Meet the Top 25 Richest Individuals from the Tech Industry

For the recent past we have been on the brink of a technological revolution. Some extremists go as far as saying that ‘one day machines will take over humans in terms of jobs and decisions’; while many liberals state that ‘humans would not have to work and can focus on self-development if they teach their machines to efficiently replace them from labour intensive jobs’. While we are at the crossroads of clashes in mindsets and opinions about progress, many whiz-kids and enterprising individuals are capitalizing on the markets by introducing constant innovation to technology.

So here we wanted to shed some light on the most productive individuals in context who have introduced disruptive ideas and concepts to the markets. Some innovations were marketed in such a fashion that many consumers cannot imagine life without them anymore. How many people do you know who can spend a day without checking their Facebook or logging into their Windows or ‘Googling’ something?

No more hints now; here are the top 25 of the richest personalities in the ‘Tech’ industry along with their net worth and the source of their fortunes.

Bill Gates

Net Worth: $81.6 Bn

Age: 59

Profile: America’s richest man, Bill Gates is an American business magnate, philanthropist, investor, computer programmer, and inventor. He is the former CEO & chairman of Microsoft.

Source: Microsoft

Country of Citizenship: US

Larry Ellison

Net Worth: $49.4 Bn

Age: 70

Profile: Lawrence Joseph “Larry”, is an American businessman and the co-founder and chairman of Oracle Corporation.

Source: Oracle

Country of Citizenship: US

Mark Zuckerberg

Net Worth: $32.6 Bn

Age: 30

Profile: Mark Zuckerberg founded facebook in 2004 & is the 2nd youngest self-made billionaire. (2012)

Source: Facebook

Country of Citizenship: US

Larry Page

Net Worth: $30.7 Bn

Age: 41

Profile: “Larry” Page, co-founded Google in 1998 with Brin. He is an American business magnate and computer scientist. The Google cofounder’s fortune has risen $6.6 billion over the past year.

Source: Google

Country: US

Sergey Brin

Net Worth: $30.1 Bn

Age: 41

Profile: Sergey Mikhaylovich Brin, co-founded Google with Page in 1998. Google is one of the most profitable Internet companies and an icon of this decade.

Source: Google

Country: US

Jeff Bezos

Net Worth: $28.4 Bn

Age: 50

Profile: Jeffrey Preston “Jeff” Bezos, played a key role in the growth of ecommerce as the founder and CEO of internet giant Amazon.com.

Source: Amazon.com

Country: US

Steve Ballmer

Net Worth: $22.7 Bn

Age: 58

Profile: Steven Anthony “Steve” Ballmer (born March 24, 1956) is an American businessman, he was the CEO of Microsoft from January 2000 to February 2014

Source: Microsoft

Country: US

Jack Ma

Net Worth: $21.9 Bn

Age: 50

Profile: Jack Ma, is a Chinese entrepreneur and philanthropist. He is the founder and Executive Chairman of Alibaba Group.

Source: ecommerce

Country: China

Michael Dell

Net Worth: $21.4 Bn

Age: 49

Profile: Dell

Source: Michael Saul Dell, is the founder & CEO of Dell Inc.

Country: US

Laurence Powell Jobs & Family

Net Worth: $17.2 Bn

Age: 50

Profile: Laurence is the founder and chair of the Emerson Collective, an organization that focuses on using entrepreneurship.

Source: Apple, Disney

Country: US

Robin Li

Net Worth: $17.1 Bn

Age: 45

Profile: Robin Li, the Chairman and CEO, Baidu Inc. Board of Directors, Education & Technology Group Inc. He is ranked as the second richest man in mainland China.

Source: Internet search

Country: China

Paul Allen

Net Worth: $17.1 Bn

Age: 61

Profile: Paul Gardner Allen,  best known as the co-founder of Microsoft Corporation, with Bill Gates in 1975.

Source: Microsoft Investments

Country: US

Charles Ergen

Net Worth: $16.6 Bn

Age: 61

Profile: Charles William Ergen better known as Charlie Ergen, is a Businessman & Co-founder of satellite dish provider Dish Network

Source: Dish Network

Country: US

Azim Premji

Net Worth: $16 Bn

Age: 69

Profile: Azim Premji is an Indian business tycoon and philanthropist who is the chairman of Wipro Limited.

Source: Software

Country: India

Ma Huateng

Net Worth: $15.3 Bn

Age: 43

Profile: Ma Huateng is a Chinese entrepreneur who founded Tencent Inc., one of the largest internet companies in China.

Source: Internet Media

Country: China

Shiv Nadar

Net Worth: $12 Bn

Age: 69

Profile: Shiv Nadar is an Indian industrialist and philanthropist. He is the founder and chairman of HCL and the Shiv Nadar Foundation.

Source: Information technology

Country: India

Eric Schmidt

Net Worth: $9.2 Bn

Age: 59

Profile: Eric Emerson Schmidt is the Executive Chairman of Google.

Source: Google

Country: US

Lei Jun

Net Worth: $9 Bn

Age: 44

Profile: Lei Jun is the Founder, Chairman & CEO of Xiaomi Tech, Executive Director of Kingsoft, Chairman of UCweb Inc, Founder of Amazon China, Chairman of YY.com & Chairman of Great Wall Club.

Source: Smartphones

Country: China

Xavier Niel

Net Worth: $7.9 Bn

Age: 47

Profile: He started his first venture, WorldNet in 1993 at age 25, and exited seven years later with more than $50 Mn. Free Mobile, which Niel launched in 2012, sells unlimited calls, texts and Internet for 19.99 euros ($27.50) a month.

Source: Inter Telecom

Country: France

Pierre Omidyar

Net Worth: $7.7 Bn

Age: 47

Profile: Pierre Morad Omidyar is the Founder & Chairman of eBay Inc.

Source: Ebay

Country: US

Dustin Moskovitz

Net Worth: $7.7 Bn

Age: 30

Profile: Dustin Moskovitz is the facebook’s third employee.He left the social network in 2008 to start software firm Asana.

Source: Facebook

Country: US

James Goodnight

Net Worth: $7.7 Bn

Age: 71

Profile: James Morris Goodnight, created SAS in 1976. Since then he has been the CEO for more than three decades.

Source: Software

Country: US

David Duffield

Net Worth: $7.7 Bn

Age: 74

Profile: David Duffield is the co-founder and former chairman of PeopleSoft, the co-founder and co-CEO at Workday, Inc.

Source: Business software

Country: US

Hasso Plattner

Net Worth: $7.7 Bn

Age: 70

Profile: Hasso Plattner In February 2013 co founded German software giant SAP.

Source: Software

Country: Germany

Liu Qiangdong

Net Worth: $7 Bn

Age: 40

Profile: He is the Chairman and  CEO of Chinese online shopping firm, JD.com

Source: ecommerce

Country: China

Jan Koum

Net Worth: $7 Bn

Age: 38

Profile: He is the CEO and co-founder with Brian Acton of WhatsApp, a mobile messaging application which was acquired by Facebook Inc. in February 2014

Source: Whatsapp

Country: US

Terry Gou

Net Worth: $6.9 Bn

Age: 64

Profile: Terry Gou is the founder and chairman of Foxconn.

Source: Electronics

Country: Taiwan

[Disclaimer: All the above information has been procured from various reliable sources and is subject to variation over time.]

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