If you want to become a billionaire, tech is a good industry to enter. About one third of the 30 richest billionaires in the world have earned their fortunes in technology. From Bill Gates to Mark Zuckerberg to Steve Ballmer, American tech billionaires top the list of the world's richest, but don't count Asia out, just yet. China's Jack Ma and his Alibaba have been a hot commodity for years now. All of the nine men (yes they are all men) on this list are self-made. Without them we would not have Microsoft, Google, Amazon, or Facebook.
#9. Ma Huateng
Net worth: $17.6 billion
Source of wealth: Tencent Holdings
Nicknamed "Pony", Ma Huateng is the founder, president, chief executive officer, and executive board member of Tencent Holdings, Ltd., one of the biggest telecommunications companies in China. Pony earned his B.S. in software engineering in 1993, and, in 1998, founded Tencent with four friends. Tencent soon became the largest instant communications service network in China. Tencent grew in popularity with the introduction of such popular online multi-player games as, "League of Legends". Billed as "the Chinese AOL", Tencent now encompasses web portals, e-commerce, and multiple social networks as well.
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Net worth: $24 billion
Source of wealth: Self-made; Microsoft
Steve Ballmer dropped out of Stanford's MBA program in 1980 to join his old Harvard friend Bill Gates at Microsoft. He was the company's first business manager and drew a $50,000 salary. He also got a large stake in the company. Ballmer was eventually made CEO of Microsoft. In 2014, Ballmer paid $2 billion to acquire the NBA's Los Angeles Clippers.
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#7. Jack Ma
Net worth: $22 billion
Source of wealth: Self-made; Alibaba
Just 20 years ago, Jack Ma was a modest English teacher in China who never could have even dreamed of the riches that would befall him in the following decades. In 1995, Ma visited the United States for the first time. He had recently started a side business, a translation company, to help capitalize on the recent Chinese export boom. It was during this visit to the U.S. that a friend showed Ma the Internet for the first time. This friend told Ma that anything he wanted could be found on the World Wide Web in an instant with the click of a button. So, Jack searched for beer. In 1999, Jack brought 18 friends and family members together in his apartment and spent two hours pitching them his vision. Every single person bought in, giving Ma $60,000 to start Alibaba. On September 19th, Alibaba.com officially became the largest Initial Public Offering of all time.
#6. Sergey Brin
Net worth: $37 billion
Source of wealth: Self-made; Google
Sergey Brin co-founded Google with Larry Page in 1998, after meeting at Stanford a few years earlier. Today, Brin oversees Google's parent company Alphabet as its president. He is working on a way to provide WiFi to rural communities using high altitude balloons.
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#5. Larry Page
Net worth: $38 billion
Source of wealth: Self-made; Google
Larry Page is the slightly wealthier Google founder. These days, Page is CEO of Google's parent company Alphabet. It was Page who came up with the algorithm at the heart of Google's search engine, which compiles results in a specific ranking. Page also led Google's acquisition of Android.
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#4. Larry Ellison
Net worth: $40 billion
Source of wealth: Self-made; Oracle
Larry Ellison is the founder and CEO of Oracle, one of the largest software companies in the world. He is so wealthy that he owns Lanai—one of the Hawaiian Islands. Ellison lives in a $200 million house on 45 acres in Silicon Valley. The mansion is modeled after a 16th century Japanese estate.
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Net worth: $50 billion
Industry: Technology
Source of wealth: Self-made; Facebook
Mark Zuckerberg famously developed Facebook while he was a student at Harvard. He subsequently dropped out and moved to Palo Alto to concentrate on Facebook. He and his wife Priscilla Chan have joined The Giving Pledge and vowed to give away 99% of their wealth during their lifetimes.
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#2. Jeff Bezos
Net worth: $70 billion
Source of wealth: Self-made; Amazon.com
Jeff Bezos wrote the business plan for what would become Amazon during a cross country road trip with his wife. He single-handedly revolutionized the way we buy books—and after a while, also everything else under the sun from deodorant to chandeliers to scripted streaming television series. These days his focus is on the Washington Post, which he owns, as well as his space exploration company Blue Origin.
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#1. Bill Gates
Net worth: $90 billion
Source of wealth: Self-made; Microsoft
Bill Gates isn't just the wealthiest tech billionaire; he is the richest man on the planet. Gates has been a billionaire since Microsoft went public when he was 30. He is the co-founder of the software giant and one of the architects of The Giving Pledge. These days, he is a member of Microsoft's board and focuses his time on his philanthropic work. He has been vocal about his desire to not leave his children much of his fortune so that they are forced to make their own way in the world rather than live off his billions.
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