Latest news with #selfMadeBillionaire
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Inside Lavish Homes of AI Guru Lucy Guo, the 30-Year-Old Who Dethroned Taylor Swift as World's Youngest Self-Made Woman Billionaire
A 30-year-old tech mogul has stolen pop star Taylor Swift's title of youngest self-made female billionaire just two years after the singer claimed it—and nine years after co-founding an AI company that has just been valued at a staggering $25 billion. Lucy Guo of California was officially named as the new holder of the illustrious title by Forbes in its 10th Anniversary List of America's Richest Self-Made Women, in which her buzzy ascent to the upper echelons of tech industry success is revealed. Guo, who splits her time between Los Angeles—where her AI platform, Passes, is based—and Miami—where she purchased her first home in late 2021, first began drawing interest from the tech world in 2016 at the age of 21, when she co-founded the artificial intelligence company Scale AI alongside Alexandr Wang. Though Guo left the company in 2018 over a 'difference of opinion' with Wang, she retained the majority of her stake in the startup, a stake that is now worth a veritable fortune thanks to Scale AI's new valuation. Guo also made plenty of money since leaving the company, after launching her own company, Passes, in 2022, only to snap up a jaw-dropping $50 million from investors in the first two years alone. Her holding in Passes, combined with her 'other assets,' leave her with a net worth of $1.25 billion, according to Forbes. While the bulk of those assets are tied up in tech, Guo also boasts an impressive property portfolio that is worth more than $10 million, a figure that might not rival Swift's own $100 million real estate collection (yet), but certainly identifies the tech guru as a savvy investor. The California native holds the keys to two opulent properties, one in Los Angeles and one in Miami. Guo picked up the Miami abode in 2021 for $6.7 million. The condo sprawls across 4,727 square feet and comes with four bedrooms and 5.5 bathrooms. The luxury building features a two-car garage, an indoor resort-style pool, a fitness center, a movie theater, a rooftop helipad, and views of the beach and Miami's skyline. The tower was designed by Zaha Hadid and left Guo in awe in 2021. At the time of purchase, she took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to gush: 'I am so *beyond* excited to close on my Miami home today … haven't had an address in years. What a work of art #zahahadid.' Three years later, she snapped up the keys to a stunning five-bedroom, six-bathroom modern farmhouse in Los Angeles. She purchased the property in 2024 for $4.2 million. The abode, which was built in 2018, sprawls across 4,643 square feet and comes with a two-car garage and a pool. It offers a number of cozy fireplaces, French doors, a bar, a walk-in closet, and a bathroom with dual vanities and a soaking tub. Outside, there is a courtyard covered in lush greenery, a lounging space, and access to a rooftop deck. Guo is extremely proud of her growing property portfolio, having told Fortune in 2023, 'I have a swanky apartment in Miami and a house in L.A. which is five minutes away from my office.' When it comes to commuting to work, Guo opts for 'an electric skateboard' or is driven by her 'assistant.' And it comes as no surprise that she has risen to the top of the tech world because she works so hard, she tends to eat at her desk and only orders food from Uber Eats. Guo also confessed that she never takes a 'real vacation' due to how demanding her job is. 'I've never really had a real vacation. Even when I'm on vacation, I'm working at least eight hours per day,' she said. When she isn't working or lounging around one of her chic properties, she can be spotted getting her sweat on at Barry's Bootcamp, a workout class she attends twice a day. The remainder of her little free time is spent dancing at music festivals like Coachella, which she attended in April after spending two weeks learning how to DJ. In October, Guo celebrated turning 30—a milestone age she admitted she was 'scared of.' In a candid post shared on Instagram, she penned, 'I've always been so scared of this age. Immigrant Chinese culture instilled in me that I should have kids by 25 and if I weren't married by 30, I would be single forever. 'But every single year keeps getting better. I'm more confident, excited, and motivated than ever before. I have the best friends that anyone could ask for. I couldn't be more grateful for the amount of love I have in my life. 'And because Asians don't raisin, every year I'm getting richer AND hotter.' Forbes unveiled its 10th Anniversary List of America's Richest Self-Made Women on June 4, revealing the 100 women who have amassed an eye-watering fortune through their work in tech, entertainment, and manufacturing. The co-founder of ABC Supply, Diane Hendricks, garnered the No. a spot for the country's richest self-made millionaire for the eighth year in a row, with a net worth of $22.3 billion. Other notable names include , who boasts a $3.1 billion net worth and is 13th on the list, , who has a $1.7 billion net worth and comes in at 19th. Meanwhile, Swift—who previously held the youngest self-made billionaire role—is ranked 21st and has a net worth of $1.6 billion. Low Taxes and a Vibrant Entertainment Scene Are Drawing in Highfliers to This Tennessee City Billy Joel Relists 14-Acre Main Portion of His Long Island Estate for $29.9 Million Trump Froze $3 Billion in Harvard Funding—Now Cambridge Is Bracing for Real Estate Fallout as Buyers Start To Back Out of Deals
News24
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- News24
Taylor Swift loses youngest self-made female billionaire title to a tech-savvy Swiftie
Taylor Swift is no longer the world's youngest self-made female billionaire – that crown now belongs to an unexpected successor: a Swiftie. Tech entrepreneur Lucy Guo (30) has surpassed Tay Tay (35) with a net worth of $1,3 billion (R23,4bn). This week Forbes released their list of America's richest self-made women and Lucy is at No 26 while Taylor ranks at 21. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Lucy Guo (@guoforit) Lucy is a Chinese-American who took to coding while in Grade 2. One of her first businesses was selling Pokémon cards in primary school. Now she owns an impressive Pokémon collection. She's worked for leading companies, including Quora, Facebook and Snapchat. Initially she studied computer science at Carnegie Mellon University but two years later she dropped out when she was offered a Thiel Fellowship worth $100 000 (now R1,8 million). Lucy co-founded Scale AI – an AI data platform worth $25bn (R450bn) – with Alexandr Wang in 2016. Then aged 21 she headed operations and production design teams while Alexandr (then 19) served as CEO. The role ensured her spot on Forbes' 30 Under 30 list in 2018. In the same year she was fired after they 'had a difference of opinion'. She still has a 5% stake in the company that's estimated to be worth $1,2bn (R21,6bn), which is how she got her latest title. After losing her job at the company she co-founded, Lucy started over from scratch. In 2022 she founded and became the CEO of Passes – a content-creation platform that's been dubbed a family-friendly OnlyFans. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Lucy Guo (@guoforit) Lucy works as hard as she as she parties. She enjoys techno rave and has done a DJing course. She claims to attend two work classes a day and orders from UberEats instead of cooking or grocery shopping. Lucy met Taylor and her boyfriend, Travis Kelce, at Coachella last year. She commented on a video of her and the star with a checklist: met Taylor Swift, danced with Rihanna all night, took over Coachella. ✅ Met Taylor Swift ✅ Danced with Rihanna all night ✅ Took over Coachella — Lucy Guo (@lucy_guo) April 15, 2024 Lucy lives between two properties, an apartment in Miami and a house in Los Angeles. She's active on social media and has addressed her online persona. 'A lot of people don't like me because, honestly, I seem like an a**hole online. I would not like me on the internet. But I've made a lot of friends because I think people appreciate my savage personality,' she told The New York Post.
News.com.au
4 days ago
- Business
- News.com.au
30-year-old Lucy Guo usurps Taylor Swift as youngest self-made female billionaire
Taylor Swift has been dethroned as the world's youngest self-made female billionaire, according to Forbes — by a 30-year-old, hard-partying college dropout who has reaped a windfall from the artificial intelligence boom. Lucy Guo — a self-professed workaholic who rides an electric skateboard to work when she's not being chauffeured by an assistant — has a net worth of $1.3 billion, according to Forbes' list of America's Richest Self-Made Women released Wednesday. Guo took Swift's title of world's youngest self-made woman billionaire in April, when it was reported that Scale AI — the firm she co-founded with Alexandr Wang in 2016 when she was just 21 and he was 19 — had been valued at $25 billion in a deal set to close by June 1. The tender offer has not been finalised yet, but it is expected to close at that valuation in a few weeks, a source familiar with the matter told The Post. The daughter of Chinese immigrants, Guo was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she quickly picked up coding in middle school. She dropped out of Carnegie Mellon University as she clinched a $100,000 entrepreneurial scholarship bankrolled by billionaire investor Peter Thiel. She took a job in 2015 at Quora, where she met Wang, and later worked at Snapchat for a brief period as the company's first female designer. At Scale AI, Guo ran the operations and production design teams — until Wang, who took the chief executive position, reportedly fired her after the two sparred over how the company should be run. 'We had a difference of opinion but I am proud of what Scale AI has accomplished,' Guo told the tech news site the Information last year. Still, Guo kept most of her 5 per cent stake in Scale AI, which is worth approximately $1.2 billion, according to Forbes. The firm labels data used by tech giants like OpenAI and Alphabet to train their chatbots. With 'a swanky apartment in Miami' and a house in Los Angeles, Guo has admitted she never buys groceries or cooks, instead ordering all her meals from Uber Eats. She says she works at least eight hours a day when on vacation and has boasted about taking two Barry's bootcamp fitness classes a day. She frequently attends techno raves. 'A lot of people don't like me because, honestly, I seem like an a – hole online. I would not like me on the internet,' she told The Post in 2022. 'But I've made a lot of friends because I think people appreciate my savage personality.' The Post previously reported on her massive collection of Pokemon paraphernalia — including slippers, stuffed animals, artwork and a Swarovski crystal necklace. She now runs Passes, a content creation platform that has been dubbed the family-friendly version of OnlyFans, and Patreon, claiming to 'make millionaires' by allowing creators to hold onto 90 per cent of their earnings. Passes reaped $40 million last year in a Series A funding round, according to Fortune — allowing Guo to fund her lavish party-girl lifestyle. But now Passes and Guo are facing allegations, in a class-action suit filed in February, that the platform allowed child pornography. The bombshell suit accuses Alec Celestin, the plaintiff's agent, and Lani Ginoza, the site's director of talent, of knowingly allowing sexually explicit content featuring OnlyFans model Alice Rosenblum — who was underage at the time — to circulate on Passes. Ginoza was not employed by Passes at the time of the alleged events, according to Passes and the site's legal representation. 'Guo personally intervened to override Passes' strict internal safety controls tailored for creators of social media content aged between 15 and 17 years old to strip and deprive Plaintiff of any protections offered by Passes against the exploitation of a minor,' the complaint alleged. Just before the suit was filed, Passes banned all underage creators and wiped the site of their content, according to Forbes. Lawyers for Guo filed a motion in April to dismiss the suit, which they slammed as a defamatory attempt to 'pursue the 'deep pockets' of Passes, a successful start-up, and its wealthy founder.' 'This lawsuit is part of an orchestrated attempt to defame Passes and Ms. Guo, and these claims have no basis in reality,' Rollo Baker of Elsberg Baker & Maruri told The Post. 'Ms. Guo and Passes categorically reject the baseless allegations made against them in the lawsuit, which was only filed against them after they rejected a $15 million payment demand.' In between founding Scale AI and Passes, Guo started a small investment firm known as Backend Capital. Guo landed at No. 26 on Forbes' list of America's Richest Self-Made Women, while Swift came in at spot 21. Swift still holds the title of world's richest female musician with a net worth of $1.6 billion, after her blowout-success international Eras Tour pushed her into billionaire status in October 2023. Diane Hendricks took the top spot, with a $22.3 billion net worth thanks to her company ABC Supply, one of the largest distributors of roofing, siding and windows in the country.
The Sun
5 days ago
- Business
- The Sun
Hard-partying dropout overtakes Taylor Swift to become youngest self-made female billionaire…& she has an odd food habit
TAYLOR Swift has been kicked off the throne as the world's youngest self-made female billionaire - by a party-loving college dropout with a bizarre eating habit. Self-proclaimed workaholic Lucy Guo has overtaken pop sensation Swift - with her new title potentially sparking Bad Blood between the two. 6 6 6 Guo earned her riches through a huge windfall from the artificial intelligence boom. She has an eye-watering net worth - valued at $1.3billion according to Forbes ' list of America's Richest Self-Made Women. The savvy entrepreneur officially took Swift's crown as world's youngest self-made woman billionaire in April. It came after reports claimed that Scale AI - the tech company she co-founded with Alexandr Wang in 2016 - was valued at $25billion. She was just 21 when she started the firm with Wang, who was even younger, aged 19. The multibillion-dollar valuation came as part of a deal which is set to close by June 1, according to The New York Post. The daughter of Chinese immigrants, Guo was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. The young genius quickly picked up coding in middle school - but dropped out of Carnegie Mellon University when she won a $100,000 entrepreneurial scholarship, paid for by billionaire investor Peter Thiel. In 2015 she started work at Quora, where she met Wang. She later worked for Snapchat for a short period, as the company's first female designer. Trump blasts Taylor Swift AGAIN & insists she's 'no longer hot' before telling rock star he 'better keep his mouth shut' After founding Scale AI, Guo ran their operations and production design teams. But this only went on until Wang, the chief executive, reportedly fired her after the two fought over disagreements on how the company should be run. Guo told The Information: 'We had a difference of opinion but I am proud of what Scale AI has accomplished." The new youngest richest self-made billionaire kept her 5 per cent stake in Scale AI - a cut which is now worth approximately $1.2billion, according to Forbes. The firm labels data used by tech giants like OpenAI and Alphabet in order to train chatbots. The extraordinary billionaire now owns 'a swanky apartment in Miami' and a house in Los Angeles. But she has admitted to having an odd food habit. The 30-year-old admitted that she buys groceries or cooks. Instead, she exclusively orders all of her meals from delivery giant Uber Eats. 6 6 6 She has boasted always working at least eight hours a day when on holiday, and said that she takes two Barry's bootcamp fitness classes per day. But she reportedly maintains a work hard, play hard mentality by frequently attending raves and parties. She told The New York Post in 2022: "A lot of people don't like me because, honestly, I seem like an a–hole online. "I would not like me on the internet." She added: "But I've made a lot of friends because I think people appreciate my savage personality." She is also reported to own a huge collection of Pokemon merchandise, which includes slippers, stuffed animals, artwork and a Swarovski-crystal necklace. The billionaire now runs Passes, a content creation platform that has been monikered the "family-friendly version of OnlyFans". The firm claims to be able to 'make millionaires' - by allowing creators to hold onto 90 per cent of their earnings. Passes gained $40million last year in a Series A funding round according to Fortune. The company are, however, now facing allegations that the platform allowed child pornography to spread, as part of a class action suit filed in February. Inbetween founding Scale AI and Passes, Guo also started a small investment firm called Backend Capital. On Forbes' list of America's Richest Self-Made Women, Guo came in at number 26, while Swift earned the 21st spot. But pop icon Swift still holds the title for world's richest female musician - with a net worth of $1.6billion.
Daily Mail
6 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Meet Lucy Guo: The youngest self-made woman billionaire in the world who has officially DETHRONED Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift is no longer the youngest self-made woman billionaire in the world thanks to Lucy Guo, who has officially taken the title in Forbes' 10th Anniversary list of America's Richest Self-Made Women. Lucy, 30, is the founder and CEO of Passes, a platform where creators can build a community and directly connect with their fans, offering them things like live streams, one-on-one messaging, and exclusive podcasts. Founded in 2022, the company managed to raise an eye-watering $50 million from investors from over just two years, and its owner is sitting pretty with a cool net worth of $1.3billion. But who is Taylor's dethroner, Lucy Guo? Los Angeles-based Lucy is a college dropout, having quit her degree in computer science and human-computer interactions at Carnegie Mellon University. Before launching Passes, she co-founded the artificial intelligence company Scale AI with Alexander Wang in 2016. Lucy left the business two years later in 2018 holding onto much of her stake, and that same year she made the Forbes' 30 Under 30 list. Shedding light into her bougie life, Lucy shared that she has two properties in her portfolio: one in Los Angeles, California and one in Miami, Florida. 'I have a swanky apartment in Miami and a house in LA which is five minutes away from my office,' she told Fortune in 2023. She also revealed her she commutes to the office 'on an electric skateboard or my assistant drives me.' Lucy is always so swamped with work that she often eats her lunch at her desk. She doesn't buy groceries either, having previously admitted to the publication that she never cook and lives off Uber Eats instead. While Lucy does enjoy some downtime, extended time off from her company is not ever on the cards. 'I've never really had a real vacation,' she told Fortune. 'Even when I'm on vacation I'm working at least eight hours per day.' Outside of work, Lucy is a fitness fanatic and can often be found keeping fit at Barry's Bootcamp, a boutique, high-intensity workout class which she attends twice a day. In April, she celebrated reaching a mind-blowing 3000 classes and credited her 'discipline' over prioritizing sleep as the secret to her achievement. When she's not being put through her paces in the Red Room, Lucy is enjoying music festivals and techno raves. She recently attended this year's Coachella Festival, which took place in April, and also spent two weeks learning to DJ. Lucy turned 30 in October and threw a huge party, which she called Lucypalooza, to celebrate. In a candid post shared on Instagram at the time, she did however admit feeling fearful of the milestone because she is not yet married with children. 'I've always been so scared of this age,' she penned. 'Immigrant Chinese culture instilled in me that I should have kids by 25 and if I weren't married by 30, I would be single forever. 'But every single year keeps getting better. I'm more confident, excited, and motivated than ever before. I have the best friends that anyone could ask for. 'I couldn't be more grateful for the amount of love I have in my life. 'And because Asians don't raisin, every year I'm getting richer AND hotter.' Forbes has today unveiled its 10th Anniversary List of America's Richest Self-Made Women, ranking the country's 100 wealthiest women who have built their own fortunes across industries from manufacturing to tech, entertainment, and finance. Diane Hendricks, cofounder of the ABC Supply tops the list as the country's richest self-made woman for the eighth consecutive year with a real time net worth of $22.3 billion. Meanwhile, Oprah Winfrey is 13th on the list with an impressive net worth of $3.1 billion, followed by Kim Kardashian who is 19th on the list with $1.7billion Country superstar Taylor, 35, ranks at 21st with her net worth of $1.6 billion.
