In a world currently populated by 7.7 billion people, a mere 2,208 can call themselves billionaires – and out of those 2,208, only 63 have accomplished this extraordinary achievement under the age of 40. Though each of the 63 might come from vastly different backgrounds, and have vastly different experiences, there are some things they have in common.
Entrepreneurship
While not every billionaire under 40 is a self-made entrepreneur, more than half of them are – the majority being, perhaps unsurprisingly, in the tech industry. Mark Zuckerberg & Evan Spiegel, the founders of Facebook & Snapchat respectively, fall under this category, as do the founders of Airbnb, Uber and many more. However there are several other very profitable industries the world’s youngest billionaires fall under, including the medical, manufacturing and design industries.
Inheritance
Although many of today’s youngest billionaires are self-made, some of them did inherit their wealth. These include:
Gustav Magnar Witzøe – the heir of Salmar, a Norwegian fish farming company; with a net worth of $1.9 billion after he inherited almost half of the company from his father.
Yang Huiyan – the 36-year-old heiress of real estate company Country Garden Holdings, with a net worth of over $21.9 billion.
Alexandra and Katharina Andresen – Norwegian sisters who are the world’s youngest billionaires, at 21 and 22 years old, respectively —inherited 42% each of investment company Ferd, and have an individual net worth of $1.4 billion.
School < Business
Though most of the world’s billionaires do have at least a Bachelor’s Degree, many of the youngest did drop out of school, the most famous examples being Reed College dropout Steve Jobs, Bill Gates & Mark Zuckerberg – both Harvard dropouts – and Evan Spiegel who dropped out of Stanford in 2012.
Multiple Businesses
For most of the world’s youngest billionaires, the business empire they most famously preside over is not their only one. Many of them have other remarkable & noteworthy projects under their belt as well, which contribute to their success. Garrett Camp, best known as the founder of Uber, was also the founder of StumbleUpon, which eBay bought for $75 million in 2007. Dustin Moskovitz, Facebook’s 3rd employee, who launched Facebook out of a dorm room along with Mark Zuckerberg, left Facebook in 2008 to launch Asana, a project management software.
Hobbies
As remarkable as these men and women are, they are not all just workaholics. Focused though they certainly are, they take time to enjoy themselves and spend a lot of time on their hobbies. Katharina and Alexandra Andresen, the Norwegian sisters, both enjoy competitive horse-riding, while Bill Gates loves to play bridge & tennis. Gustav Magnar Witzøe, who is the 3rd youngest billionaire in the world at 24, spends his free time running. While it certainly takes more than one or two factors to reach that kind of success, it’s good to know that they still value time spent doing the things they love.
