Do you want to join the ranks of the super-rich by becoming a billionaire? Then building a tech company could be the way to achieve it!
Seven of the world’s fifteen richest self-made billionaires created their wealth through a technology related business.
A recent report by the American business magazine Forbes showed that the 15 richest tech billionaires were worth a collective $426 billion. This figure is up 11.6% on last year.
Jack Ma, the co-founder of the Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba joined the upper tier of tech billionaires after the giant retailer’s 2014 IPO more than doubled his net worth to $22.7 billion.
Not only is he the richest man in China, but he is also the richest ever Chinese techie.
Bill Gates of Microsoft now has a net worth of $79.2 billion and remains not only the richest person in technology but also the richest person on the planet.
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg added $4.9 billion to his net worth over the past year. This is despite splashing out $19 billion in cash and stock on the smartphone messaging platform WhatsApp.
However, it has not been a good year for all tech billionaires. Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin who rank among the top 15 richest in technology, saw their fortunes plummet this year as Google’s stock value slipped, each taking a $2.6 billion hit to their wealth.
Page, who is CEO, is currently worth an estimated $29.7 billion, while Brin, who heads up the elusive Google X division, is worth $29.2 billion.
