JOE GEBBIA

$4.2 BILLION  SELF-MADE SCORE: * SOURCE: AIRBNB AGE: 38 RESIDENCE: SAN FRANCISCO

PHILANTHROPY SCORE:

Airbnb’s trio of cofounders continue to push their home-sharing platform into hotels and bed-and-breakfasts as the company tries to attract a wider range of hosts and guests. In March, Airbnb acquired booking startup HotelTonight and sold equity at a reported $35 billion valuation, increasing the founders’ net worths by $500 million each. The company is expected to go public in 2020. Gebbia and Chesky met in college at Rhode Island School of Design, where Gebbia started his first company: portable foam cushions called CritBuns. After moving to San Francisco, the pair, who were struggling to make ends meet, bought an air bed for their apartment and rented it out.