Meet Next-Gen Tech Billionaires

[VelMurugan]

Meet next-gen tech billionaires

Who says those billions accompany with grey hairs. Meet our next-gen tech billionaires, young, sassy and of course still to go grey. And mind you, we are not talking about rich heirs or those born with a silver spoon.

Part of Forbes Next-Gen Billionaires, these young czars boast of all traits that make our revered grey-haired flock: ambition, passion and aggression.

Most of these soon-to-be-billionaire techies owe their status to the Internet. While one is the name behind Japan's most popular social networking site, other is the founder of Bebo. Also on the list is venture capitalist.

[VelMurugan]

Michael and Xochi Birch

One of the leading next-gen billionaires are Michael and Xochi Birch, founder's of the popular networking site Bebo. Together the couple command a net worth of $600 million.

Born in 1970, Michael Birch is a computer programmer turned entrepreneur. Married to his college sweet heart Xochi Birch, Micahel founded BirthdayAlarm.com in 2001, along with his brother Paul. The idea was to provide a simple way for people to remember birthdays.

In 2002, England-bred moved to San Francisco where he started Ringo.com which was later sold to tickle.com.

The biggest milestone came in January 2005 when the duo launched social networking site Bebo, which saw its official launch a few months later in July. With over 40 million users, Bebo has today surpassed erstwhile no.1 social network MySpace in several countries.

Later this year (March 2008), the couple sold Bebo to AOL in a $850 million deal, which got them a profit of $595 million. In June 2008, Michael invested in online shop, MyStore.com and joined its board.

He graduated from Imperial College London in BSc Physics.

[VelMurugan]

Elon Musk

Here's a dotcom millionaire. Born in South Africa, Elon Musk had his first brush with success at 27, when he got $22 million after selling his Internet startup Zip2. Compaq's AltaVista division acquired Zip2 for $307 million in cash and $34 million in stock options.

In March1999, Musk co-founded X.com, an email payments company. In February 2001, X.com changed its legal name to PayPal. One of the first online payment solutions, PayPal allows users to pay money online through credit cards, bank accounts, buyer credit or account balances, without sharing financial information.

In October 2002, PayPal was acquired by eBay for $1.5 billion in stock, the deal got Musk eBay stocks worth $170 million.

Thirty-seven-year old Musk is CEO and head rocket designer at SpaceX, an aerospace start-up in California. Musk is the major owner and Chairman of the Board of Tesla Motors, which builds high-end luxury electric vehicles.

He is also Chairman on the Board of SolarCity, a photovoltaic product and services startup which he has also invested in.

A sports car lover, Musk is passionate about global warming.

[VelMurugan]

Kenji Kasahara

With a net worth estimated to be $740 million, Japanese entrepreneur Kenji Kasahara is fast climbing up the billionaire ladder.

Thirty-two-year-old Kasahara, founded mixi in 2004. One of the most popular social networking site in Japan today, the site is popularly called Japanese MySpace.

In 2006, mixi joined the select few Internet companies in the stock markets, when it debuted Tokyo Stock market in 2006. As of May 2008, mixi had over 10 million users and an 80 per cent share of the social networking market in Japan.

With plans to tap the growing Chinese market, Kasahara opened its subsidary in Shanghai last month.

Kasahara's motto: 'To change the world with the power of the Internet.'

[VelMurugan]

Roelof Botha

Here's one techie who reaped his millions by putting his money in technology. Thirty-four-year old venture capitalist at Sequoia Capital, Roelof Botha was CFO of PayPal before it was taken over by eBay in 2002.

Botha was also on the board of directors of YouTube before it was acquired by Google. In fact, he was one of the very first investors for the online video sharing company YouTube.

His latest investments include the California-based instant messenger service Meebo and the jaw bone headset maker Aliph, headquartered in San Francisco.

An MBA Stanford Business School, he started his career as a management consultant with McKinsey & Co. He did his BSc in Actuarial Science, Economics and Statistics from University of Cape Town.

A South African native, Botha was listed at #23 on Forbes 2007 Midas List, which identifies most successful venture capitalists.