Today we see them among the richest people in the world, but the path to financial success was arduous. Characters like Bill Gates, Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, among others, they stand out among the technological giants for their ability to invest.
But, when did they make their first million? How old were they and how did they do it?
We review the route of each one of them towards the significant figure of a million dollars, also adding two other tycoons such as Jeff Bezos and Sir Richard Branson.
Bill Gates – He made his first million dollars at the age of 26
As the co-founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates made his first million dollars in 1981, when the company entered the initial public offering, selling its shares. He reached a billion dollars at the age of 31. Currently she has a fortune of 104.5 billion dollars.
Elon Musk – 28 years old
Although Elon Musk came from a family with huge incomes (his father owned mines in South Africa), with his parents’ divorce he had to work from an early age. He made his first million at the age of 28, when his Zip2 business (provided local directory software for Internet newspapers) was sold to Compaq in 1999. Today he is the second richest man in the world, with 194 billion dollars (he is surpassed for this Thursday by Bernard Arnault, with 208 billion).
Mark Zuckerberg – 19 years old
His rise to the list of millionaires and billionaires was meteoric: at just 19 years old (in 2004) he already had his first million dollars, and at 23 he already had a billion. The key? Facebook, the social network he created. Currently, Mark Zuckerberg has a fortune of 62.3 billion dollars.
Jeff Bezos – 33 years old
Riding the wave of Amazon, Jeff Bezos reached his first million dollars in 1997, when he was 33 years old. Bezos was an electrical and computer science engineer. After working on Wall Street, he founded Amazon in 1994, starting as an online bookstore, expanding into various e-commerce products. Today he is the third richest man on the planet, with 115.4 billion dollars.
Sir Richard Branson – 22 years old
Branson ran his Student magazine at the age of 16, where they interviewed celebrities, selling nearly $8,000 worth of advertising. In 1969 he founded a mail-order record company, which would later become a record business: his name, Virgin. The first million dollars reached it in 1972, focusing on the recording of artists like Mike Oldfield. Today he has 3.4 billion dollars: he is not among the richest in the world, but his company Virgin became one of the most popular in entertainment.