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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.
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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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
Katharina Andresen, age 29
Ed Craven, age 29, self-made
Leonardo Maria Del Vecchio, age 29
Alexandra Andresen, age 28
Firoz Mistry, age 28
Alexandr Wang, age 28, self-made
Dora Voigt de Assis, age 27
Maximilian von Baumbach, age 27
Zahan Mistry, age 26
Katharina von Baumbach, age 25
Maxim Tebar, age 24
Remi Dassault, age 23
Luca Del Vecchio, age 23
Kim Jung-min, age 23
Franz von Baumbach, age 23
Kevin David Lehmann, age 22
Kim Jung-youn, age 21
Clemente Del Vecchio, age 20
Livia Voigt de Assis, age 20
Johannes von Baumbach, age 19