Earning a billion dollars is something most of us will never achieve in a lifetime. Even the most famous actors are not even able to attain such a feat. Forbes recently released their billionaires list and a total of 1,645 have earned enough to be included on it. Of those, only 31 are under the age of 40. Check out the top 12 earners under the age of 40. I am sure you will know of at least one of them. I will give you a hint: Social Media mogul.
12. John Arnold, 39 – $2.9 billion
Arnold began working at Enron in 1995. He made the company $750 million in 2001, the same year the scandal took place that would eventually lead to the company’s bankruptcy. Arnold would then create Centaurus Advisors. This is where he would achieve billionaire status. In 2012, he announced that he would be retiring at the age of 38.
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11. Rahel Blocher, 38 – $2.9 billion
Blocher is one of the largest shareholders in EMS-Chemie, a Swiss chemical manufacturer company. The other largest shareholder is her sister Magdalena. The family has run the company for years. In 2004, Blocher’s father Christoph left the company to serve in the Swiss government. He evenly split his stock between his four kids. Magdelana is the current CEO, while Rahel has no part in the workings of the company.
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10. Lawrence Ho, 37 – $3 billion
Lawrence Ho did not need the help from his parents to inherit his billions. The eldest son of businessman Stanley Ho is the CEO of Melco International Development Limited and Melco Crown Entertainment Limited, which is a “Fabulous 50” company on Forbes Asia. The company really started to succeed when they began to focus on entertainment, mainly casinos and other gaming establishments. Ho has two casinos currently in the development stages that will make him more money once they are completed in 2015.
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9. Yvonne Bauer, 36 – $3.5 million
Bauer runs her family’s company, Bauer Media Group. The company has been in the Bauer family for five generations and publishes over 600 magazines in 37 countries. Two of the more popular U.S. magazines are In Touch and Woman’s World. Bauer headed up the $500 million purchase of ACP Magazines and has added Woman’s Day as another top magazine. The company also has a strong presence in radio.
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8. Albert von Thurn und Taxis
Albert first made Forbe’s billionaire list at the tender age of 8, after his father passed away. He did not inherit his fortune until 2001 at the age of 18. His inheritance includes real estate, art, and German woodland. After high school, Albert continued his education is theology and economics at the University of Edinburgh. He is also a race-car driver and winner of the 2010 GT Championship ADAC GT Masters.
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7. Eduardo Saverin, 31 – $4.1 billion
Many of Facebook’s co-founders are on this list and Saverin is one of them. Saverin is a Brazil native, but is now currently residing in Singapore after he renounced his U.S. citizenship back in 2012. The reason he moved to the United States was because his name was found on a list of targets to be kidnapped by a Brazilian gang. Saverin has stayed out of the public eye for the last few years, but still possesses less than 5% of Facebook’s shares.
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6. Scott Duncan, 31 – $6.3 billion
Duncan is one of four heirs to a fortune made from an energy-pipeline that runs for a total of 51,000 miles. In the last year, Duncan earned another $1.2 billion after a rise in the price of stock of Enterprise Product Partners. When Duncan’s father died in 2010, the state of Texas had a one year lapse on estate taxes. This allowed Duncan and his siblings to inherit the money tax-free instead of being taxed at 45%.
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5. Jan Koum, 38 – $6.8 billion
Koum is the co-founder of WhatsApp, a mobile messaging application that was acquired by Facebook in February 2014. The application was created in 2009 and was the very first app that allowed people to send texts to different countries free of charge. It currently has 430 million active users, making it bigger than Skype or SnapChat. Koum is from Ukraine but moved to California and graduated from San Jose State University and was hired by Yahoo! in 1997.
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4. Dustin Moskovitz, 29 – $6.8 Billion
Moskovitz was recently booted from the top spot as the youngest billionaire by a 24-year-old, however he still is worth$5.5 billion more than Perenna Kei. Moslovitz was Mark Zuckerberg’s old roomie and co-founder of Facebook, where he was the first Chief Technology Officer. He parted ways with the social media site in 2008 to start a software company called Asana. Moskovitz still has 5% stake at Facebook, which is why he is worth so much.
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3. Yang Huiyan, 32 – $6.9 billion
Huiyan is the richest woman in china and the richest billionaire female under the age of 40. She inherited a majority of her billions from her father Yah Guoqiang, the founder of Country Garden in 1997. The company’s profits have increased due to Huiyan taking the business to other countries including Malaysia and Australia.
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2. Alejandro Santo Domingo Davila, 37 – $11.1 billion
Alejandro, along with his family, inherited his earning from his father Julio who passed away in 2011. Julio was the owner of Bavaria Brewery and traded the company for 15% of SABMiller, which is the second largest brewer in the world. Alejandro is also a managing director at Quadrant Capital Advisors in New York and a chairmen of Valorem, a company that has a television channel and film studio.
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1. Mark Zuckerberg, 29 – $28.5 billion
Mark Zuckerberg is probably the most recognizable name on the list. His company, Facebook, recently celebrated its 10-year anniversary. The site has over 1 billion users and shares of the stock have skyrocketed 130% in the last few years. This huge increase made his net worth double during that time. Zuckerberg is also a spokesperson for science and technology education and campaigns for immigration reform.
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