Facebook, Google search engine, Paypal, Tik Tok are some of the most famous online platforms. They generate billions of dollars in revenue. This makes the people who own them the richest billionaires in technology.
The 21st century has seen a lot of internet startups which have given rise to many billionaires in the tech industry. This article is a compilation of the top 20 billionaires in technology, the technology firms they control and their net worth.
In this article
1. Jeff Bezos
Nationality: American
Net Worth: $113 B
Source of Wealth: Amazon
Age: 56
Known for: founder of Amazon
Residence: Medina, Washington
Jeff Bezos is an American technology entrepreneur. He’s the founder, chairman, president, and CEO of Amazon. Currently, Amazon is considered one of the Big 5 technology companies in the world, together with Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, and Google.
Amazon focuses on E-commerce, digital streaming, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, grocery stores, and consumer electronics. Some of the companies under Amazon include Audible, Twitch Interactive, Woot Zappos, Alexa Internet, IMDb, Whole Foods Market among many others.
Jeff Bezos owns a 12% stake in Amazon. Since 2017, Bezos has been the richest man on the planet.
2. Bill Gates
Nationality: American
Net Worth: $98 B
Source of Wealth: Microsoft
Age: 64
Known for: founder of Microsoft
Residence: Medina, Washington
Gates is well known as the founder of Microsoft, an American tech company. Some of most famous software products from Microsoft include the Windows operating system, Edge web browser, Internet Explorer and Microsoft Office.
Microsoft also owns the famous Skype which it acquired in 2011 for $8.5 billion. LinkedIn, which is also a subsidiary of Microsoft was acquired in 2016 for $26.2 billion. Visual Studio, Azure, Bing are also owned by Gate’s Microsoft Corporation.
Bill Gates was the world’s richest man until 2017 when he was overthrown by Jeff Bezos. He’s now the world’s second richest person.
3. Larry Ellison
Nationality: American
Net Worth: $59 B
Source of Wealth: Oracle Corporation
Age: 75
Known for: Co-founder of Oracle
He’s the 5th richest person in the world and one of the richest billionaires in technology. Larry Ellison founded Oracle Corporation in 1977 together with Bob Miner and Ed Oates.
Oracle is a multinational technology company that focuses on computer hardware, enterprise software and cloud computing. In 2019, It was the 2nd largest software firm by market capitalization and revenue.
Larry Ellison is the fourth richest individual in the US. He is the Executive chairman and CTO at Oracle Corporation.
4. Mark Zuckerberg
Nationality: American
Net Worth: $54 B
Source of Wealth: Facebook
Age: 35
Known for: Co-founder of Facebook
Residence: Palo Alto, California
We all have heard of Facebook. Mark Elliot Zuckerberg co-founded Facebook in 2004 together with his college roommates. Zuckerberg studied computer science and psychology at Harvard University.
Mark Zuckerberg is currently the chairman and CEO of Facebook, Inc. He’s also the majority shareholder at Facebook. As of 2019, Facebook had more than 44, 000 employees and a net income of $18.5 billion.
Over the years Facebook, Inc. has acquired the following companies:
- Instagram (acquired in 2012 for $1 billion)
- WhatsApp (acquired in 2014 for $19 billion)
- Oculus VR (acquired in 2019 for $2.3 billion)
- Onavo
- Beat Games
Facebook also has a 9.9 % stake in Jio Platforms.
5. Larry Page
Nationality: American
Net Worth: $50.9 B
Source of Wealth: Google
Age: 47
Known for: Co-founder of Google
Google is one of the world’s big 5 technology companies. It’s also one of the most valuable companies in the world.
Google’s parent company is Alphabet Inc, which was created in 2015. In 2019 Alphabet had $161.9 billion in revenues, $25 billion up from 2018. This makes Larry Page one of the richest billionaires in technology.
Larry Page co-founded Google search engine in 1998 together with Sergey Brin. He was the CEO of Alphabet Inc until December 2019. He remains a board member and a majority shareholder at the company.
Google owns some of the most famous services such as YouTube and the android operating system.
6. Sergey Brin
Nationality: American
Net Worth: $49.1 B
Source of Wealth: Google
Age: 46
Known for: Co-founder of Google
Sergey Brin is an American technology entrepreneur and software engineer. He created the Google search engine we use today together with Larry Page.
In 2015, Sergey Brin and Larry Page founded Alphabet Inc. which acts as the parent company for all the businesses owned by Google.
Sergey Brin served as the president of Aplhabet from 2015 to December 2019, when he stepped down. However, Brin remains a board member and a major shareholder at the company.
As of 2019, Alphabet had more than 118, 000 employees and $34.34 billion in net income.
7. Jack Ma
Nationality: Chinese
Net Worth: $38.8 B
Source of Wealth: Alibaba
Age: 55
Known for: Co-founder of Alibaba
Residence: Hangzhou, China
With a net worth of $38.8 billion, Jack Ma is one of the richest billionaires in technology. Jack Ma is the founder of Alibaba, an e-commerce giant. Alibaba which started as an e-commerce company has now diversified into the cloud computing, retail, entertainment, and film industries.
Some of the major subsidiaries of Alibaba include Alibaba.com, Taobao, AliExpress, Alipay, Daraz, Lazada and Tmall.
In 2019, Alibaba generated $152 billion in revenues and $11.96 billion in net income. It has over 100,000 employees.
8. Ma Huateng
Nationality: Chinese
Net Worth: $38.1 B
Source of Wealth: Tencent
Age: 48
Known for: co-founder of Tencent
Residence: Hong Kong
He’s the founder, CEO and chairman of Tencent.
Tencent focuses on artificial intelligence, entertainment, internet and technology services. It’s one of the most valuable companies and the biggest video game company in the world.
Some of the major subsidiaries of Tencent include:
- WeChat (The largest mobile instant messaging service in China).
- Tencent Games, which focuses on online games
- Tencent Pictures, that creates and distributes films
- Tencent Video, a video streaming service
- TenPay an online payment system
9. MacKenzie Bezos
Nationality: American
Net Worth: $36 B
Source of Wealth: Amazon
Age: 50
Known for: Ex-wife to Jeff Bezos
MacKenzie is an American author and humanitarian. She’s the ex-wife to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Amazon is an e-commerce giant and one of the world’s largest technology companies.
After their divorce in 2019, MacKenzie acquired a 4% stake at Amazon. This makes her one of the richest billionaires in technology.
10. Michael Dell
Nationality: America
Net Worth: $22.9 B
Source of Wealth: Dell Technologies
Age: 55
Known for: Founder of Dell Computers
Michael Dell is the founder Dell technologies. He’s also the chairman and chief executive officer of Dell technologies. The company produces and sells personal computers, televisions, servers and smartphones.
Dell technologies is also involved in the production of computer software and provision of information security, network security and computer security services.
In 2019, Dell technologies had $92.15 billion in revenues and $5.5 billion in net income. The company has 165, 000 employees.
Also Read: The 10 Youngest Billionaires in the World
11. William Lei Ding
Nationality: Chinese
Net Worth: $17 B
Source of Wealth: Online Games
Age: 48
Known for: Founder of NetEase
Ding is the founder and the chief executive officer of NetEase. NetEase is a China-based technology firm that specializes in online PC and mobile games. It’s one of the world’s biggest video game companies.
NetEase also offers e-commerce, email and advertising services. It has over 18, 000 employees.
With a fortune of $17 billion, Lei Ding is one of the richest billionaires in technology.
12. Colin Zheng Huang
Nationality: Chinese
Net Worth: $16.5 B
Source of Wealth: Pinduoduo
Age: 40
Known for: Founder of Pinduoduo
Colin is a Chinese computer scientist, businessman, and a former engineer and project manager at Google. He founded the e-commerce platform Pinduoduo in 2015. Colin is the chairman of the Board of directors and CEO of the company. Pinduoduo has more than 3000 employees.
Pinduoduo is one of the largest e-commerce platforms in China. Zheng also founded Xinyoudi Studio in 2011 to develop and operate online games. Prior to that, Huang founded Ouku.com, a company that operated an online B2C platform for home appliances and consumer electronics, which was then sold in 2010.
13. Laurene Powell Jobs
Nationality: American
Net Worth: $16.4 B
Source of Wealth: Apple, Disney
Age: 56
Known for: Founder Emerson Collective, Widow to Steve Jobs
Residence: Palo Alto, California
Laurene is the widow and heir of Steve Jobs (co-founder of Apple). After the death of his husband, she inherited the Steven Jobs Trust, which has stakes in Disney and Apple Inc.
Apple Inc. is a united states international technology giant.
Some of Apple’s most famous hardware and software products include:
- iPhone smartphone
- iPad tablet
- Mac personal computer
- iPod portable media player
- macOS
- iOS
- iPadOS
- Safari web browser
- Shazam
As of 2019, Apple had 137,000 employees and generated $260.174 billion in revenues.
14. Zhang Yiming
Nationality: Chinese
Net Worth: $16.2 B
Source of Wealth: Software
Age: 37
Known for: Founder ByteDance, Tik Tok
Residence: Beijing, China
Zhang Yiming is an internet magnate from China. In 2012 he founded ByteDance. He’s also the founder of Toutiao and the famous video sharing platform Tik Tok.
Byte Dance has over 1 billion active users and is valued at $76 billion. In 2019, it generated $20 billion in revenue.
15. Dietmar Hopp
Nationality: German
Net Worth: $13 B
Source of Wealth: Software
Age: 80
Known for: co-founder of SAP SE
Residence: Walldorf, Germany
Dietmar Hopp is a German billionaire and software entrepreneur. He’s a co-founder of SAP SE, a European international software company. SAP SE is a maker of enterprise software to manage operations of businesses and customer relations.
SAP SE is well known for making the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software. The company has its presence in more than 180 countries with more than 400, 000 customers.
With a net worth of $13 billion, Dietmar Hopp is one of the richest billionaires in technology.
Also Read: The World’s Richest People in 2020
16. Tony Zhang
Nationality: Chinese
Net Worth: $13 B
Source of Wealth: Tencent
Age: 48
Known for: co-founder and former CTO at Tencent
Residence: Shenzhen, China
He’s a co-founder and former chief technology officer (CTO) of Tencent. He retired in 2014 after 2014 after serving as Tencent CTO for 16 years.
With a 3% stake, Tony is Tencent’s second-biggest individual stakeholder after Ma Huateng.
17. Hasso Plattner
Nationality: German
Net Worth: $12.4 B
Source of Wealth: Software
Age: 76
Known for: co-founder of SAP SE
Residence: Potsdam, Germany
Hasso Plattner co-founded SAP SE together with fellow billionaire Dietmar Hopp. He’s the chairman of the supervisory board of SAP SE (Since 2003).
Being a software giant, SAP SE is a maker of enterprise software to manage operations of businesses and customer relations.
18. Shiv Nadar
Nationality: Indian
Net Worth: $11.9 B
Source of Wealth: HCL Technologies
Age: 74
Known for: Founder of HCL Technologies
Residence: New Delhi, India
He’s an indian billionaire, founder and chairman of HCL Technologies. HCL which was founded in 1976 is an Indian international information technology service and consulting firm. It has more than 147, 000 employees and operates in more than 44 countries.
In 2019, HCL Technologies had $10 billion in revenues and $1.44 billion in net income. The company controls assets worth over $8 billion.
19. Udo & Harald Tschira
Nationality: German
Net Worth: $11.3 B
Source of Wealth: Software
Age: Unknown
Known for: Heirs to the fortune of SAP SE
Residence: Germany
Udo and Harald are the sons Klaus Tschira, a co-founder of SAP SE. They inherited the wealth of their father after his demise in 2015.
SAP SE is an international software company that creates enterprise software and has its presence in 180 countries. As of 2019, the company had more than 100, 000 employees and 27. 6 billion euros in revenues.
Udo & Harald are both worth $11.3 billion.
20. Pierre Omidyar
Nationality: American
Net Worth: $11 B
Source of Wealth: eBay, PayPal
Age: 52
Known for: Founder of eBay
Residence: Honolulu, Hawaii
Pierre Omidyar is an American software engineer, internet entrepreneur and humanitarian. He’s the founder of eBay and one of the richest billionaires in technology. He became a billionaire at the age of 31.
Pierre served as eBay’s chairman for 17 years from 1998 to 2015. eBay is an online shopping and auction website where businesses and people purchase and sell an extensive selection of goods and services globally.
In 2002, eBay acquired Paypal. Omidyar owns 6% of the online payment company and a 5% stake of eBay.
We have come to the end of the list. You now know the 20 richest billionaires in technology. Here’s a recap of that list:
- Jeff Bezos
- Bill Gates
- Larry Ellison
- Mark Zuckerberg
- Larry Page
- Sergey Brin
- Jack Ma
- Ma Huateng
- MacKenzie Bezos
- Michael Dell
- William Lei Ding
- Colin Zheng Huang
- Laurene Powell Jobs
- Zhang Yiming
- Dietmar Hopp
- Tony Zhang
- Hasso Plattner
- Shiv Nadar
- Udo & Harald Tschira
- Pierre Omidyar
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