How The World's Youngest Billionaires Acquired Their Monumental Fortunes
Some billionaires work hard and build their wealth from the ground up. Others win the DNA lottery and inherit a huge amount of money from their parents. Let's examine how some of the world's youngest billionaires acquired extraordinary wealth.
Ernest Garcia III
Ernest Garcia III co-founded Carvana, an e-commerce platform for buying and selling used cars. He opened the company in 2012 as a subsidiary of his father's used car dealership, DriveTime. DriveTime went public in 2017 and is worth an estimated $225 million. Meanwhile, the 42-year-old's total personal wealth is estimated at $4.6 billion.
Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
Lynsi Snyder
Lynsi Snyder became a billionaire at age 35. She received the final portion of her stock in In-N-Out Burger, totaling $2.1 billion. However, as President and CEO of In-N-Out Burger, her overall wealth portfolio gives the 42-year-old a net worth of $7.3 billion.
In-N-Out Burger, CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Scott Duncan
Scott Duncan became a billionaire at 27, even younger than Lynsi Snyder. In 2010, he inherited a net worth of billions following the death of his father, Dan Duncan, a Texas oil tycoon. Now 41, Scott Duncan owns a share in 50,000 miles of oil and gas pipelines and has a total net worth of $8.3 billion.
Science History Institute, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
Brian Armstrong
Brian Armstrong founded Coinbase, a Bitcoin company now worth billions. Armstrong, a tech engineer who worked for AirBnB, left the company in 2021 to start Coinbase. The company launched in 2021 and hit a market peak of over $100 billion, netting Armstrong a net worth of $8 billion.
TechCrunch, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
Nathan Belcharcyzk
AirBnb's first engineer was Nathan Belcharcyzk. Coding the original website and launching several AirBnB teams dealing with their marketing, data science, and payment systems, Belcharcyzk also practices what he preaches, as he and his wife are active hosts on AirBnB. Coming in slightly under Armstrong, Belcharcyzk's wealth is $7.9 billion.
Web Summit, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
Mark Zuckerberg
Some people forget how young "The Zuck" is—he's just 40. Of course, Zuckerberg is the co-founder and CEO of Meta and Facebook. Despite the controversy surrounding the companies, their stocks jumped 75% in the last 12 months, adding $75 billion to Zuckerberg's extraordinary portfolio. He's now worth an amazing $181 billion.
Anthony Quintano, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
Dustin Moskovitz
Dustin Moskovitz was Mark Zuckerberg's college roommate, helping the tech billionaire create Facebook. Moskovitz, also 40 (just eight days older than Mark), owns large shares in Meta and is worth $14.3 billion.
Dustin Moskovitz, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
Josh Kushner
Brother of Jared Kushner—son-in-law of the President of the United States—Josh Kushner is a venture capitalist who owns Thrive Capital, which invests in many tech start-ups such as Instagram, Spotify, and Slack. He's also the heir to a real estate dynasty run by his father, Charles Kushner. Josh Kushner's estimated wealth is $3.8 billion.
Lukas Walton
The 38-year-old Lukas Walton is the heir to the wealth of the richest family in America, the Walton Family. After John Walton passed away in a plane crash in 2005, Lukas inherited a net worth of $33.9 billion. However, he doesn't work directly with Walmart; instead, he invests his money in environmental start-ups and climate change initiatives.
Walton Family Voices Our Environment Program, Walton Family Foundation
Evan Spiegel
Evan Spiegel is a 33-year-old billionaire who dropped out of Stanford in 2011 to start Snapchat with his fraternity brothers, Bobby Murphy and Reggie Brown. Launching the product in 2012, Snapchat helped propel Spiegel to billionaire status by age 25. He now has a fortune of approximately $3.1 billion.
cellanr, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
John Collison
John Collison isn't a name you'll have heard of in America, but he's one of the world's richest men. He and his brother Patrick were born in Ireland and founded an eBay management software as teenagers. Before they were 25, they'd built Stripe—a widely used payment system valued at $65 billion. Collison's wealth is estimated to be $7.2 billion.
Web Summit, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
Shunsaku Sagami
Shunsaku Sagami had a genius idea in 2018: He'd use artificial intelligence to advise small and medium-sized businesses without an heir or successor on managing business dissolution, takeovers, and more. The business management mogul relied heavily on the interest of the Japanese people, which saw share prices skyrocket in his company, M&A Brokerage. The now 33-year-old Sagami's wealth is now $1.9 billion.
Jonathan Kwok
Heir to the throne of Sun Hung Kai Properties, the largest real estate developer in Hong Kong, Jonathan Kwok inherited the lion's share of the company from his father, Walter. With his brother Geoffrey, Jonathan runs Sun Hung Kai Properties and has a net worth of $2.4 billion.
Royalpla2, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
Mark Mateschitz
Mark Mateschitz's father, Dietrich, started the energy drinks company Red Bull in 1984. He ran it until he died in 2022. After his inheritance, the 31-year-old Austrian has a net worth of $39.6 billion.
Ben Francis
Another just-over-30 billionaire is Brit Ben Francis. At just 19, while delivering pizzas for Pizza Hut, Ben and a friend founded a company called Gymshark. They would buy supplements in bulk and then sell them for a small profit. They'd then transition to sewing and screen-printing fitness clothing, which led to the development of the popular British sportswear brand. Today, Francis is worth an extraordinary $1.3 billion and serves as the CEO of Gymshark.
Ben Francis, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Andy Fang
Andy Fang and Stanford roommate Stanley Tang began DoorDash in 2013 after noticing there were almost no food delivery companies in the Stanford area, save for Domino's and a Chinese restaurant. As the company's popularity soared, Fang made a huge profit, and the 31-year-old has a net worth of $1.2 billion today.
Collision Conf, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
Michal Strnad
At the end of the Cold War, Michal Strnad's father was a Czech scrapyard owner who repurposed Soviet munitions and created Czechoslovak Defense. Strnad inherited his father's company, now worth $4.4 billion.
EditorInfoBusiness, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Palmer Luckey
Palmer Luckey is a self-taught, self-made billionaire who made his fortune at 16 when he developed the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset. In 2014, he sold the technology to Facebook for $2 billion. The 31-year-old's net worth is around $2.3 billion.
Palmertech, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Stanley Tang
Stanley Tang, Andy Fang's Stanford roommate, is also 31. The DoorDash co-founder's estimated wealth is approximately $1.2 billion.
Stanley Tang shares three lessons from the founding story of DoorDash, Startup Archive
Gustav Magnar Witzøe
Gustav Magnar Witzøe began his fish farming career at 19, after being given nearly half of his father's fish farming business, SalMar, a Norwegian company. SalMar's stock prices have soared 800% in the last decade, making the 30-year-old worth approximately $4.2 billion. He is Norway's fifth-richest person and its biggest taxpayer.
Sophie Luise Fielmann
Sophie Fielmann is the heiress of Fielmann AG, an optometry company begun by her father, Günther. She is one of the richest women in the world and one of the richest German citizens. Holding one-third of Fielmann AG's stocks, Sophie Fielmann's stunning net worth is approximately $2.7 billion. Her brother, Marc Fielmann, owns and runs the company responsible for bringing cheap eyeglasses to Germany in the 1970s.
Wegavision, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Leonardo Maria Del Vecchio
Leonardo Maria Del Vecchio is the CEO of EssilorLuxottica, the largest eyeglasses company in the world. They own Ray-Ban. In 2022, following his father's death, Del Vecchio inherited a 12.5% stake (along with six other siblings) in Delfin, the family's holding company. This made him a billionaire at just 26 years old. Now, at 28, his current net worth is $4.7 billion.
Simona Granati - Corbis, Getty Images
Katharina Andresen
The great-great-great-grandfather of Katharina and Alexandra Andresen (see next) purchased a tobacco manufacturer in 1849 and built it into the family empire. Katharina and Alexandra's father sold the company in 2005 and put the money into Ferd, an investment firm from which Andresen's $1.7 billion wealth is earned.
RICHEST Woman In Norway Lifestyle Is Just Out Of..., Luxopia
Alexandra Andresen
Alexandra Andresen owns a 42% share in Ferd, the family's investment firm. With a net worth of $1.6 billion, she owns Andresen Dressage in Oslo and is a keen equestrian rider. She was even a three-time Norwegian junior champion.
Alexandra Andresen 50 Spørsmål S7E6, Hest360
Firoz Mistry
Firoz and his younger brother Zahan Mistry own 4.6% of an Indian conglomerate, Tata Sons. This conglomerate owns 29 companies and claims a revenue of $150 billion. Firoz has a slightly higher net worth than brother Zahan, with an extraordinary $4.9 billion to his name.
AroundTheGlobe, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
Dora Voigt De Assis
Dora Voigt De Assis is one of two Voight sisters with over $1 billion in net worth. Each sister owns 3.9% of WEG, an electrical manufacturing company founded in Brazil by their grandfather, Werner Ricardo Voight. WEG exports electrical motors and other products to more than 135 countries. Despite owning 3.9% of the company, at 26 years old, Dora Voight De Assis has nothing to do with its operations.
Nat fa, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
Zahan Mistry
The younger brother of Firoz, 25-year-old Zahan Mistry is one-half of the 8.12% ownership stake by the two brothers in the Tata conglomerate, and has a 25% stake in construction magnate Shapoorji-Pallonji Group. These combined investments gave the Irish citizen a net worth of $4.9 billion.
Arunthomasvtt, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Remi Dassault
Despite the tragic accident that resulted in his father's death in 2021, Remi Dassault is a 2.5% stakeholder in French aviation software company Dassault Systems and a 4.6% stakeholder in Dassault Aviation, making the 22-year-old worth an incredible $2.5 billion. Dassault's great-grandfather invented an airplane propeller used by the French during WWII, the beginning of Dassault Aviation.
Luca Del Vecchio
The half-brother of Leonardo Del Vecchio, Luca's 12.5% stake in Delfin is responsible for his net worth of $4.7 billion. At 22 years old, Luca Del Vecchio has no current role in EssilorLuxottica.
Ketounette, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Kim Jung-min
Nexon, a South Korean video game publisher, was founded in 1994 by Kim Jung-ju. In 2022, Jung-ju passed away at the age of 54, leaving Kim Jung-min to inherit 9% of the publishing company. Due to this inheritance, the 22-year-old Kim Jung-min's net worth is approximately $1.4 billion.
엔샷, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
Kevin David Lehman
Most fathers try to set their children up for success, but Kevin Lehman had it made from the day he was born. Gifted a 50% stake in one of Germany's largest pharmaceutical companies at 14 years old, Kevin Lehman has an extraordinary net worth of $1.4 billion today.
Rolf Kickuth, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Kim Jung-youn
At just 20 years old, Kim Jung-youn is one of the world's youngest billionaires. Sharing her father's fortune with her older sister, Kim Jung-min, Kim Jung-youn holds a 9% stake in Nexon and has an approximate net worth of $1.4 billion.
Clemente Del Vecchio
The youngest of the Del Vecchio clan to inherit their father's fortune, the 19-year-old Clemente definitely hit the DNA jackpot. Like his brothers, Clemente's 12.5% stake in Delfin nets him an extraordinary fortune: a net worth of $4.7 billion.
F Ceragioli, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
Livia Voight
The world's youngest billionaire is 19-year-old Livia Voight. Sister to Dora Voight De Assis and the youngest benefactor of her grandfather's company, WEG, Livia Voight's net worth is $1.1 billion. She's currently enrolled in university and is working towards a psychology degree. She'll be 20 in July 2025.
The Menendez Brothers' Murders
In one of the most shocking cases to ever hit the ultra-wealthy in the United States, Erik and Lyle Menendez were convicted of murdering their parents in 1989. They hired a technology expert to delete their father's will from a family computer (likely after learning they may have been cut out of it) and were both incensed by their desire to receive the multi-million dollar estate. Instead, they were given a life sentence and are currently serving it in San Diego, California.
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