Infosys joins the club:12 companies that have minted the most billionaires | Personal Finance
Anthropic leads the global list with seven billionaire cofounders worth a combined $95.4 billion, while Infosys is the only Indian company among the 12 firms with five or more billionaire founders and employees, according to a new study by trading firm Atmos.
From artificial intelligence startup Anthropic to technology giants Alphabet and Meta, some of the world’s biggest companies have turned their founders and early employees into billionaires through equity stakes built over years.
Anthropic tops the list, with seven billionaire cofounders holding a combined fortune of $95.4 billion, according to a November 2026 study by Atmos. All seven cofounders left OpenAI to establish Anthropic in 2021. Their individual fortunes are estimated at between $13.1 billion and $13.8 billion.
Key points to note:
- Alphabet has made five billionaires, from cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin to current CEO Sundar Pichai, and together they hold $553 billion.
- Beyond cofounders Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin and Dustin Moskovitz, three Facebook staff members became billionaires.
- China’s Xiaomi counts five billionaires worth $36 billion in total, including chairman and CEO Lei Jun at $20.9 billion.
India’s Infosys also features prominently. The IT services company has five billionaire founders, with a combined net worth of $13.3 billion, according to the study. Unlike several global technology companies on the list, Infosys’ billionaires are all founders rather than employees who accumulated wealth through stock ownership after joining the business.
Here’s a look at the companies where five or more founders and staff are billionaires:
Anthropic leads, but Alphabet has the wealthiest billionaire group
Anthropic has the highest number of billionaire founders and employees among the companies surveyed. Its seven billionaires are all cofounders, with a combined fortune of $95.4 billion.
The company’s reported IPO filing has also brought attention to the potential value of their stakes. The study estimates that a listing valuation close to $2 trillion could push the value of each cofounder’s stake to between $27 billion and $29 billion. These are estimates based on a potential valuation, not realised wealth or a confirmed listing price.
Alphabet, Google’s parent company, has the largest combined billionaire fortune among the companies in the ranking. Its five billionaire founders and employees are worth a combined $553 billion.
Google cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin account for the bulk of this wealth, with estimated fortunes of $267.4 billion and $246.1 billion, respectively. The other three are former chief executive Eric Schmidt, current chief executive Sundar Pichai and former Google executive Marissa Mayer.
The contrast is significant: Alphabet has fewer billionaire founders and employees than Anthropic, but its billionaire group is worth nearly six times as much.
Meta, formerly Facebook, has six billionaires worth a combined $262.9 billion. Three are cofounders — Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin and Dustin Moskovitz — while the other three are former employees Sean Parker, Sheryl Sandberg and Jeff Rothschild.
The companies with five or more billionaire founders and employees
Glencore shows how employees can build billionaire fortunes
Not all billionaire-making companies are founder-led success stories. Glencore, the Swiss commodities trading and mining company, has six billionaires in the study, and none of them founded the business.
The six are former or current senior executives who built their fortunes through their association with the company. Ivan Glasenberg, who served as chief executive from 2002 to 2021, has an estimated net worth of $13.5 billion. Other billionaires in the group led or managed major business divisions, including copper, coal, oil and aluminium.
Glencore’s example highlights how senior employees can accumulate substantial equity-linked wealth in large businesses, even when they were not part of the founding team.
Meta and Alfa Group also have a mix of founders and former employees. Alfa Group, a Russian banking and investment business, has six billionaires, three of whom are founders. Its billionaire group is worth a combined $44.4 billion.
China’s Xiaomi, meanwhile, has five billionaire founders worth $36 billion collectively. Chairman and chief executive Lei Jun accounts for an estimated $20.9 billion of that amount. Battery maker CATL also features, with five billionaires worth $63 billion.
Infosys stands out among Indian companies
Infosys is the only Indian company in the table of firms with five or more billionaire founders and employees. Its five billionaires are all founders, with a combined estimated fortune of $13.3 billion.
“Billionaires are rarely made with paychecks. Anthropic’s CEO earned about $18M in total pay in 2025, and only $654K of that was salary. The real money sits in the shares he owns. Many founders and early employees accept lower pay in the early years in exchange for stock or options, then wait. Even after a company lists, a 180-day lockup usually keeps insiders from selling right away, so most of the wealth stays on paper for a while longer,” said Nick Cooke, the CEO of Atmos.
1. Anthropic
- Billionaire employees: 7
- Founders among them: all 7
- Fortune of each cofounder: $13.1B to $13.8B
- Combined net worth: $95.4B
- Year founded: 2021
Anthropic has made more billionaires from its own ranks than any other company, and all seven of them are founders. The cofounders left OpenAI to start the AI company in 2021, and Forbes now puts each of their fortunes between $13.1B and $13.8B, or $95.4B together. The IPO filing shows each cofounder holding roughly 240M shares, and estimates built on a $2T listing put each stake between $27B and $29B. All seven have pledged to give away 80% of their Anthropic stock, a promise the filing calls voluntary and revocable.
2. Meta (Facebook)
Meta shares second place with Alfa Group and Glencore at six billionaire employees each. Half of them are the cofounders who started Facebook in 2004: Mark Zuckerberg at $210.5B, Eduardo Saverin at $34.1B and Dustin Moskovitz at $8.9B. The other three joined as staff and still made the list, including Sean Parker, who became the company’s president at 24, and Sheryl Sandberg, who served as chief operating officer from 2008 to 2022. Jeff Rothschild, a vice president of infrastructure engineering, rounds out the group.
3. Alfa Group
Alfa Group, a Russian banking and investment company, matches Meta with six billionaire employees. Three of them are cofounders: Mikhail Fridman at $16.9B, German Khan at $10.9B and Alexei Kuzmichev at $8.5B. Fridman and his college friends started the group in 1989. The other three rose through the business, including Pyotr Aven, who served as president of Alfa-Bank from 1994 to 2011. The six together are worth $44.4B, roughly a sixth of what Meta’s billionaires hold.
4. Glencore
Glencore, the Swiss commodities trader and miner, completes the three-way tie with a different story, since none of its six billionaires started the business. Ivan Glasenberg, who ran the company as CEO from 2002 to 2021, is worth $13.5B, and the other five each led or co-ran a major unit such as copper, coal, oil or aluminum. Together they hold $29.0B. No other company has this many billionaire staff, and the closest, a Chinese soy sauce maker, has five.
5. Alphabet (Google)
Alphabet, the parent company of Google, is the biggest name with five billionaire employees. Cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin started Google in 1998 and hold $267.4B and $246.1B, which is almost all of the company’s $553.0B, the largest total of any company with five or more billionaires. The other three came as staff: Eric Schmidt, who was CEO from 2001 to 2011 and is worth $36.7B, Sundar Pichai, who joined in 2004 and has run Alphabet since 2019, and Marissa Mayer, Google’s 20th employee.
