Between election meddling and data privacy issues, social media companies may be more controversial than ever. Still, nearly half of the Under 40 billionaires on this year’s Forbes 400 list hail from such companies.
Five of the 12 billionaires under 40 (all of whom are worth at least $2.1 billion, this year’s minimum) derived their fortunes from social apps, namely
The largest under-40 fortune is also tied to social media. Facebook’s 34-year-old founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who first debuted on The Forbes 400 at age 23, is the fourth richest person in the country, worth $61 billion. That is more than half of the under 40’s combined worth of $117.5 billion. Aside from Zuckerberg and the Snap cofounders, the other two social media billionaires are Facebook cofounder Dustin Moskovitz (age 34) and Facebook’s first president, Sean Parker (age 38).
A turbulent year for Facebook and Snap took a toll on the companies’ stocks and the founders’ net worths. Facebook shares are down 4% in the wake of slowing revenue growth and data security issues, such as revelations early this year that Cambridge Analytica, the firm that helped run President Donald Trump’s election campaign, improperly obtained the data of 87 million Facebook users. Zuckerberg’s net worth also declined because the philanthropic and advocacy entity he runs with his wife, Priscilla Chan, sold some of its shares. Snap shares fell further, plummeting 28% from a year ago after of a rocky app redesign this year and intense competition from Snapchat look-a-like Instagram (owned by Facebook), which has more than twice as many daily users as Snapchat’s 187 million. As a result, the fortunes of all five social media billionaires tumbled, most notably, Zuckerberg’s, whose fortune fell by $10 billion.
Altogether the under 40 group underperformed other list members. Their combined net worth of $117.5 billion is 15% less than it was a year ago, at a time when the total net worth of The Forbes 400 members increased by more than 7%.
Still, those hoping to strike it rich at a young age probably have the best chance in California, where 10 of the youngest live, and in tech, where 9 of the 12 found their pot of gold. Beyond the social media founders, techies in the group include Airbnb cofounders Nathan Blecharczk (age 35), Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia (both 37), who all debuted on The Forbes 400 in 2015.
The remaining three under 40s inherited their wealth: Lukas Walton, heir to
Four of the under 40 billionaires who were on The Forbes 400 last year either aged out or dropped off the list. Robert Pera, founder and CEO of wireless equipment maker Ubiquiti, turned 40 in June. Beer heirs Andres Santo Domingo and Julio Mario Santo Domingo III are also gone: Andres turned 40, while his cousin Julio’s fortuned dropped to an estimated $1.9 billion, meaning he fell short of the cut-off. Rishi Shah (age 32), former CEO of healthcare advertising network Outcome Health, fell off the list after Forbes lowered our estimate of Outcome Health’s value. He is the only person from last year’s Forbes 400 to now be worth less than $1 billion.
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Here are all of The Forbes 400 members under the age of 40 in net worth order:
Mark Zuckerberg, Age 34
Source: self-made, Facebook
Net worth: $61 billion
Lukas Walton, Age 32
Source: inherited, Walton
Net worth: $15.3 billion
Dustin Moskovitz, Age 34
Source: self-made, Facebook
Net worth: $10.9 billion
Scott Duncan, Age 35
Source: inherited, pipelines
Net worth: $6.2 billion
Nathan Blecharczyk, Age 35
Source: self-made, Airbnb
Net worth: $3.7 billion
Brian Chesky, Age 37
Source: self-made, Airbnb
Net worth: $3.7 billion
Joe Gebbia, Age 37
Source: self-made, Airbnb
Net worth: $3.7 billion
Lynsi Synder, Age 36
Source: inherited, In-N-Out
Net worth: $3 billion
Drew Houston, Age 35
Source: self-made, Dropbox
Net worth: $2.7 billion
Sean Parker, age 38
Source: self-made, Facebook
Net worth: $2.7 billion
Bobby Murphy, Age 30
Source: self-made, Snap
Net worth: $2.3 billion
Evan Spiegel, age 28
Source: self-made, Snap
Net worth: $2.3 billion
Net worths for The Forbes 400 were calculated using closing stock prices from September 7, 2018.
