They made the list of the 400 richest Americans in what Forbes called “a terrible year for many.”
As former President Donald Trump dropped off the Forbes 400 list of richest Americans for the first time in 25 years in what he called “a terrible year for many,” seven American Indians l ‘did.
The Forbes 400 2021 has seen its collective fortune increase by 40% over the past year, reaching $ 4.5 trillion. Almost all are richer than a year ago.
There are 44 new names on the list, which now requires a minimum net worth of $ 2.9 billion, up $ 800 million from a year ago. the biggest cutoff jump.
Topping the list of seven Native American billionaires was Zscaler CEO Jay Chaudhry, 62, ranked 45 with a net worth of $ 16.3 billion.
READ: With a net worth of over $ 10 billion, Jay Chaudhry is the richest American Indian (April 10, 2021)
He was followed by Vinod Khosla (92), Rakesh Gangwal (253), Romesh T. Wadhwani (333), Niraj Shah (340), Aneel Bhusri (363) and Baiju Bhatt (389).
Cyber ​​security firm Chaudhry, founded in 2008, went public in March 2018. He and his family own 42% of the Nasdaq-listed company.
Prior to Zscaler, Chaudhry founded four other technology companies which were all acquired: SecureIT, CoreHarbor, CipherTrust and AirDefense.
In 1996, Chaudhry and his wife, Jyoti, both quit their jobs and used their savings to create cybersecurity company SecureIT, his first startup.
His hometown, a village in the Himalayas in India, had no electricity or running water until he was in 8th and 10th grade respectively.
READ: Seven American Indians among Forbes’ 400 billionaires in 2020 (September 9, 2020)
Chaudhry moved to the United States in 1980 to pursue graduate studies and now lives in Nevada, having moved from the Bay Area.
Vinod Khosla, 66, partner, Khosla Ventures, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm. follows at 92 with a net worth of $ 8.6 billion.
The company, which invests in experimental technologies such as biomedicine and robotics, marked releases in 2020 and early 2021 with the IPOs of Affirm and DoorDash and the SPAC listings of QuantumScape and Opendoor.
Khosla co-founded computer hardware company Sun Microsystems in 1982 with Andy Bechtolsheim, Bill Joy, and Scott McNealy.
Khosla spent 18 years at venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (now called Kleiner Perkins) before launching her own fund.
READ: Seven American Indians on Forbes’ list of the 400 richest Americans (October 7, 2019)
Khosla obtained a Masters of Science from Carnegie Mellon University; Bachelor of Arts / Science, Indian Institute of Technology; Master of Business Administration, Stanford Graduate School of Business.
The third richest among American Indians was airline veteran Rakesh Gangwal, 68, ranked 253 with a net worth of $ 4.4 billion.
Gangwal made a fortune from InterGlobe Aviation, the parent company of low-cost airline IndiGo, India’s largest in terms of market share.
Gangwal began his airline career with United Airlines in 1984 and went on to lead US Airways Group as managing director and chairman.
Gangwal co-founded IndiGo, headquartered outside Delhi, with his friend Rahul Bhatia (also billionaire) in 2006 with just one plane. The Miami resident owns nearly 37% of the company and sits on the board of directors.
READ: Meet the three Native American women on Forbes’ List of American Self-Made Women of 2019 (June 8, 2019)
Gangwal and Bhatia got into a fight in 2019 over corporate governance issues. Their dispute reached courts in London, Florida and Maryland, Forbes said.
Gangwal holds a Bachelor of Science in Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology; Master of Business Administration, University of Pennsylvania, The Wharton School.
Romesh T. Wadhwani, 74, founder and chairman of Symphony Technology Group, ranked 333 on the Forbes list with a net worth of $ 3.5 billion is next.
Wadhwani, whose Symphony Technology Group generates $ 2.5 billion in annual revenue. combined nine of its AI-driven companies into a new group called SymphonyAI in 2017.
After graduating from the Indian Institute of Technology, he went to Carnegie Mellon and received a doctorate in 1972 in electrical engineering.
READ: Five American Indians on Forbes 400 list (October 4, 2018)
The serial entrepreneur went on to found Aspect Development. He sits on the boards of the Kennedy Center and the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
He and his brother, Sunil, founded the Wadhwani Institute of Artificial Intelligence at the University of Mumbai in 2018, committing more than $ 30 million.
Niraj Shah, 47, co-founder and CEO of online home goods retailer Wayfair, was next ranked 340 with a net worth of $ 3.4 billion.
He started the business in 2002 with Steve Conine, also a billionaire. The two met while in high school as part of a program at Cornell University, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Engineering.
Shah and Conine ended up living in the same dorm as their first year at Cornell and became good friends.
READ: 10 Native Americans on Forbes’ Billionaire List (March 6, 2018)
Wayfair, which now offers more than 18 million products, generated $ 14 billion in net revenue in 2020, up 55% from the previous year.
Shah joined the Board of Directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston in 2017.
Aneel Bhusri, 55, CEO and co-founder of enterprise software company Workday, was ranked 363 with a net worth of $ 3.2 billion.
He co-founded the firm with Dave Duffield, the founder of PeopleSoft, where he began his career in the early 1990s and became Vice President.
He also works as an advisory partner at the venture capital firm Greylock Partners; he has been on the Forbes Midas list six times since 2008. He studied electrical engineering at Brown University and holds an MBA from Stanford.
READ: Romesh Wadhwani the richest of the eight American Indian billionaires (March 21, 2017)
In May 2018, Bhusri joined the Giving Pledge, a commitment by the world’s richest people to devote the majority of their wealth to philanthropy.
Baiju Bhatt, 36, who co-founded the no-fee stock trading app Robinhood in 2013 with his friend Vlad Tenev, completes the 389-ranked Desi list with a net worth of $ 2.9 billion.
Bhatt was co-CEO of Robinhood until November 2020, when he stepped down from that role. Since its inception, Robinhood’s commission-free trading model has revolutionized the brokerage industry.
In July 2021, Robinhood went public on the Nasdaq stock exchange at a valuation of $ 32 billion. Bhatt owns around 8% of the company. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Stanford University.
