Billionaires Who Got Rich The Fastest

A new study analysed billionaires and their earnings to rank the billionaires who got rich the fastest.
Changpeng Zhao, a co-founder of Binance, got rich the fastest, earning his first billion dollars in only 7 months after the start of the company.
Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg made their place in the ranking, both spending 4 years to acquire their first billion dollars.

Experts at EvenBet Gaming have recently conducted a study to rank the billionaires who got rich the fastest. The study considers the years since the company’s founding that brought the first billion.

In addition, the study includes the age when they became billionaires, their education, current net worth, and most recent revenue made by that company.

The original data related to net worth and companies’ revenues was taken from Forbes billionaires’ lists. Changpeng Zhao is a billionaire that got rich the fastest, earning his first billion in only 7 months after co-founding Binance.

His current net worth stands at $33 billion Like many billionaires on this list, Changpeng Zhao has a degree in computer science which he got from McGill University, Montreal.

Jay Walker earns the second place in the ranking of the billionaires who got rich the fastest with spending only a year to earn his first billion. A founder of Priceline.com Walker earned his first billion in 2000 but currently is no longer on the Forbes list, the only person in the ranking.

Gary Winnick takes the third place with 1.5 years spent on becoming a billionaire. In 1997 Winnick founded Global Crossing and the company’s latest early revenue sums up to $160 million, the lowest revenue by the company that made its founder a billionaire on this list. Winnick also was 51 when he became billionaire, oldest out of all the people on this list.

Eric Lefkofsky holds the fourth place, spending two and a half years to become a billionaire. He did it with Groupon and since 2011 increased his wealth to $3.8 billion in net worth. Unlike most billionaires on this list, Lefkofsky has a background in the legal field and has a Doctor of Law degree from University of Michigan Law School.

Name	Company	Timeline	Time	Age when became billionaires	Net worth 2024	Company’s revenue	Education
Changpeng Zhao	Binance	2017-2018	7 months	41	$33 billion	$12 billion	computer science, McGill University, Montreal
Jay Walker	Priceline.com	1999-2000	1 year	45	–	$17.09 billion	B.A. Industrial Relations, Cornell University
Gary Winnick	Global Crossing	1997-1998	1.5 years	51	$2 billion	$160M	B.A. Economics, C.W. Post College
Eric Lefkofsky	Groupon	2008-2011	2.5 years	42	$3.8B	$590 million	Doctor of Law, University of Michigan Law School
Evan Spiegel	Snapchat	2011-2014	3 years	24	$2.8 billion	$4.6 billion	B.S. in product design, Stanford University
Cheng Wei	Didi Chuxing	2012-2015	3 years	32	$1.2 billion	$19.4 billion	B.A. Administration, Beijing University of Chemical Technology
Pierre Omidyar	eBay	1995-1998	3 years	31	$6.4 billion	$9.7 billion	B.S. in computer science, University of California
Jeff Bezos	Amazon	1995-1999	4 years	35	$203.8 billion	$513.9 billion	electrical engineering and computer science, Princeton University
Mark Zuckerberg	Facebook	2004-2008	4 years	24	$179.4 billion	$117.9 billion	Psychology and Computer science, Harvard University
Colin Huang	Pinduoduo	2015-2019	4 years	39	$40.7 billion	$19.1 billion	M.A. computer science, University of Wisconsin

Evan Spiegel is fifth in the ranking of the billionaires who got rich the fastest. The creator of Snapchat, Spiegel earned his first billion just in 3 years. In the next decade he doubled his fortune, having $2.8 billion in net worth, a billion less than Eric Lefkofsky. Spiegel is also one of the youngest billionaires on the list, earning his fortune when he was only 24.

Other Billionaires Who Got Rich The Fastest

Cheng Wei, a founder of Didi Chuxing, follows closely with the sixth place and similar three years in which he made his first billion. The company made over $19 billion revenue last year but Cheng Wei’s net worth is much smaller with $1.2 billion in 2024.Pierre Omidyar, the founder of Ebay, also spent 3 years becoming a billionaire which earned him the seventh place in the ranking. Another billionaire with a computer science degree, Omidyar currently has $6.4 billion in net worth and latest Ebay revenue amounts to $9.7 billion.

Jeff Bezos takes the eighth place with 4 years spent on becoming a billionaire. The founder of Amazon has a degree in both electrical engineering and computer science. Bezos was 35 when he earned his first billion in 1999 and now his net worth is over $200 billion.

Mark Zuckerberg is ninth, spending 4 years on building his fortune just as Bezos. Zuckerberg is another young billionaire, he was 24 when he got his first billion from Facebook. Now his net worth is $179 billion more than $20 billion behind Jeff Bezos.

Colin Huang closes the ranking of the billionaires who got rich the fastest with the tenth place and similar 4 years. The founder of Pinduoduo Inc. made it to the billionaire list in 2019 and since then increased his net worth to $40.7 billion.