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Duolingo's founder on billionaire life: ‘I guess it's nice not to worry'

Duolingo's founder on billionaire life: ‘I guess it's nice not to worry'

Times12-07-2025
W hen the teenage Luis von Ahn left home in impoverished Guatemala City for Duke University, North Carolina, he said to himself: 'If I ever make a million bucks in my life, I'll have reached my American dream.'
Now 46, and worth $1.4 billion (£1 billion), it's fair to say America exceeded his expectations.
Von Ahn is one of the rare entrepreneurs for whom lightning has struck not once, not twice, but three times — most significantly with his hugely successful learn-a-language app, Duolingo.
If you aren't personally doing Duolingo, chances are someone in your family is.
More than 130 million people around the world, from Bill Gates to Khloé Kardashian, are studying one or more of its 40-plus languages. Of those, 47 million use it every day — a scholarly army nearly 50 per cent bigger than it was a year ago.
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