Fastest to a billion

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We’ve been tracking speed to wealth since July 1999, when Jay Walker set a DiMaggian record by attaining a $1 billion net worth (liquid or illiquid assets) within one year of founding Priceline. He had broken a mark set a year earlier by Global Crossing’s Gary Winnick. Neither man is on the Forbes 400 today. That’s a good reminder for the speedsters of our time, such as Groupon’s Eric Lefkofsky, new to this year’s list, and the Facebook mafia to set some cash aside in case their private shares end up tanking. Interesting to note that Lefkofsky beat the Facebook founders in the race to a billion by at least a year and a half.

Some names/durations not shown in the chart below: Steve Jobs (19 years); Michael Dell (12); Dustin Moskovitz (6); Eduardo Saverin (6); Mark Cuban (4), David Filo and Jerry Yang (4); Pierre Omidyar (3).



http://www.forbes.com/sites/bruceupbin/2011/09/21/fastest-to-a-billion/