Only 1% of The Forbes 400 is under 40, the lowest percentage in at least two decades.
By Savannah Born, Contributor
It’s hard to make the ranks of America’s very richest at any age, but it’s especially challenging for anyone under 40. Just look at the members of The Forbes 400 list of the wealthiest people in the U.S., who are 70 years old on average. Even those who do make fortunes early can’t always hold onto them.
That helps explain why there are only four Forbes 400 members under the age of 40, down from ten a year ago, as four drop out and another three age up. It’s the lowest number of under-40 billionaires on the list in at least two decades. They make up just 1% of the list.
Walmart heir Lukas Walton is now the youngest of all, at age 37. He inherited billions after his father, John Walton, died in a 2005 plane crash. Last year, Walton was only the fifth-youngest member on the list. Since then, Snapchat cofounders Bobby Murphy (age 35) and Evan Spiegel (33) have dropped from the ranks, as shares of Snap Inc. have fallen, and crypto moguls Sam Bankman-Fried (31) and Gary Wang (30) have gone down in flames, cratering from billionaires to basically bankrupt following the November 2022 collapse of their crypto exchange FTX and ensuing criminal fraud and conspiracy charges against them. Wang—who pleaded guilty to several wire fraud, commodities fraud and securities fraud charges in December—is now cooperating with prosecutors in their case against Bankman-Fried, who has maintained his innocence.
Forbes2023 Forbes 400: The Richest Newcomers - 2023-10-06 - 2023 Forbes 400: The Richest Newcomers
The other under-40 list members include 38-year-old newcomer Josh Kushner, Ivanka Trump’s brother-in-law, who hails from a New York real estate dynasty but built his fortune in venture capital; and Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg and Asana’s Dustin Moskovitz. The two former Harvard roommates and Facebook cofounders, who debuted on the list at age 24 and 26, respectively, are both 39.
Altogether, the 11 youngest members on this year’s list are all 42 or younger, yet boast net worths of at least $3.6 billion—$700 million more than the $2.9 billion minimum needed to make the cut. In all, they’re worth a combined $196 billion.
Here are the 11 youngest members of the 2023 Forbes 400 list, from oldest to youngest.
Net worths are as of September 8, 2023
11. Joe Gebbia
Age: 42 | Net Worth: $8.9 billion | Source of wealth: Airbnb
10. Brian Chesky
Age: 42 | Net Worth: $10 billion | Source of wealth: Airbnb
Broke and facing rising San Francisco rents, roommates Chesky and Gebbia bought an air bed for their apartment and began renting it out in 2007. They turned the business into rental platform Airbnb, which has listings in more than 220 countries and has welcomed more than 1.5 billion guests. Shares of the $8.4 billion (2022 revenue) company are up 28% since last year’s list, making Chesky, who is CEO, and Gebbia, who chairs nonprofit arm Airbnb.org, each more than $1 billion richer. Cofounder Nathan Blecharczyk, who is two years younger, is up by nearly $2 billion.
9. Sanjit Biswas
Age: 41 | Net Worth: $3.6 billion | Source of wealth: Sensor systems
Samsara, which he cofounded eight years ago, offers tools like AI dash cams, real-time driver coaching and route mapping for customers such as oil field servicer Liberty Energy, moving company PODS and plumbing giant Roto-Rooter. In July, annual recurring revenue hit $930 million, up 40% year over year, helping drive the stock up 160% in 2023. CEO Biswas, the precocious son of Indian immigrants, was hired as an engineer at Oracle at age 15 and met cofounder and CTO John Bicket (who is 43) while pursuing a computer science Ph.D. at MIT.
8. Lynsi Snyder
Age: 41 | Net Worth: $6.7 billion | Source of wealth: In-N-Out Burger
The In-N-Out heiress became a billionaire on her 35th birthday, in 2017, when she received the final portion of her stock in the beloved West Coast fast-food chain. Due to a complex trust created by her grandparents, who founded In-N-Out in 1948, she gradually received stakes in the business over the course of a decade. She ended up with 97% of the $1.8 billion (estimated 2022 revenue) chain, which she has run as president since 2010.
7. Scott Duncan
Age: 40 | Net Worth: $7.4 billion | Source of wealth: Pipelines
Duncan was 27 when he became a billionaire, following the death of his father, Texas oil tycoon Dan Duncan, in 2010. Duncan and his three siblings inherited stakes in Houston-based energy and pipeline company Enterprise Products Partners; Scott and two of his sisters aren’t involved in the business, while sister Randa Duncan Williams serves as non-executive chairman.
6. Brian Armstrong
Age: 40 | Net Worth: $3.7 billion | Source of wealth: Cryptocurrency
A former Airbnb software engineer, Armstrong cofounded cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase in 2012, at age 29. He took it public in 2021, briefly hitting a peak market capitalization of just over $100 billion before the crypto winter set in. The stock is up 26% since last year’s list, as the crypto market has begun to rebound, making Armstrong $1 billion richer.
5. Nathan Blecharczyk
Age: 40 | Net Worth: $9.5 billion | Source of wealth: Airbnb
The youngest of the Airbnb cofounder trio, Blecharczyk—Gebbia’s former roommate—helped launch the business as chief technology officer, coding its first website. Known around Airbnb as the “head of all things technical,” he pioneered the company’s engineering, data science, payment and marketing teams. Blecharczyk is also active on his app: He and his wife have hosted hundreds of Airbnb guests at their San Francisco home.
4. Mark Zuckerberg
Age: 39 | Net Worth: $106 billion | Source of wealth: Facebook
Last year, a collapsing share price, significant fourth-quarter layoffs and crumbling profits slashed Zuckerberg’s net worth by more than half. Luckily for him, 2023 is a different story: Meta stock is up by 86% since the 2022 Forbes 400, helping make Zuck $48.3 billion richer and, once again, a member of the 12-digit club.
3. Dustin Moskovitz
Age: 39 | Net Worth: $12.2 billion | Source of wealth: Facebook
A 19-year-old Moskovitz cofounded Facebook with Zuckerberg, his eight-days-younger roommate, from their Harvard dorm. He left Facebook after four years to cofound Asana, a work management software company with clients like NASA, Google and AT&T. Moskovitz, who is still a shareholder of Facebook-parent company Meta, is $4.1 billion richer this year thanks to the 86% climb in Meta’s stock price.
2. Josh Kushner
Age: 38 | Net Worth: $3.6 billion | Source of wealth: Venture capital
Kushner’s family is famous for their real estate dynasty (his father Charles built a property empire before pleading guilty to tax evasion, illegal campaign contributions and witness tampering charges in 2004) and their political connections (Josh’s brother Jared is married to Ivanka Trump; Charles was pardoned by Trump in 2020). But he has stepped into the limelight—and out of his family’s shadows—as a venture capitalist. His Thrive Capital, which he founded in 2010 at age 25, raised money from investors including Disney CEO Bob Iger and billionaire KKR cofounder Henry Kravis, at a $5.3 billion valuation in January. Thrive’s wins include investments in Instagram, Spotify and Slack. He married supermodel Karlie Kloss in 2018.
1. Lukas Walton
Age: 37 | Net Worth: $24.2 billion | Source of wealth: Walmart
The youngest member of The Forbes 400, Walton quietly inherited a fortune after his father, John Walton, died in a plane crash in 2005. The grandson of Walmart cofounder Sam Walton, Lukas does not work for the $611 billion (2023 fiscal sales) retailing giant. Instead, he invests in businesses tackling environmental and social challenges through a company called Builders Vision. He chairs the environment program committee of his family’s Walton Family Foundation, which reported net assets of nearly $5.6 billion at the end of 2021.
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