- - These 22-Year-Olds Just Unseated Mark Zuckerberg as the Youngest Self-Made Billionaires

Angela Mae WatsonJanuary 2, 2026 at 12:00 AM

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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 $209 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 all on their own.

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.

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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, age 30

$2.8 billion net worth

Katharina Andresen, age 29

$2 billion net worth

Ed Craven, age 29, self-made

$2.8 billion net worth

Leonardo Maria Del Vecchio, age 29

$6.6 billion net worth

Alexandra Andresen, age 28

$1.9 billion net worth

Firoz Mistry, age 28

$4 billion net worth

Alexandr Wang, age 28, self-made

$2 billion net worth

Dora Voigt de Assis, age 27

$1.2 billion net worth

Maximilian von Baumbach, age 27

$5.4 billion net worth

Zahan Mistry, age 26

$4 billion net worth

Katharina von Baumbach, age 25

$5.4 billion net worth

Maxim Tebar, age 24

$1.1 billion net worth

Remi Dassault, age 23

$2.8 billion net worth

Luca Del Vecchio, age 23

$6.6 billion net worth

Kim Jung-min, age 23

$1.3 billion net worth

Franz von Baumbach, age 23

$5.4 billion net worth

Kevin David Lehmann, age 22

$3.6 billion net worth

Kim Jung-youn, age 21

$1.3 billion net worth

Clemente Del Vecchio, age 20

$6.6 billion net worth

Livia Voigt de Assis, age 20

$1.2 billion net worth

Johannes von Baumbach, age 19

$5.4 billion net worth

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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: These 22-Year-Olds Just Unseated Mark Zuckerberg as the Youngest Self-Made Billionaires

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