Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Mark Zuckerberg – who become a billionaire fastest? How long it took 11 of the world’s richest self-made moguls to earn more money than you can imagine

Jul 31 , 2020

Warren Buffett, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg – who became a billionaire first? Photo: MCT, AFP

How did the tech bosses behind Google, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft do against owners of fashion brands like Dior and Louis Vuitton? UK-based sports betting firm OLBG crunched the numbers for us

Some entrepreneurs dream up businesses that make them into billionaires virtually overnight while others work for decades to join the three comma club. Once they get there, some choose to do some questionable things with their money – but this article is concerned solely with how long it took some of the richest people in the world to get there.

According to an analysis of the Forbes' 2020 Billionaires List by British sports betting firm OLBG, it takes the average billionaire 21 years to make their first billion. Some, like Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, do it much faster while others, such as Zara billionaire Amancio Ortega, take a bit longer to amass their massive fortunes.

It’s worth noting at this point that the ranking only includes self-made billionaires, so those who inherited their fortunes, like the Waltons of Wal-Mart, have been excluded. OLBG determined how long each individual took to become a billionaire by subtracting the year they founded their primary business from the year Forbes declared them a billionaire.

No one on the 2020 Billionaires List was inducted into the three-comma club faster than eBay founder Pierre Omidyar, however, who made a billion dollars in just three years after founding the online auction house.

11. Carlos Slim, the richest man in Mexico, took 30 years to become a billionaire

Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim attends a meeting in Beirut in March 2010. Photo: Reuters

Current net worth: US$53.2 billion (attributed to Slim and his family)

Source of wealth: Telecommunications giant America Movil

Slim, 80, and several of his family members, control Latin America's largest telecommunications company. He has also invested in construction, consumer goods and real-estate firms in Mexico, in addition to holding a stake in The New York Times, according to Forbes.

10. It took Spanish fashion mogul Amancio Ortega 26 years to join the three-comma club