Forever young: A selection of under-30 world-changers since 1917
The story of youthful entrepreneurs is older than Forbes itself
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Prefer us on GoogleLast Updated: Nov 03, 2017, 07:18 IST1 min
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Howard HughesImage: Bettmann /Getty Images
1910sWalter L JacobsFounder, Rent-A-CarIn 1918, 22-year-old Chicagoan begins renting fleet of 12 Model T Fords revenues top $1 million by 1925 sells out to John Hertz, remains president of Hertz Corp until 1960.
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1920sHoward HughesFilm ProducerThe wealthy oil-patch heir storms Hollywood by 1927, the 22-year-old has financial, critical hits with Everybody’s Acting and Two Arabian Knights. Later: Hughes Aircraft, RKO, TWA, Vegas casino, recluse.
1930sErnest and Julio GalloCo-Founders, E&J Gallo WineryFollowing Prohibition, 24-year-old Ernest borrows $6,000 from his mother-in-law in 1933 to start a winery with brother Julio, they make E&J into America’s largest winemaker perennial members of Forbes 400.
1940sPatrick J FrawleyFounder, Frawley Pen CoAs a teenager, the Nicaraguan-born American sells tyres to Panama in 1949, at 26, buys failing ballpoint-pen maker and develops leakproof Paper Mate, sells to Gillette. Second act: Schick razors.
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1950sDan and Frank CarneyCo-Founders, Pizza HutTwo Wichita State students, 27 and 20, borrow $600 from mom to open Pizza Hut in 1958 start franchising 1959 delivery pioneers sell to PepsiCo in 1977 for $300 million.
1960sSaul SteinbergFounder, LeascoBrooklyn-born financier starts by leasing IBM mainframes, becomes infamous as corporate raider 1968 hostile takeover of Reliance Insurance makes the 29-year-old rich unsuccessful runs at Chemical Bank, Disney finally, bankruptcy.
1970sDebbi FieldsFounder, Mrs FieldsIn 1977, the recently married 21-year-old secures a high-interest loan to start a bakery in Palo Alto her warm cookies soon win over millions still the company spokesperson at 61.1980sSteve JobsCo-Founder, AppleAt 27, member of 1982 Forbes 400 is worth $100 million introduces Mac in 1984 fired in 1985. Founds NeXT, Pixar. Comes back with a vengeance: iPod, iPhone, iPad.
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1990sJonathan CoonCo-Founder, 1-800-CONTACTSFrustrated by high costs and waits at eye docs, BYU grad teams with optician in 1995 to sell lenses directly to consumers at 28 took company public financed Napoleon Dynamite.
2000sMark ZuckerbergCo-Founder, FacebookNineteen-year-old Harvard sophomore hacks together social networking site in 2004. Hypergrowth: Company worth $15 billion by 2007 now 2 billion active users Zuck is world’s fifth-richest person.
2010sPatrick and John CollisonCo-Founders, StripeAt 29 and 27, the Irish-born, California-residing brothers are among world’s youngest self-made billionaires thanks to their entrepreneur-friendly internet payment processor Stripe, which they started in 2011.
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First Published: Nov 03, 2017, 07:18
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