The Internet revolution has seen the rise of many young and new billionaires in a short space of time. Below is a list of the current top 10 Internet billionaires according to the latest Forbes ranking.
- Lawrence Page – $17.5bn – at 37 years old, Larry is the co-founder of Google Inc .
- Sergey Brin – $17.5bn – Brin, 36, also co-founded Google Inc. Page and Brin both ran Google as co-president until 2001 when they hired Eric Schmidt as Chairman and Chief Executive of the organisation.
- Jeffrey Bezos – $12.3bn – Jeff Bezos is the founder of Amazon.com. Now aged 46, Jeff worked as a financial analyst before founding the organisation in 1994.
- Eric Schmidt – $6.3bn – Schmidt, 54, is the Chairman/CEO of Google Inc. He was a former member of Apple Inc.’s Board of Directors.
- Masayoshi Son – $5.9bn – Son is a 52 years old Korean-Japanese businessman. He is the founder and current CEO of Japanese Internet and telecom firm SoftBank.
- Pierre Omidyar – $5.2bn – Pierre ,42, founded eBay, the most popular auction site on the Internet, in 1995 when he was 28 years old. He is now aged, 42.
- Hiroshi Mikitani – $4.8bn – Mikitani, 45, is the founder of Japan’s largest Internet shopping mall service, “Rakuten Ichiba”.
- Charles Schwab – $4.7bn – Born in 1937, Charles R. Schwab, Jr. is the founder and former CEO of Schwab corporation, one of the world’s biggest online investment brokers.
- Mark Zuckerberg – $4.0bn – at 25, Zuckerberg is the youngest Internet billionaire in the top ten list. He is the founder of social-networking site, Facebook, which began in February 2004.
- Ma Huateng – $3.6bn – Huateng, 38, is the founder of Tencent QQ – China’s most popular online chat service.
Zuckerberg’s achievement is really mind-blowing and inspiring. A billionaire at a very young age.
Charles Schwab’s, Schwab Corp.is what made online investment popular. awesome guy!
Well, it IS quite amazing what lengths people will go to to defend themselves when they are in the wrong.
Why can’t I be on that list T_T
Zuckerberg got so lucky with facebook.
Amazing the amount of money these folks have generated simply from having a great idea. Don’t misunderstand me, I realize there is a staggering amount of work involved in implementing and maintaining the projects they have created, but still their entire empires are virtual ones. It’s a testament to the strategic position the internet has achieved in the global economy in such a short time.
I admire Jeff Bezos the most. Amazon is just amazing. I remember reading about his story and basically he decided to do it because he was into the principle of “regret reduction”. It’s the idea that you should do things in order to avoid regret later in life for having not tried something. It’s amazing that in his case, the quality choice to ‘take action’ netted him so much success.
Regarding facebook, yeah, it’s cool and all, and the success story is amazing, (and, it is the 2nd most visited site on the web second only to Google) – but I don’t believe that Facebook is necessarily un-topple-able. I mean, Myspace was on top and it totally tanked. Who’s to say that Facebook couldn’t do the same thing? But, I think that Amazon is here to stay forever.
Great list of BIG earners. I wonder who will be the next to join this crew of internet millionaires?
I think these guys actually earned their fortune, in contrary to others who made their money on crappy useless products, no names mentioned. These people have created products that you need.
Inspiring post of those who continued to perservere even though the market is very competitive. A passionate entrepreneur wins the market not a businessman.
Reading through this list.. it is amazing to see how all these guys made billions with just an ‘idea’. Nothing really tangible that was offered.. but through the internet was able to cultivate their ideas into billions. Makes you want to work even harder for an idea that you may have and try it.. It can’t hurt. Lol…
All I can say is wow!! congrats to all of you..
Well, Thanks for sharing an informative post. All Internet Entrepreneurs have their own story of success but the story of Mark Zuckerberg is truly impressive and encourages the young students who wish to be the billionaire in their young ages.
The list makes one think who’ll be the next to join it and what age he’ll be. Right now Zuckerberg reigns as the youngest Internet billionaire in the top ten. I’ve never seen The Social Network, but I do know Zuckerberg started it when he was just a student. And look where it’s gotten now!
I recently checked the Forbes ranking for Mark Zuckerberg and see he’s now amassed a fortune of ~13.5B. Pretty amazing how rich he’s become in the year or so since you posted this.
@Tammy, I was thinking the same thing as I was reading through the list and realized that the blog was written over year ago. I can’t believe how popular Facebook has become. I still remember when it was only allowed for college networks.
Its great to find another tech enthusatic mind like mine. You certainly are a tech geek and I’m bookmarking your blog to come back and read more awesome articles in future. Keep writing 🙂
By the way, I happen to know Hiroshi Mikitani — he is in #7 spot of your list. He is a nice guy but never knew he was rich too 😀
Hard work, passion, luck,resource, right timing, right decisions…etc all contribute to success. Its not easy to become a millionaire but I think once one makes the first million it is not difficult to multiply thereon. Also in order to play a million worth game one ought to have resources as well. Mark Zuckerberg is a great example for the younger generation.
Inspiring post folks, inspiring post 🙂
just a dream of millions to make into that list.. Only one succeeds . I have got to start taking things srsly. Hope i will reach their soon.
I’m with you andrey. I hope we both get their soon. Success is such a hard prey to catch!