The average member of The Forbes 400 is, at 67, old enough to retire. But 14 members of the new Forbes list of America’s 400 richest people – including the fourth richest person on the list – are under 40. Ten are self-made tech entrepreneurs, four inherited their fortunes from their families, and all of them are men. The youngest member of The Forbes 400 for the third year in a row is 27-year-old Evan Spiegel, the founder of Snapchat and the CEO of its parent company, Snap.
The youngest members of The Forbes 400 are more likely to drop out of college than The Forbes 400 as a whole: 28% of list members under 40 are college dropouts, compared to only 11% of the overall list. Two of these dropouts are Harvard roommates and Facebook cofounders Mark Zuckerberg and Dustin Moskovitz, both 33, who left college after their sophomore year to work on building Facebook full-time.
Zuckerberg is the richest member of The Forbes 400 who is under the age of 40. With a $71 billion fortune, he is worth more than the rest of the under 40’s combined. At only 33, Zuckerberg controls a social media platform used by more than a quarter of the world’s population. In the wake of the 2016 presidential election, he is grappling with the role Facebook played in spreading Russian-sponsored ads and fake news. His second daughter, August, was born in August 2017. At the birth of his first daughter, Max, in December 2015, Zuckerberg pledged to give away 99% of his Facebook stock in his lifetime and formed the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative as an entity to do so. In September, Zuckerberg said he would sell up to 75 million Facebook shares (worth up to $12.8 billion on the day he made the announcement) in the next 18 months to fund his philanthropy.
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The second richest under-40 on the list is Facebook cofounder Moskovitz, who is just a few days younger than Zuckerberg. In 2008, Moskovitz left Facebook and founded software start-up Asana, but his estimated $13.6 billion net worth still stems mainly from his Facebook stock.
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The only newcomer among the under-40s this year is Rishi Shah. He became a billionaire after his start-up, Outcome Health, which places tablets in doctors’ offices so that pharmaceutical companies can advertise their drugs, raised $600 million at a $5 billion valuation in May. But the start-up’s lofty valuation is already in question: Forbes reported in October that some drug companies are dissatisfied with Outcome’s results and that Pfizer got a full $4 million refund for one ad campaign. Outcome says it provides “meaningful returns” and that the majority of its customers renew their deals.
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The youngest Forbes 400 member, Evan Spiegel, has had a rollercoaster year. In March 2017, Snap had its initial public offering and the net worths of cofounders Spiegel and Bobby Murphy, 29, initially rose as high as $5.4 billion on the first day of trading. But Snap stock dropped nearly 40% from its IPO through late September as user growth slowed and Facebook’s Instagram launched copycat features. Over the summer, Spiegel married former Victoria’s Secret model Miranda Kerr.
With a $13.2 billion fortune, Wal-Mart heir Lucas Walton is the richest under 40 who inherited his fortune. He is a grandson of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton, and inherited his stake in the retail giant after his father, John Walton, died in a place crash in 2005.
The number of billionaires under 40 on this year’s list is the same as it was last year. While Shah joined the list this year, beer heir Alejandro Santo Domingo turned 40 in the past year. His brother Andres Santo Domingo and nephew Julio Mario Santo Domingo III, who are both Forbes 400 members, are still under 40.
Here are all of The Forbes 400 members under the age of 40:
Mark Zuckerberg, Age 33
Net worth: $71 billion
Dustin Moskovitz, Age 33
Net worth: $13.6 billion
Lucas Walton, Age 31
Net worth: $13.2 billion
Scott Duncan, Age 35
Net worth: $5.5 billion
Andres Santo Domingo, Age 39
Net worth: $4.8 billion
Nathan Blecharczyk, Age 36
Net worth: $3.8 billion
Brian Chesky, Age 36
Net worth: $3.8 billion
Joe Gebbia, Age 34
Net worth: $3.8 billion
Rishi Shah, Age 31
Net worth: $3.6 billion
Robert Pera, Age 39
Net worth: $3.2 billion
Bobby Murphy, Age 29
Net worth: $3.1 billion
Evan Spiegel, age 27
Net worth: $3.1 billion
Sean Parker, age 37
Net worth: $2.6 billion
Julio Mario Santo Domingo III, age 32
Net worth: $2.4 billion
Net worths for The Forbes 400 were calculated using closing stock prices from September 22, 2017.
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