According to Forbes and the World Population Review, it is estimated that as of this year, there are 735 billionaires in the country, spread through 42 of the 50 states plus the District of Columbia. California, home of Silicon Valley and much of the entertainment industry has the most, with 186. The financial capital of the world, New York, comes next, with 135. (Apart from the eight states that are lacking them, here is a list of the city in every state with the most billionaires.)
In the film “The Social Network,” David Fincher’s 2010 movie about the birth of Facebook, Napster founder Sean Parker (played by Justin Timberlake) says to a young Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg), “A million dollars isn’t cool. You know what’s cool? A billion dollars.” But a million dollars sounds plenty cool to most of us. Just think what we could do with all that money.
While many business magnates may say they aren’t in it for the money, they also have no intention of stopping with a million or even a few million. They want a billion, or maybe even many billions, and through various means — hard work, off-the-charts imagination, sheer luck — a surprising number actually do achieve that goal.
24/7 Wall St. reviewed a report on the subject published by SuperCasinoSites, an information and review site devoted to casino gaming around the world to compile a list of America’s 50 richest (mostly) self-made billionaires, and how fast they earned their first billion. Billionaires are ordered by how fast they made their first billion. All data is from the SuperCasinoSites report.
Many of the fabulously wealthy people on this list also have a certain celebrity to them – they are household names like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Michael Bloomberg, and, yes, the aforementioned Zuckerberg. Others are less well-known unless you are a regular reader of Forbes or Fortune (Autry Stephens? David Duffield?). Likewise, some of their companies are world-famous, including Tesla, Facebook, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Nike. But it may surprise you to learn that the folks who run Harbor Freight Tools, Flex-N-Gate, and Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores are also on the list.
Nobody becomes a billionaire overnight unless you inherit it. But you might be amazed to learn just how long it took some of those listed here to reach that status. For three of them, it took 40 years or more. The average is just over 21 years old. Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos, on the other hand, sailed right up to billionaire status in four years. (See who else, besides those two, counts as one of the 25 richest Americans of all time.)
Here is how long it took for America’s wealthiest billionaires to get rich
See below for our detailed methodology.
50. Judy Love
- Company: Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores
- Years it took to become a billionaire: 49
- Became a billionaire: 2013
- Net worth as of Aug. 8, 2023: $10.20 billion
49. Harold Hamm
- Company: Continental Resources
- Years it took to become a billionaire: 41
- Became a billionaire: 2008
- Net worth as of Aug. 8, 2023: $18.50 billion
48. Eric Smidt
- Company: Harbor Freight Tools
- Years it took to become a billionaire: 40
- Became a billionaire: 2017
- Net worth as of Aug. 8, 2023: $10.30 billion
47. Autry Stephens
- Company: Endeavor Energy Resources
- Years it took to become a billionaire: 39
- Became a billionaire: 2018
- Net worth as of Aug. 8, 2023: $10.00 billion
46. John Menard, Jr.
- Company: Menards
- Years it took to become a billionaire: 39
- Became a billionaire: 2001
- Net worth as of Aug. 8, 2023: $19.50 billion
45. Robert Kraft
- Company: Rand-Whitney Group
- Years it took to become a billionaire: 38
- Became a billionaire: 2006
- Net worth as of Aug. 8, 2023: $10.60 billion
44. Donald Bren
- Company: The Bren Company
- Years it took to become a billionaire: 38
- Became a billionaire: 1996
- Net worth as of Aug. 8, 2023: $17.40 billion
43. David Green
- Company: Greco Products
- Years it took to become a billionaire: 34
- Became a billionaire: 2004
- Net worth as of Aug. 8, 2023: $15.40 billion
42. Jeff Yass
- Company: Susquehanna
- Years it took to become a billionaire: 34
- Became a billionaire: 2021
- Net worth as of Aug. 8, 2023: $28.90 billion
41. Ray Dalio
- Company: Bridgewater Associates
- Years it took to become a billionaire: 33
- Became a billionaire: 2008
- Net worth as of Aug. 8, 2023: $19.10 billion
40. Shahid Khan
- Company: Flex-N-Gate
- Years it took to become a billionaire: 32
- Became a billionaire: 2012
- Net worth as of Aug. 8, 2023: $12.20 billion
39. Thomas Peterffy
- Company: T.P. & Co.
- Years it took to become a billionaire: 32
- Became a billionaire: 2010
- Net worth as of Aug. 8, 2023: $27.70 billion
38. Israel Englander
- Company: I.A. Englander & Co.
- Years it took to become a billionaire: 30
- Became a billionaire: 2007
- Net worth as of Aug. 8, 2023: $11.30 billion
37. Warren Buffett
- Company: Buffett Partnership
- Years it took to become a billionaire: 30
- Became a billionaire: 1986
- Net worth as of Aug. 8, 2023: $117.50 billion
36. David Duffield
- Company: Information Associates
- Years it took to become a billionaire: 28
- Became a billionaire: 1996
- Net worth as of Aug. 8, 2023: $12.50 billion
35. Thomas Frist, Jr.
- Company: HCA Healthcare
- Years it took to become a billionaire: 28
- Became a billionaire: 1996
- Net worth as of Aug. 8, 2023: $21.80 billion
34. Jim Simons
- Company: Renaissance Technologies
- Years it took to become a billionaire: 27
- Became a billionaire: 2005
- Net worth as of Aug. 8, 2023: $28.10 billion
33. Diane Hendricks
- Company: ABC Supply
- Years it took to become a billionaire: 26
- Became a billionaire: 2008
- Net worth as of Aug. 8, 2023: $15.70 billion
32. Phil Knight
- Company: Nike
- Years it took to become a billionaire: 26
- Became a billionaire: 1990
- Net worth as of Aug. 8, 2023: $42.40 billion
31. Jensen Huang
- Company: Nvidia
- Years it took to become a billionaire: 24
- Became a billionaire: 2017
- Net worth as of Aug. 8, 2023: $39.90 billion
30. Michael Rubin
- Company: KPR sports
- Years it took to become a billionaire: 23
- Became a billionaire: 2013
- Net worth as of Aug. 8, 2023: $11.40 billion
29. Daniel Gilbert
- Company: Rocket Mortgage
- Years it took to become a billionaire: 22
- Became a billionaire: 2007
- Net worth as of Aug. 8, 2023: $22.70 billion
28. David Sun
- Company: Kingston Technology Corporation
- Years it took to become a billionaire: 21
- Became a billionaire: 2008
- Net worth as of Aug. 8, 2023: $10.30 billion
27. John Tu
- Company: Kingston Technology Corporation
- Years it took to become a billionaire: 21
- Became a billionaire: 2008
- Net worth as of Aug. 8, 2023: $10.30 billion
26. John Doerr
- Company: Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
- Years it took to become a billionaire: 21
- Became a billionaire: 2001
- Net worth as of Aug. 8, 2023: $12.00 billion
25. Stephen Schwarzman
- Company: Blackstone Inc.
- Years it took to become a billionaire: 21
- Became a billionaire: 2006
- Net worth as of Aug. 8, 2023: $32.00 billion
24. Stanley Kroenke
- Company: The Kroenke Group
- Years it took to become a billionaire: 20
- Became a billionaire: 2003
- Net worth as of Aug. 8, 2023: $12.90 billion
23. Jeffery Hildebrand
- Company: Hilcorp
- Years it took to become a billionaire: 19
- Became a billionaire: 2007
- Net worth as of Aug. 8, 2023: $11.20 billion
22. Len Blavatnik
- Company: Access Industries
- Years it took to become a billionaire: 18
- Became a billionaire: 2004
- Net worth as of Aug. 8, 2023: $33.30 billion
21. Leon Black
- Company: Apollo Global Management
- Years it took to become a billionaire: 17
- Became a billionaire: 2007
- Net worth as of Aug. 8, 2023: $10.50 billion
20. Larry Ellison
- Company: Oracle
- Years it took to become a billionaire: 17
- Became a billionaire: 1994
- Net worth as of Aug. 8, 2023: $143.90 billion
19. Elon Musk
- Company: Zip2, PayPal, SpaceX, Tesla
- Years it took to become a billionaire: 17
- Became a billionaire: 2012
- Net worth as of Aug. 8, 2023: $232.50 billion
18. Ken Griffin
- Company: Citadel
- Years it took to become a billionaire: 16
- Became a billionaire: 2006
- Net worth as of Aug. 8, 2023: $34.20 billion
17. Steve Ballmer
- Company: Microsoft
- Years it took to become a billionaire: 16
- Became a billionaire: 1996
- Net worth as of Aug. 8, 2023: $101.30 billion
16. Jerry Jones
- Company: Dallas Cowboys
- Years it took to become a billionaire: 15
- Became a billionaire: 2004
- Net worth as of Aug. 8, 2023: $13.60 billion
15. Michael Bloomberg
- Company: Bloomberg LP
- Years it took to become a billionaire: 15
- Became a billionaire: 1996
- Net worth as of Aug. 8, 2023: $94.50 billion
14. David Tepper
- Company: Appaloosa Management
- Years it took to become a billionaire: 13
- Became a billionaire: 2006
- Net worth as of Aug. 8, 2023: $18.50 billion
13. Steve Cohen
- Company: S.A.C. Capital Advisors
- Years it took to become a billionaire: 12
- Became a billionaire: 2004
- Net worth as of Aug. 8, 2023: $17.50 billion
12. Michael Dell
- Company: Dell
- Years it took to become a billionaire: 12
- Became a billionaire: 1996
- Net worth as of Aug. 8, 2023: $63.30 billion
11. Bill Gates
- Company: Microsoft
- Years it took to become a billionaire: 12
- Became a billionaire: 1987
- Net worth as of Aug. 8, 2023: $117.60 billion
10. Henry Samueli
- Company: Broadcom
- Years it took to become a billionaire: 9
- Became a billionaire: 2000
- Net worth as of Aug. 8, 2023: $10.10 billion
9. Eric Schmidt
- Company: Novell
- Years it took to become a billionaire: 8
- Became a billionaire: 2005
- Net worth as of Aug. 8, 2023: $20.90 billion
8. Robert Pera
- Company: Ubiquiti Networks
- Years it took to become a billionaire: 7
- Became a billionaire: 2012
- Net worth as of Aug. 8, 2023: $10.30 billion
7. Dustin Moskovitz
- Company: Facebook
- Years it took to become a billionaire: 7
- Became a billionaire: 2011
- Net worth as of Aug. 8, 2023: $13.30 billion
6. Brian Chesky
- Company: Airbnb
- Years it took to become a billionaire: 6
- Became a billionaire: 2014
- Net worth as of Aug. 8, 2023: $11.20 billion
5. Sergey Brin
- Company: Google
- Years it took to become a billionaire: 6
- Became a billionaire: 2004
- Net worth as of Aug. 8, 2023: $103.00 billion
4. Larry Page
- Company: Google
- Years it took to become a billionaire: 6
- Became a billionaire: 2004
- Net worth as of Aug. 8, 2023: $108.40 billion
3. Jan Koum
- Company: WhatsApp
- Years it took to become a billionaire: 5
- Became a billionaire: 2014
- Net worth as of Aug. 8, 2023: $14.30 billion
2. Mark Zuckerberg
- Company: Facebook
- Years it took to become a billionaire: 4
- Became a billionaire: 2008
- Net worth as of Aug. 8, 2023: $110.10 billion
1. Jeff Bezos
- Company: Amazon
- Years it took to become a billionaire: 4
- Became a billionaire: 1998
- Net worth as of Aug. 8, 2023: $162.10 billion
Methodology
To compile a list of America’s 50 richest (mostly) self-made billionaires and how fast they earned their first billion, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed a report on the subject published by SuperCasinoSites, an information and review site devoted to casino gaming around the world. The site drew its list of billionaires and their net worth from the Forbes Real-Time Billionaires list as of Aug. 8, 2023. Only those with a “self-made” score of 6 or above as per Forbes were included. Net worth was divided by the number of individuals appearing under the same profile.
SuperCasinoSites then determined the year during which a given individual reached billionaire status based on their net worth or their company’s total assets at the time. Data came from Forbes and Bloomberg (both past and present), as well as Finmasters, the Wayback Machine, YCharts, and annual reports of Nike and Oracle.
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