5 tech CEOs you didn’t know were secretly billionaires

When people think of tech billionaires, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, and Bill Gates are the few names that dominate the conversation.

These tech titans have become household names, representing the peak of wealth and innovation in Silicon Valley.

But what often goes unnoticed is that the tech world is evolving with other equally powerful figures who have quietly achieved the “billionaire” title.

These lesser-known tech CEOs might not have the same level of public attention as Musk or Zuckerberg, but their companies shape our daily lives in ways just as impactful.

Here are five tech CEOs you may not realise are billionaires.

1. Sergey Brin

While Larry Page often shares the spotlight, Sergey Brin, Google’s co-founder, has remained relatively under the radar despite being one of the richest men alive.

Born in Moscow and raised in the US, Brin co-founded Google in 1998, revolutionising how we access information.

Brin served as president of Alphabet (Google’s parent company) until 2019, when he stepped back from day-to-day operations.

However, in late 2023, following the rise of ChatGPT, Brin returned to help shape Google’s AI strategy.

As of June 2025, Forbes ranks Brin as the eighth-richest person in the world, with a net worth of $141.5 billion.

That said, compared to Musk or Zuckerberg, his name rarely dominates headlines.

2. Jensen Huang

Jensen Huang is a Taiwanese-American engineer who co-founded Nvidia in 1993, a company originally focused on graphics cards for gaming.

Today, Nvidia powers the world’s most advanced AI systems, with its GPUs forming the backbone of data centres everywhere.

Huang’s wealth has skyrocketed alongside his company’s meteoric rise. In 2025, Forbes valued his net worth at a staggering $150 billion, making him the sixth-richest person in the world.

Known for his trademark black leather jacket and stage charisma, Huang has transformed Nvidia into the world’s largest semiconductor company and himself into an icon of the AI era.

3. Michael Dell

The name “Dell” reminds one of laptops on office desks, but the man behind it, Michael Dell, has built far more than a computer company.

At just 19, he founded Dell Technologies from his college dorm room. Decades later, he turned it into a powerhouse in cloud computing, enterprise solutions, and digital infrastructure.

Today, Dell holds a significant stake in both Dell Technologies and VMware, cementing his place among the wealthiest business leaders.

According to Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index, as of August 2025, Michael Dell boasts a net worth of $136 billion, ranking him the 11th-richest person globally.

4. Zhang Yiming

TikTok has an average of over 1.5 billion monthly active users globally, but fewer people know the man behind its parent company, ByteDance.

Zhang Yiming is a Chinese entrepreneur who founded ByteDance in 2012, creating both the news app "Toutiao" and the viral video platform Douyin (now TikTok).

TikTok’s explosive success made Zhang one of the richest men in China. In May 2025, Forbes estimated his net worth at $65.5 billion.

Although he stepped down as CEO in 2021, Yiming retains significant voting power at ByteDance, maintaining influence over one of the most culturally impactful companies of the decade.

5. Ma Huateng

Ma Huateng, also known as "Pony Ma, is the founder and CEO of Tencent, the Chinese conglomerate behind WeChat, China’s most dominant messaging platform.

Notably, Tencent is not just a messaging service, but an empire spanning gaming, fintech, entertainment, and investments worldwide.

According to Forbes, as of May 2025, his net worth sits at $51.5 billion. While Ma might not have the global name recognition of Zuckerberg, he wields great influence across Asia’s tech landscape.

His leadership has made Tencent one of the most valuable companies in the world, shaping digital life for more than a billion users.