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Youngest billionaires in America

December 14, 2022
Valerie Macon/AFP // Getty Images

Youngest billionaires in America

America's oldest billionaire is 101-year-old insurance magnate George Joseph. Of more than 700 American billionaires, the median age is 68. But there are young billionaires, too, with some having net worths ranging from $2.5 billion to $17.2 billion. The newest youngest billionaire is only 25 years old.

Stacker compiled data from Forbes' Real-Time Billionaires List as of Nov. 23, 2022, to list the youngest billionaires in America. Any ties in age were broken by net worth ranking. Some are heirs to family fortunes and even many of the world's "self-made" billionaires started off with advantages in life, including startup funds from family. Tech companies like WhatsApp, Snapchat, and Facebook have created many fortunes, although 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.

A few billionaires came from more humble beginnings. Some immigrated seeking better opportunities in America, while others were born to single parents who struggled to provide for them, and some never went to college or dropped out to pursue the ideas that would make them wealthy. Readers will notice that women are rare on this list, pointing to the continuing discrimination and sexism they face in boardrooms, as well as the broader inequality in access to capital often necessary to turn a good idea into big money.

Curious to see who the youngest billionaire is? Continue reading to find out who made the exclusive and enviable list.

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#50. Jan Koum

- Age: 46
- Net worth: $13.3 billion (#48 richest in the U.S., #130 richest in the world)
- Source of wealth: WhatsApp

Born in Ukraine, Jan Koum immigrated to the United States with his mother at the age of 16 in search of a better life. Koum, the co-founder and former CEO of WhatsApp, became a billionaire when Facebook purchased the mobile messaging app in 2014 for $19 billion. Ironically, when Koum left Yahoo in 2007, he applied to Facebook and Twitter, both of whom turned him down, which led to him starting WhatsApp.

#49. Justin Ishbia

- Age: 45
- Net worth: $2.2 billion (#465 richest in the U.S., #1,321 richest in the world)
- Source of wealth: Private equity

In 1986, Justin Ishbia's father founded United Wholesale Mortgage, a lender based in Michigan. The younger Ishbia has a 22% stake in the company, which has since gone public and in 2015, became the largest wholesale lender in the U.S. Ishbia also has a private equity firm in Chicago, Shore Capital Partners.

#48. Alejandro Santo Domingo

- Age: 45
- Net worth: $2.5 billion (#423 richest in the U.S., #1,164 richest in the world)
- Source of wealth: Beer

Alejandro Santo Domingo works at New York investment advisory firm Quadrant Capital Advisors as a senior managing director, but 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. Santo Domingo holds a 1.75% stake in the family beer fortune.

#47. Daniel Sundheim

- Age: 45
- Net worth: $2.9 billion (#374 richest in the U.S., #977 richest in the world)
- Source of wealth: Hedge funds

Daniel Sundheim is the founder and CFO of D1 Capital Partners LP, an investment firm that he started in 2018. Previously, Sundheim worked at Viking Global Investors for 15 years, and he started his career researching private equity investments and executing them at Bear Stearns' Merchant Banking Group.

#46. Jeff Green

- Age: 45
- Net worth: $3.0 billion (#367 richest in the U.S., #959 richest in the world)
- Source of wealth: Digital advertising

Jeff Green, chairman and CEO of The Trade Desk, attended the University of Southern California 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.

#45. Scott Shleifer

- Age: 45
- Net worth: $3.5 billion (#322 richest in the U.S., #806 richest in the world)
- Source of wealth: Private equity

Scott Shleifer is the founder of the private equity unit at Tiger Global Management, where he is also the Managing Director. Some of the investments he has made have been in Chinese companies, including JD.com, the ride-hailing app Didi Chuxing, and the e-commerce company Meituan.

#44. Ryan Smith

- Age: 44
- Net worth: $1.5 billion (#620 richest in the U.S., #1,908 richest in the world)
- Source of wealth: Cloud computing

Qualtrics was acquired by SAP for $8 billion in cash just days before its scheduled IPO, making 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.

#43. Andres Santo Domingo

- Age: 44
- Net worth: $1.6 billion (#588 richest in the U.S., #1,775 richest in the world)
- 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. Andres 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.

#42. Bom Kim

- Age: 44
- Net worth: $3.4 billion (#327 richest in the U.S., #826 richest in the world)
- Source of wealth: Online retailing

While Bom Kim was born in South Korea, he was raised in the U.S. and attended Harvard Business school, although 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. Coupang raised $4.6 billion and was valued at $109 billion in its U.S. initial public offering, one of the biggest IPOs in 2021.

#41. Robert Pera

- Age: 44
- Net worth: $17.2 billion (#40 richest in the U.S., #95 richest in the world)
- Source of wealth: Wireless networking gear

Robert Pera began working at Apple in 2003, and by 2005 he 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.

#40. John Bicket

- Age: 42
- Net worth: $1.1 billion (#694 richest in the U.S., #2,279 richest in the world)
- Source of wealth: Sensor systems

Currently the co-founder and chief technology officer of Samsara, John Bicket also co-founded Meraki. The company came out of research Bicket did while a Ph.D. student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Cisco acquired Meraki for $1.2 billion in cash, although it is actually Samsara that made Bricket a billionaire.

#39. Kim Kardashian

- Age: 42
- Net worth: $1.8 billion (#527 richest in the U.S., #1,559 richest in the world)
- Source of wealth: Shapewear, cosmetics, reality tv

Kim Kardashian, an entrepreneur and television personality, gained international fame after sharing her personal life on the reality TV series "Keeping Up with the Kardashians." Her popularity has grown thanks to social media, where Kardashian promotes her many endorsement deals and various business ventures, including Skims, her shapewear company.

#38. Orion Hindawi

- Age: 42
- Net worth: $2.0 billion (#492 richest in the U.S., #1,414 richest in the world)
- Source of wealth: Software

Orion Hindawi followed in his father's footsteps by attending the University of California, Berkeley, although he dropped out. With his father, David, he co-founded Tanium, a cybersecurity firm, in 2007. After a $150 million financing round in October 2020, the company's valuation was more than $9 billion.

#37. Sean Parker

- Age: 42
- Net worth: $2.8 billion (#387 richest in the U.S., #1,033 richest in the world)
- Source of wealth: Facebook

Sean Parker was highly successful at an early age, co-founding the file-sharing service Napster at age 19, and revolutionizing how people consumed music. At 24, he was Facebook's founding president. Since these early successes, Parker has built up his net worth over time through a variety of business interests such as Spotify.

#36. Mat Ishbia

- Age: 42
- Net worth: $5.2 billion (#196 richest in the U.S., #498 richest in the world)
- Source of wealth: Mortgage lender

Mat Ishbia, the brother of Justin Ishbia, also made his wealth because of United Wholesale Mortgage. Mat Ishbia is chief executive of the company and in 2021, the wholesale lender reported $2.7 billion in revenue.

#35. Paul Sciarra

- Age: 41
- Net worth: $1.3 billion (#649 richest in the U.S., #2,065 richest in the world)
- Source of wealth: Pinterest

In 2010, Paul Sciarra co-founded Pinterest, a photo-bookmarking website, with Evan Sharp and Ben Silbermann. Although he left Pinterest two years later, Sciarra held onto about 7% of the company, which made him a billionaire. Currently, he is the executive chairman of Joby, a maker of electric air taxis.

#34. Tope Awotona

- Age: 41
- Net worth: $1.4 billion (#643 richest in the U.S., #2,016 richest in the world)
- Source of wealth: Software

In 2013, Tope Awotona, a Nigerian American entrepreneur, started Calendly, his software for online appointment scheduling. It would not be until the COVID-19 pandemic, however, that Calendly really found success. Awotona's story is an inspiring one, as he spent the last of his savings on Calendly after his first three startups failed.

#33. Richard Saghian

- Age: 41
- Net worth: $2.1 billion (#486 richest in the U.S., #1,405 richest in the world)
- Source of wealth: Fast fashion

Iranian American Richard Saghian started the fast fashion company Fashion Nova in 2006. Every week, Fashion Nova releases hundreds of new styles of clothing, which are promoted by celebrities and influencers on Instagram. Fashion Nova's annual sales are now greater than $1 billion.

#32. Tyler Winklevoss

- Age: 41
- Net worth: $2.1 billion (#483 richest in the U.S., #1,400 richest in the world)
- Source of wealth: Cryptocurrency

Tyler Winklevoss, along with his brother Cameron Winklevoss, gained a majority of their wealth through cryptocurrency. After reaching a settlement of $65 million from suing Mark Zuckerberg for having stolen what they claim was their idea for a social media platform that became Facebook, they used the money to invest in the cryptocurrency Bitcoin. In 2012, the Winklevoss twins launched the venture capital firm Winklevoss Capital, and in 2014, they launched Gemini, a cryptocurrency exchange.

#31. Cameron Winklevoss

- Age: 41
- Net worth: $2.1 billion (#482 richest in the U.S., #1,399 richest in the world)
- Source of wealth: Cryptocurrency

The investments Cameron Winklevoss has made with his brother launched them onto Forbes' Crypto Rich List in 2018. Gemini is known for being one of the cryptocurrency industry's most trusted and secure platforms for buying and selling cryptocurrency, although with recent controversies in the industry, the company's staying power remains to be seen.

#30. Joe Gebbia

- Age: 41
- Net worth: $6.5 billion (#146 richest in the U.S., #369 richest in the world)
- Source of wealth: Airbnb

Joe Gebbia co-founded Airbnb in 2008 with business partners Nathan Blecharczyk and Brian Chesky in Gebbia's San Francisco apartment. The company now offers more than 6 million active listings worldwide, from apartments to luxury yurts.

#29. Brian Chesky

- Age: 41
- Net worth: $7.5 billion (#104 richest in the U.S., #286 richest in the world)
- Source of wealth: Airbnb

Before becoming the co-founder and CEO of lodging rental giant Airbnb, Brian Chesky attended the Rhode Island School of Design. In December 2020, the company's valuation jumped past $100 billion in its U.S. initial public offering.

#28. Anthony Casalena

- Age: 40
- Net worth: $1.0 billion (#716 richest in the U.S., #2,433 richest in the world)
- Source of wealth: Software

In 2003, Anthony Casalena founded Squarespace, the website builder, when he was still a college student. He is also the CEO of the company and has approximately 30% ownership of Squarespace, which went public in 2021 after many traditional brick-and-mortar retailers moved their operations online during the COVID-19 pandemic.

#27. Leonid Radvinsky

- Age: 40
- Net worth: $1.1 billion (#708 richest in the U.S., #2,386 richest in the world)
- Source of wealth: E-commerce

After founding the online entertainment company OnlyFans in 2016, Ukraine-born Leonid Radvinsky purchased a stake in the company in 2018. Now, he is the company's majority owner as well as director. As of September 2022, OnlyFans had paid Radvinsky more than $500 million.

#26. Sanjit Biswas

- Age: 40
- Net worth: $1.2 billion (#689 richest in the U.S., #2,267 richest in the world)
- Source of wealth: Sensor systems

Sanjit Biswas holds degrees from Stanford and MIT and is the co-founder of Meraki and Samsara. Biswas is the CEO of San Francisco-based Samsara, which is primarily responsible for making him a billionaire.

#25. Ben Silbermann

- Age: 40
- Net worth: $1.5 billion (#593 richest in the U.S., #1,797 richest in the world)
- Source of wealth: Social media

The co-founder and CEO of 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 Pinterest, a website that allows users to save ideas for future purchases.

#24. Lynsi Snyder

- Age: 40
- Net worth: $4.2 billion (#258 richest in the U.S., #645 richest in the world)
- Source of wealth: In-N-Out Burger

Lynsi Snyder's grandparents founded the iconic West Coast fast food 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.

#23. Scott Duncan

- Age: 40
- Net worth: $6.6 billion (#139 richest in the U.S., #353 richest in the world)
- Source of wealth: Pipelines

Scott Duncan is the heir to his family fortune. His father, Dan Duncan, founded the 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, 2020, the company's asset base increased from $715 million to more than $64 billion.

#22. Jared Isaacman

- Age: 39
- Net worth: $1.5 billion (#619 richest in the U.S., #1,905 richest in the world)
- Source of wealth: Payment processing

As founder and CEO of Shift4 Payments, Jared Isaacman owns 38% of the company's shares. The payment processing firm was not Isaacman's first venture, though. Draken International, a defense firm he founded in 2011, earned him a nine-figure sum when he sold a majority stake in the company in 2019 to Wall Street firm Blackstone.

#21. Drew Houston

- Age: 39
- Net worth: $1.7 billion (#564 richest in the U.S., #1,678 richest in the world)
- 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 was appointed to Facebook's board of directors.

#20. Brian Armstrong

- Age: 39
- Net worth: $1.9 billion (#525 richest in the U.S., #1,553 richest in the world)
- Source of wealth: Cryptocurrency

Brian Armstrong's cryptocurrency business Coinbase was valued at an estimated $68 billion in March 2021, prior to its direct listing on the NASDAQ. Achieving billionaire status led Armstrong to philanthropy. In December 2018, he signed the Giving Pledge, vowing to donate much of his fortune to philanthropic causes.

#19. Nathan Blecharczyk

- Age: 39
- Net worth: $6.6 billion (#143 richest in the U.S., #360 richest in the world)
- Source of wealth: Airbnb

Nathan Blecharczyk's sizable fortune is a direct result of co-founding the 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 up to $1 million.

#18. Kevin Systrom

- Age: 38
- Net worth: $1.2 billion (#685 richest in the U.S., #2,257 richest in the world)
- 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, when he built a photo-sharing site for his fraternity brothers.

#17. Dustin Moskovitz

- Age: 38
- Net worth: $6.5 billion (#147 richest in the U.S., #372 richest in the world)
- 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 the workflow software company Asana, though most of his wealth comes from Facebook. He still holds an estimated 2% stake in the company.

#16. Mark Zuckerberg

- Age: 38
- Net worth: $40.8 billion (#17 richest in the U.S., #27 richest in the world)
- 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 10 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.

#15. LeBron James

- Age: 37
- Net worth: $1.0 billion (#710 richest in the U.S., #2,408 richest in the world)
- Source of wealth: Basketball

LeBron James has made his wealth as a professional basketball player. As a teenager, he was the #1 overall pick by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2003 NBA draft and has won multiple titles, Olympic gold medals, and individual awards. James has been just as successful in the boardroom, making deals that give him equity in many rising brands, not to mention lucrative deals with Nike and other big-name companies.

#14. Josh Kushner

- Age: 37
- Net worth: $2.0 billion (#509 richest in the U.S., #1,469 richest in the world)
- Source of wealth: Venture capital

Josh Kushner is a businessman and entrepreneur who co-founded Brazil's biggest social media company, Vostu, where he is also the CFO. In addition to his work with Vostu, Kushner founded Thrive Capital, where he is the managing partner. Kushner became a billionaire after selling off part of Thrive Capital and other venture investments.

#13. Lukas Walton

- Age: 36
- Net worth: $22.8 billion (#28 richest in the U.S., #61 richest in the world)
- Source of wealth: Walmart

Lukas Walton is a member of one of the wealthiest families in America. His grandfather, Sam Walton, founded mega-superstore Walmart. Walton acquired his fortune under tragic circumstances when his father, John Walton, died in a plane crash.

#12. Zach Perret

- Age: 35
- Net worth: $1.5 billion (#603 richest in the U.S., #1,850 richest in the world)
- Source of wealth: Fintech

After the passing of the Dodd-Frank Act, which allows consumers to access their banking data, Zach Perret, along with William Hockey, co-founded Plaid. Plaid is a technology that connects money-moving apps with banking data. Since its founding, Plaid's customers have included Venmo, Robinhood, Coinbase, Microsoft, and Shopify.

#11. Nikil Viswanathan

- Age: 35
- Net worth: $2.1 billion (#476 richest in the U.S., #1,375 richest in the world)
- Source of wealth: Blockchain technology

Nikil Viswanathan is the co-founder of Alchemy, a blockchain development platform where he is also CEO. Before working at Alchemy, Viswanathan was the co-founder and CEO of Down To Lunch, a meet-up app that was popular among college students.

#10. Bobby Murphy

- Age: 34
- Net worth: $2.5 billion (#434 richest in the U.S., #1,194 richest in the world)
- Source of wealth: Snapchat

The 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 also invested millions in California real estate.

#9. William Hockey

- Age: 33
- Net worth: $1.4 billion (#628 richest in the U.S., #1,954 richest in the world)
- Source of wealth: Fintech

Along with Zach Perret, William Hockey co-founded Plaid, where he served as its CTO and president. Hockey is no longer working at Plaid and is now the co-CEO and co-founder of Column, the only nationally chartered bank to enable builders and developers to make new financial products.

#8. Joe Lau

- Age: 33
- Net worth: $2.1 billion (#476 richest in the U.S., #1,375 richest in the world)
- Source of wealth: Blockchain, technology

Along with Nikil Viswanathan, Joe Lau co-founded Alchemy, the software that powers Web3 blockchain-based companies. In February 2022, Alchemy was valued at $10.2 billion. Lau owns an estimated 26% stake in Alchemy.

#7. Devin Finzer

- Age: 32
- Net worth: $1.3 billion (#651 richest in the U.S., #2,073 richest in the world)
- Source of wealth: Online marketplace

Devin Finzer is the co-founder of OpenSea, where he is also the CEO. OpenSea is a decentralized marketplace where users can collect, sell, and explore non-fungible tokens.

#6. Evan Spiegel

- Age: 32
- Net worth: $2.7 billion (#395 richest in the U.S., #1,078 richest in the world)
- Source of wealth: Snapchat

The flashier co-founder of Snapchat, Evan Spiegel married supermodel Miranda Kerr in 2017. Spiegel dropped out of Stanford to start Snapchat, although he finally graduated from the university in 2018 with a degree in product design. Both Spiegel and fellow Snapchat co-founder Bobby Murphy own an estimated 18% of the company.

#5. Alex Atallah

- Age: 30
- Net worth: $1.3 billion (#651 richest in the U.S., #2,073 richest in the world)
- Source of wealth: Online marketplace

Along with Devin Finzer, Alex Atallah co-founded OpenSea, where he is also the CTO. In January 2021, the company was valued at $13.3 billion after a funding round.

#4. Palmer Luckey

- Age: 30
- Net worth: $1.3 billion (#645 richest in the U.S., #2,031 richest in the world)
- Source of wealth: Virtual reality

Palmer Luckey founded Oculus VR, a virtual reality company, back in 2012. He sold this company in 2014 to Facebook, getting $2 billion in stock and cash in return. In 2017, Luckey founded Anduril, a defense startup, which in 2021 had an estimated revenue of $150 million.

#3. Gary Wang

- Age: 29
- Net worth: $4.2 billion (#257 richest in the U.S., #644 richest in the world)
- Source of wealth: Cryptocurrency exchange

Along with Sam Bankman-Fried, Gary Wang co-founded FTX, a cryptocurrency exchange, where he is also CTO. Bankman-Fried filed for bankruptcy protection for FTX and its operations in the U.S. in late 2022 after FTX collapsed, putting Wang's future wealth in doubt.

#2. Ryan Breslow

- Age: 28
- Net worth: $2.0 billion (#504 richest in the U.S., #1,449 richest in the world)
- Source of wealth: E-commerce software

Ryan Breslow is the co-founder of Bolt Financials, where he is its executive chairman. Additionally, he is the co-founder and chairman of Love Health. Breslow has gained a large amount of wealth in a short amount of time because Bolt Financials' valuation went from $250 million to $11 billion in about three years.

#1. Alexandr Wang

- Age: 25
- Net worth: $1.0 billion (#727 richest in the U.S., #2,467 richest in the world)
- Source of wealth: Artificial intelligence

Along with Lucy Guo, Alexandr Wang co-founded Scale AI, a data platform for artificial intelligence that provides training data for machine learning teams. Those using Scale AI's technology include the U.S. military, SAP, Lyft, PayPal, Toyota, and General Motors.

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