While Mark Zuckerberg holds the record by achieving billionaire status at 23, there are others who, like him, could retire very young and live for generations without having to work.
Most people spend their lives working and saving, or dreaming of retirement, but these 8 Americans managed to become not just millionaires, but billionaires, while still very young. They, their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren can live without working, though they remain active in their fields.
Mark Zuckerberg: 23
Mark Elliot Zuckerberg is one of the creators and founders of Facebook (since 2021, Meta Platforms). To develop the network, Zuckerberg had the support of his Harvard University classmates, computer science coordinator, and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes. The Winklevoss twins, Tyler and Cameron, both rowing champions, and their friend Divya Narendra claimed the idea, as depicted in the movie “The Social Network” (2010). The trio, who founded a company called ConnectU, alleged that Zuckerberg stole their idea but couldn’t prove it.
Since 2010, Time magazine has named Zuckerberg among the 100 richest and most influential people in the world as part of its Person of the Year issue. By mid-2018, Forbes ranked him as the fifth richest person in the world.
Evan Spiegel: 25
Evan Thomas Spiegel (born June 4, 1990, in Los Angeles) is one of the founders and CEO of Snap Inc., which he co-founded as Snapchat Inc. with Bobby Murphy and Reggie Brown while they were students at Stanford University. Spiegel was named the youngest billionaire in 2015 and by 2019 remained among the richest young people in the United States.
Larry Page: 30
Lawrence “Larry” Edward Page, born in Michigan in 1973, is the co-creator of Google (now Alphabet) along with Sergey Brin. He was ranked as the ninth richest person in the world. Page is known for creating the “PageRank” algorithm used by the Google search engine, which grew by 95%. He currently serves as the CEO of Alphabet, a large conglomerate of software and data center companies that includes Google.
Bill Gates: 31
Bill Gates, an icon in the tech industry and one of the pioneers of the personal computer revolution, was born on October 28, 1955, in Seattle, Washington. In 1986, at the age of 31, he became a billionaire. Gates is the co-founder of Microsoft, along with his late childhood friend Paul Allen. In 1986, Gates was named one of the “50 Most Eligible Bachelors” by Good Housekeeping. He married Melinda French on January 1, 1994, and they had three children: Jennifer Katharine (1996), Rory John (1999), and Phoebe Adele (2002). The family lived in their home overlooking Lake Washington in Medina. Although the couple is now separated, they still have a foundation together.
Sergey Brin: 31
Sergey Mikhailovich Brin, born in Moscow in 1973 and later naturalized as an American, co-founded Google with Larry Page. Together, Brin and Page still control about 16% of the company. He is also one of the world’s richest individuals, with a personal fortune estimated at $101 billion in July 2023. Brin emigrated to the United States from the Soviet Union at age six. He earned a degree from the University of Maryland, following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather by studying mathematics and computer science. After graduation, he enrolled at Stanford University for a Ph.D. in computer science, where he met Page, with whom he built the search engine.
Rihanna: 33
Robyn Rihanna Fenty, born on February 20, 1988, in Saint Michael, Barbados, rose to fame in 2005 with her debut album, “Music of the Sun.” She has released eight albums, with “Anti” (2016) being her latest, and her fans have been eagerly awaiting new music for years. In August 2021, Rihanna officially became a billionaire. According to Forbes’ real-time billionaire list, she has a net worth of $1.4 billion.
Tiger Woods: 33
Born in 1975, the golfer is considered one of the greatest of all time, alongside Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer. Woods started playing golf at age three and has numerous achievements to his name. Forbes estimates that Woods has earned $1.7 billion over his 26-year career. He has won more prize money ($121 million) than any other professional golfer in history, but tournament winnings account for less than 10% of his total earnings. Most of his income comes from endorsement deals with brands like Nike, TaylorMade, and Monster Energy. Woods also has a growing golf course design business, a television deal with Discovery’s GolfTV streaming service, and a recently delayed memoir from HarperCollins.
Jeff Bezos: 35
Jeffrey Preston Bezos, born in 1964 in New Mexico, studied Computer Science and Electrical Engineering at Princeton University, graduating in 1986. He worked for a fiber optics company and later at a Wall Street investment firm. In 1994, he struck out on his own by founding an online bookstore called Cadabra.com, officially launched on July 16, 1995, with an initial investment of $1,300,000. His parents also heavily invested in his venture. The rest of his story is well-known.
