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Austin Russell, the 28-year-old CEO of California-based Luminar Technologies, remains the world’s youngest self-made billionaire, with a net worth of US$1.2 billion, according to the Hurun Report.
The Stanford dropout first made the cut in 2020 at the age of 25, when Luminar, which specializes in lidar and machine perception technologies used in autonomous vehicles, went public.
While it took Russell eight years—he founded Luminar in 2012 while he was still at high school—to become a billionaire, the average time for the world’s self-made billionaires aged 40 and under is six years, according to the report released on Thursday.
“That is mainly because most of them are serial entrepreneurs, who started off at the average age of 24 with their first business and then started their current business aged 27,” Rupert Hoogewerf, chairman and chief researcher of Hurun Report, said in a news release. Hurun is a China-based wealth research and data firm often compared to Forbes in the U.S.
According to the report, Hurun Global U40, the world has 59 self-made billionaires aged 40 and under in 2023, down 28 from last year and back to pre-Covid levels. Their combined wealth, calculated in U.S. dollar terms based on a snapshot on Jan. 16, totaled US$269 billion, down 41% from a year ago.
The top 10 richest self-made billionaires had at least US$6.6 billion, led by Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, 39, with a net worth of US$68 billion. Singapore-based Zhang Yiming, 40, ranked second with a net worth of US$37 billion, down US$17 billion from last year. Zhang, originally from China, is the CEO of ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok.
The Sydney-based husband and wife duo, Cliff Obrecht, 37, and Melanie Perkins, 35, founders of online design platform Canva, came in third, with a net worth of US$12 billion.
Claiming the fourth place was Dubai-based Pavel Durov, 39, of instant messaging app Telegram. He was estimated to be worth US$11 billion, increasing 206% from last year.
Fourteen new faces have joined the young billionaire club in 2023, led by Shanghai-based Cai Haoyu, 36, with a net worth of US$3.1 billion. He is a co-founder and CEO of miHoYo, a video game development and publishing company.
Other newly minted self-made young billionaires include singer Rihanna, and sports stars Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, and LeBron James.
READ MORE:Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Rihanna Reach Billionaire Status
Other key findings from the report include:
- The U.S. has the most self-made billionaires aged 40 and under, with 23; followed by China with 18;
- 15 individuals, or 25% of the Hurun Global U40, were born and raised in countries different than where they live today;
- San Francisco is the top city for young billionaires to reside in, with 8; followed by Beijing and Shanghai, each with 6;
- Top three industries for young billionaires are media, entertainment, and food and beverages;
- There are an additional 21 billionaires at or under the age of 40 through inheritance, including Red Bull’s Mark Mateschitz, 30, with US$23 billion; Yao Hao, 37, of China Pacific Construction, with US$22 billion; and Lukas Walton, 37, of Walmart, with US$18 billion.
