and Olivier Pomel, his Datadog partner and the company's CEO, met while both were studying computer science at Ecole Centrale Paris. He achieved billionaire status in May 2020 when an impressive earnings release saw shares soar.
#43. Ben Chestnut
- Age: 46
- Net worth: $2.0 billion (#1,365 Forbes rank)
- Source of wealth: email marketing
Georgia born and bred CEO and co-founder of email marketing giant, Mailchimp, Ben Chestnut learned about business from his mom. The company that started off as a side gig has grown into a multi-billion dollar business without the help of outside investors and both Chestnut, and his partner, Dan Kurzius hold 50% ownership.
#42. John Arnold
- Age: 46
- Net worth: $3.3 billion (#799 Forbes rank)
- Source of wealth: hedge funds
Once a successful energy trader, John Arnold reportedly earned Enron $750 million in the year the company went bankrupt. Arnold went on to build hedge fund company Centaurus Advisors and shocked the industry when he retired from hedge fund management at 38. He currently runs Arnold Ventures LLC with his wife, Laura.
#41. Niraj Shah
- Age: 46
- Net worth: $4.0 billion (#647 Forbes rank)
- Source of wealth: online retail
CEO and co-founder of Wayfair, Niraj Shah is the son of Indian immigrants and was born in Massachusetts. He met his business partner Steve Conine when the two studied together at Cornell University. Shah currently sits on the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
You may also like: History of trucking in America
#40. Chris Sacca
- Age: 45
- Net worth: $1.1 billion (#2,179 Forbes rank)
- Source of wealth: venture capital investing
Venture capitalist Chris Sacca acquired his admirable fortune by making smart and early investments in companies like Twitter, Instagram, and Uber through his company Lowercase Capital. Sacca has also worked at Google and as an attorney at Fenwick & West. Known for his appearance on the television show "Shark Tank" and wearing cowboy shirts, Sacca attended Georgetown University.
#39. Jeffrey Talpins
- Age: 45
- Net worth: $1.7 billion (#1,556 Forbes rank)
- Source of wealth: hedge fund
Jeffrey Talpins is the founder and chief investment officer of Element Capital Management, a hedge fund company focusing on macro trading. The company often boasts annualized returns topping 20%. Talpin attended Yale University and worked as a trader at both Citigroup and Goldman Sachs prior to founding Element Capital.
#38. Brian Sheth
- Age: 45
- Net worth: $2.3 billion (#1,188 Forbes rank)
- Source of wealth: investments
After receiving a degree in economics from the University of Pennsylvania, Brian Sheth worked at several investment firms including Bain Capital, Goldman Sachs, and Deutsche Morgan Grenfell. Sheth currently works as the president of Vista Equity Partners, which he co-founded with Robert Smith. With a strong interest in conservation and preservation, Sheth founded the Sangreal Foundation and chairs the Global Wildlife Conservation.
#37. Chase Coleman III
- Age: 45
- Net worth: $6.9 billion (#308 Forbes rank)
- Source of wealth: hedge fund
While Chase Coleman III started out as a hedge fund investor, it was his company, Tiger Global Management, that made him a billionaire. The son of an attorney and an interior designer, Coleman grew up in Long Island and attended an elite boarding school. Coleman was entrusted with $25 million by investment legend Julian Robertson who ran Tiger Management.
#36. Behdad Eghbali
- Age: 44
- Net worth: $2.0 billion (#1,365 Forbes rank)
- Source of wealth: private equity
Iranian-born Behdad Eghbali is the co-founder and Managing Partner at Clearlake Capital. The private equity firm oversees $10 billion and has a history of scoring stellar returns. In January 2020, Eghbali purchased a home in Brentwood, California, for $21 million only months after Forbes declared him a billionaire.
You may also like: Most dangerous states to drive in
#35. Travis Kalanick
- Age: 44
- Net worth: $2.6 billion (#1,018 Forbes rank)
- Source of wealth: Uber
As a teen growing up in Northridge, California, Travis Kalanick went door to door selling Cutco knives and started his first company. Before co-founding Uber in 2009, Kalanick co-founded tech startups, Scour and RedSwoosh, which he sold for $23 million. In January 2018, he became a billionaire but in December 2019, he stepped down from Uber's board of directors and severed all ties with the company.
#34. Jack Dorsey
- Age: 44
- Net worth: $8.5 billion (#227 Forbes rank)
- Source of wealth: Twitter, Square
Jack Dorsey co-founded Square and Twitter, though it is the latter that made him a billionaire. Within hours of Twitter going public in November 2013, Dorsey was a billionaire. Though Dorsey attended both Missouri University of Science and Technology and NYU, he never finished college.
#33. Jan Koum
- Age: 44
- Net worth: $10.2 billion (#184 Forbes rank)
- Source of wealth: WhatsApp
Born in Ukraine, Jan Koum immigrated to the United States with his mother in search of a better life at age 16. The co-founder and former CEO of WhatsApp, became a billionaire when Facebook purchased the mobile messaging app in 2014 for $19 billion. When Koum left Yahoo in 2007, he applied to Facebook and Twitter both of whom turned him down, which led to him starting WhatsApp.
#32. Kanye West
- Age: 43
- Net worth: $1.3 billion (#1,944 Forbes rank)
- Source of wealth: music, sneakers
Forbes finally declared Kanye West an official billionaire in April 2020. The majority of the rapper and entrepreneur's fortune comes from his streetwear brand, Yeezy. Though West owns 100% of the brand, he has deals with both Adidas and Gap.
#31. Jeff Lawson
- Age: 43
- Net worth: $2.0 billion (#1,347 Forbes rank)
- Source of wealth: software
Jeff Lawson is the co-founder and CEO of the cloud communications platform Twilio. While a student at the University of Michigan, Lawson launched his first Internet startup. Though Lawson didn't make any money from it, he found it to be a valuable learning experience.
You may also like: Most rural counties in America
#30. Jeff Green
- Age: 43
- Net worth: $2.9 billion (#930 Forbes rank)
- Source of wealth: online advertising
Chairman and CEO of The Trade Desk, Jeff Green attended USC where he studied marketing communications. Prior to founding The Trade Desk, Green founded AdECN in 2004. The company, an online advertising exchange, was acquired by Microsoft in 2007.
#29. Alejandro Santo Domingo
- Age: 43
- Net worth: $3.0 billion (#905 Forbes rank)
- Source of wealth: beer
While Alejandro Santo Domingo works at New York investment advisory firm Quadrant Capital Advisors as a senior managing director, his fortune comes from his family. His father, Julio Mario Santo Domingo, passed down the 15% stake he had in SABMiller, a business division of Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV, to his sons and grandchildren upon his death in 2011. Santo Domingo holds a 1.75% stake in the family beer fortune.
#28. Bom Kim
- Age: 42
- Net worth: $1.0 billion (#2,246 Forbes rank)
- Source of wealth: online retailing
While Bom Kim was born in South Korea, he was raised in America and attended Harvard Business school, though he dropped out after only six months. Kim's company, Coupang has been referred to as the South Korean version of Amazon, and it has given the American company a run for its money. New investment in 2018 raised the company's valuation to $9 billion and made Kim South Korea's second-youngest billionaire at the age of 40.
#27. Ryan Smith
- Age: 42
- Net worth: $1.3 billion (#1,944 Forbes rank)
- Source of wealth: cloud computing
Acquired by SAP, a German software company, for $8 billion in cash just days before the scheduled IPO, Qualtrics made its co-founder and CEO, Ryan Smith, a billionaire. The sale of the cloud-computing company also made fellow co-founders, Jared Smith and Scott Smith, Ryan Smith's brother, and father, respectively, millionaires as well.
#26. Andres Santo Domingo
- Age: 42
- Net worth: $2.9 billion (#910 Forbes rank)
- Source of wealth: beer
Brother to Alejandro Santo Domingo and son to Julio Mario Santo Domingo, the majority of Andres fortune is in Anheuser-Busch InBev, which acquired SABMiller in 2016 for $100 billion. Santo Domingo was educated at Brown University and while his family fortune comes from the beer industry, he has a passion for music. In 2002, he co-founded record label Kemado Records.
You may also like: Best community college in every state
#25. Robert Pera
- Age: 42
- Net worth: $10.6 billion (#174 Forbes rank)
- Source of wealth: wireless networking gear
Robert Pera began working at Apple in 2003, and by 2005 was working full-time at Ubiquiti Networks, a wireless equipment maker that he founded. In 2012, he also became one of the youngest controlling owners in the NBA after purchasing the Memphis Grizzlies.
#24. Tom Preston-Werner
- Age: 41
- Net worth: $1.9 billion (#1,412 Forbes rank)
- Source of wealth: software
In 2018, Microsoft acquired GitHub, the company Tom Preston-Werner co-founded in 2008, for $7.5 billion in stock. The acquisition made billionaires of not only Preston-Werner but of fellow company co-founders Chris Wanstrath and PJ Hyett. After harassment allegations, Preston-Werner resigned from GitHub in 2014 and went on to co-found Chatterbug, a language learning platform in 2016.
#23. Sean Parker
- Age: 41
- Net worth: $2.7 billion (#1,000 Forbes rank)
- Source of wealth: Facebook
At the young age of 19, Sean Parker co-founded the controversial music file-sharing service, Napster. By the age of 24, he was the president of Facebook, which would eventually become a social media networking giant and make Parker a billionaire. He also invested heavily in the Swedish streaming music service, Spotify.
#22. John Bicket
- Age: 40
- Net worth: $1.4 billion (#1,821 Forbes rank)
- Source of wealth: sensor systems
Currently the co-founder and chief technology officer of Samsara, John Bicket was the co-founder of Meraki. The company came out of research Bicket did while a Ph.D. student at MIT. Cisco acquired Meraki for $1.2 billion in cash, though it is actually Samsara that made Bricket a billionaire.
#21. Orion Hindawi
- Age: 40
- Net worth: $1.5 billion (#1,712 Forbes rank)
- Source of wealth: software
Orion Hindawi followed in his father's footsteps by attending the University of California, Berkeley, though he dropped out. He and his father, David, co-founded Tanium, a cybersecurity firm in 2007. It was valued by private investors at $6.5 billion in 2018.
You may also like: Billionaires that live in the smallest American towns
#20. Brian Chesky
- Age: 39
- Net worth: $3.1 billion (#848 Forbes rank)
- Source of wealth: Airbnb
Co-founder and CEO of lodging rental giant Airbnb, Brian Chesky attended Rhode Island School of Design. In August 2020, the company that made him a billionaire filed the paperwork for an IPO.
#19. Joe Gebbia
- Age: 39
- Net worth: $3.1 billion (#848 Forbes rank)
- Source of wealth: Airbnb
Joe Gebbia co-founded Airbnb in 2008 with business partners, Nathan Blecharczyk and Brian Chesky. Airbnb's humble beginning was in Gebbia's San Francisco apartment. The company now offers more than 7 million accommodations across more than 220 countries and regions.
#18. Sanjit Biswas
- Age: 38
- Net worth: $1.4 billion (#1,821 Forbes rank)
- Source of wealth: sensor systems
Sanjit Biswas holds degrees from Stanford and MIT and is the co-founder of Meraki and Samsara, though it is the latter that made him a billionaire. Biswas is the CEO of San Francisco-based Samsara.
#17. Ben Silbermann
- Age: 38
- Net worth: $2.1 billion (#1,311 Forbes rank)
- Source of wealth: Pinterest
Co-founder and CEO of image share and save site Pinterest, Ben Silbermann grew up in Iowa and attended Yale. Silbermann worked at Google and tried out several product ideas, including iPhone apps, before hitting it big with the money-making Pinterest.
#16. Lynsi Snyder
- Age: 38
- Net worth: $3.0 billion (#890 Forbes rank)
- Source of wealth: In-N-Out Burger
Lynsi Snyder's grandparents founded the iconic West Coast burger joint, In-N-Out Burger in 1948. Snyder, the company's president, became a billionaire on her 35th birthday and was the youngest woman on The Forbes 400 in 2018. The nostalgic draw of the chain comes in part because the recipe for its staple items, burgers and fries, remains almost the same as it did more than 70 years ago.
You may also like: Best boarding schools in America
#15. Trevor Milton
- Age: 38
- Net worth: $4.5 billion (#554 Forbes rank)
- Source of wealth: electric vehicles
Founder and executive chairman of Nikola Motor Company, Trevor Milton dropped out of college after just one semester. Not only did Milton drop out of college, but he also dropped out of high school, though he went on to get his GED. His company produces electric and hydrogen-powered, zero-emission semi-trucks and made Milton a multibillionaire after the June 2020 IPO.
#14. Scott Duncan
- Age: 38
- Net worth: $4.7 billion (#526 Forbes rank)
- Source of wealth: pipelines
Scott Duncan is the heir to the family fortune. His father, Dan Duncan, founded pipeline firm, Enterprise Products Partners, and left Scott and his three siblings a stake in the company when he died in 2010. The company went public in 1998 and from the time of the IPO until Dec. 31, 2019, the company's asset base increased from $715 million to $57 billion.
#13. Ernest Garcia III
- Age: 38
- Net worth: $6.0 billion (#371 Forbes rank)
- Source of wealth: used cars
Ernest Garcia III started his ecommerce platform, Carvana, as a subsidiary of DriveTime Automotive, one of the largest used car dealerships in the United States and run by his father, Ernest Garcia II. Garcia's father is still the company's largest shareholder, which also makes him a multibillionaire.
#12. RJ Scaringe
- Age: 37
- Net worth: $1.0 billion (#2,246 Forbes rank)
- Source of wealth: electric vehicles
With a doctorate in mechanical engineering from MIT, RJ Scaringe founded electric car company, Rivian Automotive in 2009. Scaringe's dream of a zero-carbon future made him a billionaire, though the company's first vehicle won't be available until the summer of 2021.
#11. Brian Armstrong
- Age: 37
- Net worth: $1.0 billion (#2,207 Forbes rank)
- Source of wealth: cryptocurrency
Brian Armstrong's cryptocurrency business Coinbase is valued at an estimated $8 billion. Achieving billionaire status led Armstrong to philanthropy. In December 2018, he even signed the Giving Pledge, vowing to donate much of his fortune to philanthropic causes.
You may also like: Can you answer these real 'Jeopardy!' questions about the economy?
#10. Drew Houston
- Age: 37
- Net worth: $1.6 billion (#1,676 Forbes rank)
- Source of wealth: cloud storage service
Not only is Drew Houston the co-founder and CEO of online backup and storage service Dropbox, but he is also the company's largest shareholder with more than 20% ownership. In February 2020, Houston received a prestigious honor when he was appointed to social media giant Facebook's board of directors.
#9. Kevin Systrom
- Age: 37
- Net worth: $2.0 billion (#1,348 Forbes rank)
- Source of wealth: Instagram
Facebook purchased Instagram, the picture-sharing social media app Kevin Systrom co-founded in 2012, for a cool billion in cash and stock. Systrom's time at Stanford University may have inspired the idea for Instagram—he built a site for photo sharing for his fraternity brothers.
#8. Nathan Blecharczyk
- Age: 37
- Net worth: $3.1 billion (#848 Forbes rank)
- Source of wealth: Airbnb
Nathan Blecharczyk's sizable fortune is a direct result of co-founding lodging site, Airbnb. Also the company's chief strategy officer and first engineer, Blecharczyk serves as chairman of Airbnb China. In October 2019, Blecharczyk gifted his alma mater, Boston Latin Academy, $1 million with a promise to match any other donations to the school of up to $1 million.
#7. Dustin Moskovitz
- Age: 36
- Net worth: $17.7 billion (#87 Forbes rank)
- Source of wealth: Facebook
In 2004, Dustin Moskovitz and Mark Zuckerberg launched Facebook from their dorm room at Harvard. Leaving Facebook in 2008, Moskovitz co-founded workflow software company, Asana, though most of his wealth comes from Facebook. He still holds an estimated 2% stake in the company.
#6. Mark Zuckerberg
- Age: 36
- Net worth: $107.1 billion (#4 Forbes rank)
- Source of wealth: Facebook
Mark Zuckerberg is the most well-known and wealthiest of the men who co-founded Facebook. Ranking #7 on Forbes 2020 Ten Richest People in the World, Zuckerberg was a 19-year-old sophomore at Harvard when he launched the social media site that would change the world and eventually make him a billionaire at 23.
You may also like: Best places to retire on the East Coast
#5. Julio Mario Santo Domingo III
- Age: 35
- Net worth: $1.4 billion (#1,809 Forbes rank)
- Source of wealth: beer
Julio Mario Santo Domingo III is the namesake to his father and grandfather, who is responsible for Santo Domingo III's fortune and ran the family business The Santo Domingo Group before his death in 2011. Like his uncle, Andres, who owns Kemado Records, he has a passion for music and is a disc jockey in New York City.
#4. Chris Wanstrath
- Age: 35
- Net worth: $2.2 billion (#1,246 Forbes rank)
- Source of wealth: software
The co-founder of GitHub, a software development platform, Chris Wanstrath was also the company's largest shareholder making him a billionaire when Microsoft bought GitHub in 2018 for $7.5 billion in stock. Wanstrath currently serves as a technical fellow at Microsoft.
#3. Lukas Walton
- Age: 34
- Net worth: $16.3 billion (#104 Forbes rank)
- Source of wealth: Walmart
Lukas Walton is a member of one of the wealthiest families in the United States. His grandfather, Sam Walton, founded mega superstore, Walmart. Walton acquired his fortune under tragic circumstances when his father, John Walton, died in a 2005 plane crash.
#2. Bobby Murphy
- Age: 32
- Net worth: $4.6 billion (#540 Forbes rank)
- Source of wealth: Snapchat
Co-founder and chief technology officer of Snap Inc., Bobby Murphy came up with the idea for the social media app Snapchat with his fraternity brothers, Evan Spiegel and Reggie Brown when the trio attended Stanford University. While Murphy's billions come from Snapchat, he has invested millions in Southern California real estate.
#1. Evan Spiegel
- Age: 30
- Net worth: $4.4 billion (#565 Forbes rank)
- Source of wealth: Snapchat
The youngest billionaire on the list and the flashier co-founder of Snapchat, Evan Spiegel married supermodel Miranda Kerr in 2017. Spiegel dropped out of Stanford to start Snapchat, though he finally graduated from the illustrious university in 2018 with a degree in product design. Both he and fellow Snapchat co-founder Bobby Murphy own an estimated 18% of the company where he serves as the CEO of Snap Inc.
You may also like: Counties in every state with the fastest growing income
