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Martine Rothblatt founded United Therapeutics to search for a cure for her daughter’s rare disease. Shares of the company soared in 2024, making her a new billionaire.
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Billionaires are booming. With the AI goldrush in full swing, celebrity and athlete earnings climbing higher than ever, and the stock market at record highs, Forbes found scores of new billionaires in 2024. These new members of the three-comma club join more than 2,800 others, worth a stunning $15.4 trillion in all, on our Real Time Billionaires list.
The youngest new billionaires in 2024 are Ed Craven ($1.3 billion) and Bijan Tehrani ($1.3 billion)—28 and 30, respectively—of crypto-backed online casino Stake.com. The richest fresh faces are Marilyn Simons (estimated net worth: $31 billion)—the widow of hedge fund legend Jim Simons, who died in May at age 86—and Lyndal Stephens Greth ($27.4 billion), whose late father Autry Stephens (d. August) founded oil and gas firm Endeavor Energy Resources.
Techies riding AI into the billionaire ranks this year include Brett Adcock, whose company Figure is building robots with a goal to enter the workforce, and Herald Chen of marketing software company AppLovin.
Others have gotten super rich in everything from pumping iron (Arnold Schwarzenegger), fashion (Aritzia founder Brian Hill) and sandwiches (Jersey Mike’s Subs’ founder Peter Cancro).
Here are some of the most notable members of the 2024 billionaire class: (Net worths are as of December 19, 2024)
Source of Wealth: Jersey Mike’s Subs
Net Worth: $5.6 bil
Age: 67
Citizenship: United States
The owner and CEO of the popular sandwich chain Jersey Mike’s got his start in 1971 at age 14, when he began working at Mike’s Subs in his hometown of Point Pleasant, New Jersey. Cancro would go on to buy the store three years later after taking out a loan, changing its name to Jersey Mike’s and beginning to franchise across the U.S. in 1981. In November, he agreed to sell a majority of the fast-growing business to Blackstone at a reported valuation of $8 billion, including debt, but plans to retain a stake and stay on as chief executive.
Source of Wealth: Online casino
Combined Net Worth: $2.6 bil
Ages: 28, 30
Citizenships: Australia, U.S.
Their company Stake.com is believed to be the largest crypto-backed online casino in the world. The site, founded by Craven and Tehrani in 2017, generated $2.6 billion in revenue last year, despite the fact that such gambling is either not legal or not available in the U.S., United Kingdom and much of Europe. They have put the Stake brand on Formula 1 cars, English Premier League jerseys and UFC octagons. After Stake streams were banned on Twitch in late 2022, Craven and Tehrani launched Kick, their own streaming service. Between 2020 and 2022, Stake’s gross gaming revenue jumped from $100 million to more than $2 billion.
Source of Wealth: Software
Net Worth: $1.3 bil
Age: 54
Citizenship: United States
A KKR alum, Chen joined AppLovin, a marketing software firm that helps companies grow their apps, in 2019, before its 2021 IPO. Chen was the company’s president and chief financial officer before stepping down in 2023, and is the company’s fifth billionaire thanks to the boatload of stock options he was awarded during his tenure. AppLovin’s stock has surged more than 700% this year.
Source of Wealth: Robots
Net Worth: $1.5 bil
Age: 38
Citizenship: United States
Figure, Adcock’s robot company, wants to bring AI-powered humanoid machines–capable of performing myriad tasks and communicating with humans–into the labor force. The company, backed by investors including Microsoft, Nvidia, Jeff Bezos and OpenAI, was valued at $2.6 billion in February. Between his approximately 50% stake in Figure and shares from a previous startup, he’s now worth an estimated $1.5 billion.
Source of Wealth: Duolingo
Net Worth: $1.2 bil
Age: 46
Citizenship: United States, Guatemala
Raised in Guatemala in a low-income family, von Ahn immigrated to the U.S. in 1996 to study math at Duke University and then got a Ph.D. in computer science from Carnegie Mellon University. There, he co-created the CAPTCHA verification system, which distinguishes humans from robots online, and sold it to Google in 2009 for an undisclosed sum before starting the language learning app Duolingo. Von Ahn took Duolingo public in 2021 and owns around 10% of its shares, which have risen more than 40% this year. His cofounder, Severin Hacker, is also a new billionaire.
Source of Wealth: Military Drones
Net Worth: $1.2B
Age: 45
Citizenship: Turkey
The son-in-law of Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, he’s profiting off the war in Ukraine through unmanned military drone manufacturer Baykar. Founded by his father in 1984 to make parts for the Turkish auto industry, Baykar recorded sales of $1.4 billion in 2022. In 2023, its exports rose to $1.8 billion. It’s a key seller of drones to Ukrainian troops. Bayraktar owns 52.5% of Baykar, chairs the board and serves as chief technological officer. His brother Haluk, also a new billionaire, is CEO and owns the rest.
Source of Wealth: Rockets
Net Worth: 1.2 bil
Age: 47
Citizenship: New Zealand
The New Zealand native’s rocket company, Rocket Lab USA, develops rockets, satellites and other spacecrafts for government and commercial customers. A self-taught engineer who skipped college, Beck owns around 10% of Rocket Lab’s shares, which have shot up more than 300% this year thanks to successful results and new rockets.
Source of Wealth: Fashion retail
Net worth: $1.1 bil
Age: 62
Citizenship: Canada
His Vancouver-based fashion chain Aritzia went viral in the U.S. during the Covid-19 pandemic with its focus on “everyday luxury” at an “attainable price.” Hill opened the first Aritzia in a Vancouver mall in 1984, but did not touch down in the U.S. until 2007. Now, there are 47 U.S. outposts, most having opened over the past five years. Hill, who is executive chairman, owns about 18% of the Toronto Stock Exchange-listed company’s stock, which is up nearly 100% in 2024.
Source of Wealth: Movies, Investments
Net Worth: $1.1 bil
Age: 77
Citizenship: United States
The bodybuilder, actor and politician was born into a poor family in Thal, a small Austrian village with a population of 2,500, where he discovered his father had been a member of the Nazi party. Now, he’s a billionaire thanks to some $500 million made from Hollywood films (before taxes and fees), investments in California real estate, stakes in some of the world’s biggest brands and a minority stake in Dimensional Fund Advisors, which manages nearly $800 billion in assets.
Source of Wealth: Pharmaceuticals
Net Worth: $1.1 bil
Age: 70
Citizenship: United States
Founded by Rothblatt in 1996, United Therapeutics experiments with pig cloning and genetic modification to create lungs the human body doesn’t reject. It also sells lifesaving, FDA-approved drugs. Rothblatt pivoted from Sirius Satellite Radio, which she cofounded in 1990, to biotech after her daughter was diagnosed with pulmonary arterial hypertension, a rare lung and heart condition without a cure. The Silver Spring, Maryland-based company generated $2.1 billion in sales last year and has seen its stock jump more than 50% in 2024. Perhaps America’s best-known transgender CEO, she underwent gender reassignment surgery in 1994 and has spent decades as an advocate for LGBTQ rights.
