Here are the people making the most money from tech

Did you know the net worth of the 100 richest tech geeks in the world is equal to $842.9 billion? Neither did we until we took a peek at Forbes’ latest report on the 100 richest tech billionaires around the world and tallied up the goods.

What about the fact that just over half of the top 100 — 51 percent — are from the United States? Even more surprising is the stat that 40% of those 100 tech giants live in the state of California, the tech capital of the US.

But you’re probably more interested in seeing who is on that list and how much money they have, right? We don’t blame you.

The 100 Richest Tech Moguls

Unsurprisingly, Bill Gates sits at the very top of the list, with a net worth of US$79.6-billion, up 3.6 billion since last year. The founder of Oracle, Larry Ellison is right behind him at US$50-billion, and Jeff Bezos — Amazon’s CEO — is in spot number three with US$47.8-billion. Then, of course, there’s Mark Zuckerberg the founder and CEO of Facebook with US$41.2-billion and Larry Page — co-founder and former CEO of Google — with US$33.4-billion.

Across just those top five tech moguls, that’s a total of US$251.8-billion dollars. That’s a lot of money.

The top ten is as follows:

1. Bill Gates – US$79.6-billion
2. Larry Ellison – US$50-billion
3. Jeff Bezos – US$47.8-billion
4. Mark Zuckerberg – US$41.2-billion
5. Larry Page – US$33.4-billion
6. Sergey Brin – US$32.8-billion
7. Jack Ma – US$23.2-billion
8. Steve Ballmer – US$22.7-billion
9. Laurene Powell Jobs – US$21.4-billion
10. Michael Dell – US$19.4-billion

If you would like to see the full list, which includes all 100 people, head on over to Forbes.

Nothing to Scoff at

The first thing you may notice about the top 10 list is that everyone on it has had a significant impact on the world of tech, with the exception of Laurene Powell Jobs who inherited Steve Jobs’ financial legacy after his passing. She has, however, primarily influenced social and environmental policies thanks to her company the Emerson Collective.

Even with the sheer number of niche tech businesses cropping up all over the country, it is the big names in the business that continue to make a large dent. You’ll notice right away that the moguls listed above all hail from some of the biggest companies in the tech industry like Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Amazon, Apple and more.

Bill Gates needs no introduction, with his resume including the tech giant Microsoft, most popular for its Windows operating system among other things. Jeff Bezos is responsible for changing the world of e-commerce and almost single-handedly expanding its potential with the creation of Amazon. Then there’s Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook, along with Larry Page and Sergey Brin from Google, all of whom need no detailed description.

One of the more surprising stats — 15 of the top 100 richest tech moguls are under 40 years of age. The youngest of those is the founder and CEO of Snapchat, Evan Spiegel, with an estimated worth of US$2.1-billion at just 25. No one can argue that he has a bright future ahead of him.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, the oldest member of the list is the co-founder of Intel, Gordon Moore, with an estimated net worth of US$6-billion at 86.

Ninety-four out of those total 100 have become billionaires through their own efforts, which means they worked hard to create a successful tech empire. Just three of them inherited their fortune from a previous mogul, while an additional three have inherited their financial standing yet are currently working hard to expand it even more.

It all goes to show that a successful life truly can happen for those who work hard and make their own luck. Still, it would be nice to be as filthy rich as some of the folks on this list.