The top 7 richest tech billionaires, ranked by net worth

Source of wealth: Microsoft
Country: USA

Ballmer recently cracked into Bloomberg’s top 10 richest folks. Ballmer was hired by Bill Gates as employee number 30 of Microsoft in 1980. He went on to become president of the company and then CEO when Gates stepped down in 2000, a job he would hold until 2014.

Source of wealth: Google
Country: USA

Along with Larry Page below, Sergey Brin founded Google in 1998, as well as the company’s later parent, Alphabet, in 2015. With a 5 percent stake in Alphabet, Brin has done only slightly worse than his co-founder over the years, both sitting comfortably above $90 billion.

Source of wealth: Google
Country: USA

Back when Page and Brin co-founded it, the search engine was called “BackRub,” but these days it’s better known as Google. Page is also co-founder and board member of Google’s parent company, Alphabet, where his ownership stake of 6 percent has unsurprisingly proven profitable.

Source of wealth: Facebook
Country: USA

Points to Zuckerberg for crossing $100 billion before he was 40. These days the co-founder, CEO, and chairman of Facebook is nearly as recognizable and ubiquitous as his social media platform. Beyond his 13 percent stake in Facebook, Zuckerberg is also well invested in real estate.

Source of wealth: Microsoft
Country: USA

Long the richest man in the world, Bill Gates has slumped from the top spot, but even after giving away loads of cash he’s still left with a ridiculous $136 billion. These days, Gates only owns about 1 percent of Microsoft, the company that launched him into astronomical finances, but he has invested in all sorts of industries.

Source of wealth: Tesla, SpaceX
Country: USA

Tesla’s value tends to jump around depending on the day and the activity on Twitter, and with it CEO Elon Musk’s own personal valuation. Musk, who owns 20 percent of Tesla, briefly eclipsed Jeff Bezos as the richest person in the world in January, but at the moment his net worth sits at about $150 billion.

Source of wealth: Amazon
Country: USA

Jeff Bezos grew Amazon from a garage in 1994 to one of the world’s largest companies. It got an especially big boost in 2017 when Amazon absorbed Whole Foods. As founder, Bezos retains about 11 percent of Amazon, which has boosted him to the top spot among richest tech billionaires.