Ten Under-40 Billionaires Join Forbes 400 in Record Numbers Driven by AI
The 2026 Forbes 400 list features a record ten billionaires under the age of 40, up from four in the previous year. This surge is largely attributed to growth within the artificial intelligence industry, with seven newcomers having built their fortunes specifically in AI. Four cofounders of Anthropic—Tom Brown (39), Daniela Amodei (39), Jack Clark (37), and Sam McCandlish (36)—each have an estimated net worth of $15.5 billion. Greg Brockman, a former OpenAI co-founder now 37 years old, is the wealthiest among them with a fortune valued at $25.5 billion. Other notable newcomers include Palmer Luckey (33), founder of defense tech firm Anduril, and Steven Hao (30), who co-founded AI coding startup Cognition. The three returning members from 2025 are Edwin Chen, Vlad Tenev, and Lukas Walton. Collectively, the ten youngest Forbes 400 members have a combined net worth of $169 billion—down significantly from $357 billion in 2025 due to aging out of the under-40 category. The broader list reflects growing wealth concentration among America’s richest individuals. The total net worth of all Forbes 400 members reached a record $8 trillion, with the minimum entry threshold rising to $4.4 billion from $3.8 billion in 2025.
Topics: AI Billionaires Forbes 400 Startups Venture Funding