Want to be a billionaire? Your best bet to joining the ranks of the mega-rich has long been via building your own business—or inheriting money from someone who did.
But those aren’t the only avenues to the three-comma club. As Forbes’ Matt Durot reported this week, a small but growing group of current and former American executives have managed to reach billionaire status as very well-paid employees. Altogether, Forbes found a record 48 of these hired-hand billionaires in 2025, up from 29 a year ago.
This year’s list saw 18 newcomers, including Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, FICO CEO William Lansing, and SpaceX president and chief operating officer Gwynne Shotwell. And as share prices soar and executive pay packages reach sky-high levels, the total number of hired-hand executives with 10-figure fortunes is sure to keep rising.
Read more about this growing segment of the world’s richest people in Durot’s full story here, and continue scrolling for more great journalism from the Forbes newsroom below. |
|
