These 22-Year-Olds Unseated Mark Zuckerberg as Youngest Self-Made Billionaires
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Angela Mae Watson
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Rebekah Evans
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Mark Zuckerberg became the youngest self-made billionaire back in 2012 when he took Facebook public. According to Forbes, he was just 23 years old at the time.
Now, at the age of 41, Zuckerberg has an estimated $208 billion net worth. But if you think that’s impressive, just wait until you hear about the trio of 22-year-olds who recently became self-made billionaires.
Meet the World’s Youngest Billionaires
Brendan Foody, Adarsh Hiremath and Surya Midha are the world’s youngest self-made billionaires at just 22 years old. They are the CEO, chief technology officer and chief operating officer (respectively) of an artificial intelligence (AI) recruiting startup, Mercor, which they launched back in 2023.
The path to billionaire status began when the trio started their business from their Harvard and Georgetown dorm rooms. In two short years, they managed to bring in seven figures annually and expand their reach to 25 different countries. By September 2025, Mercor had an annualized revenue run rate of $500 million.
The trio has also amassed hundreds of millions in funding for their company. In a funding round led by Felicis Ventures, they secured $350 million. That was in October 2025.
Mercor recently received a $10 billion valuation of their company, according to Forbes. Given each co-founder has roughly a 22% stake in the AI platform, that’s roughly $2.2 billion each.
World’s Youngest Billionaires
Mercor’s cofounders may be the youngest self-made billionaires, but they’re not the youngest individuals to reach billionaire status. From Forbes’ “21 Under 30” list, published prior to the Mercor trio’s achievement, here are the world’s youngest billionaires. Only two of these individuals are self-made:
- Sophie Luise Fielmann: $2.8 billion net worth (age 30)
- Katharina Andresen: $2 billion net worth (age 29)
- Ed Craven: $2.8 billion net worth (age 29)
- Leonardo Maria Del Vecchio: $6.6 billion net worth (age 29)
- Alexandra Andresen: $1.9 billion net worth (age 28)
- Firoz Mistry: $4 billion net worth (age 28)
- Alexandr Wang: $2 billion net worth (age 28)
- Dora Voigt de Assis: $1.2 billion net worth (age 27)
- Maximilian von Baumbach: $5.4 billion net worth (age 27)
- Zahan Mistry: $4 billion net worth (age 26)
- Katharina von Baumbach: $5.4 billion net worth (age 25)
- Maxim Tebar: $1.1 billion net worth (age 24)
- Remi Dassault: $2.8 billion net worth (age 23)
- Luca Del Vecchio: $6.6 billion net worth (age 23)
- Kim Jung-min: $1.3 billion net worth (age 23)
- Franz von Baumbach: $5.4 billion net worth (age 23)
- Kevin David Lehmann: $3.6 billion net worth (age 22)
- Kim Jung-youn: $1.3 billion net worth (age 21)
- Clemente Del Vecchio: $6.6 billion net worth (age 20)
- Livia Voigt de Assis: $1.2 billion net worth (age 20)
- Johannes von Baumbach: $5.4 billion net worth (age 19)
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