At the end of any year it’s time to start tallying up totals to see who came out on top – in so many categories and 2016 was no different. As we keep chugging along into the New Year, it’s fun to look back and see who conquered the prior year with a vengeance. And, when it comes to “America’s Richest Entrepreneurs Under 40,” Forbes has that covered. It’s a fun one to sift through and learn a little something too about just how creative people are getting when it comes to making it big. If you’ve caught the entrepreneurial bug like I did at a young age, you’ll understand just how inspiring this really is. Here are a few excerpts and some of my favorites from the list, but be sure to take in the full article here.
America’s Richest Entrepreneurs Under 40
Here’s a few of the facts via Forbes:
- The minimum net worth to make Forbes second annual list of wealthiest entrepreneurs under 40 dropped by nearly one third to $270 million, from $400 million a year ago, as four well known entrepreneurs aged out of the elite group including Uber’s Travis Kalanick, Twitter’s Jack Dorsey and What’s App’s Jan Koum.
- Newcomers to the 2016 ranks include NBA stars Kobe Bryant and LeBron James and boxer Floyd Mayweather as well as pop star Beyonce and actress-turned-consumer products marketer Jessica Alba.
- The latter are the only two women among the top 40 under 40.
- All five of these superstars have net worths that range from $275 million to $350 million, meaning they made the cut this year in part thanks to the lower net worth cutoff.
- The richest under 40 newcomer is Bryan Sheffield, who has struck it rich in the Texas oil patch. Sheffield is worth $1.45 billion.
- Another new billionaire is Kevin Systrom, cofounder of photo-sharing app Instagram. He is one of just two new tech tycoons to make their debut this year.
- Number one on this list of youngest by a wide margin is Mark Zuckerberg, whose Facebook shares and net worth soared to new heights. He is now worth $50 billion, up $2.9 billion from a year ago. That’s $40 billion-plus more than the next person, his Facebook cofounder Dustin Moskovitz. (incredible!)
The two Facebook co-founders Mark Zuckerberg and Dustin Moskovitz took slots one and two. Here are a few other highlights:
#3. Garrett Camp, Uber Technologies
#4. Nathan Belcharczyk, Airbnb
#10. Evan Spiegel, Snapchat
#12. Ben Silbermann, Pinterest
#33. Kobe Bryant, Basketball
#34. Jessica Alba, Online Retail
Tied for #34. Floyd Mayweather, Boxing
#38. Beyonce Knowles, Music
#39. LeBron James, Basketball
Can you believe just two ladies made this list and they happen to be two of our favorites? Nice work Jessica and Beyonce! I find this list completely inspiring, especially when so much of it is founded on creative and new ideas in the technology world. It’s a true testament to the fact that times have really changed. Are you inspired by this group of young, creative entrepreneurs?
