- American universities like Harvard, Stanford, and Penn lead in producing billionaire alumn.
- Most wealth comes from technology startups and entrepreneurial ventures (e.g., Microsoft, Google, DoorDash, Baidu).
This visualization ranks institutions by billionaire alumni, highlighting U.S. dominance and the growing role of Asian universities. The data comes from Salas Díaz & Young (2024). The study was published in September 2024, but the underlying data was collected in March 2021.
Harvard: Billionaire Central
Harvard has produced 125 billionaires in total, with a combined estimated wealth of almost $600 billion. The university tops our list, even without counting names like Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg, who studied there but never completed their degrees.
| School Name | Number of Billionaires | Country | Billionaire Alumni | Source of Wealth |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harvard University | 104 | USA | Steve Ballmer, Michael Bloomberg | Microsoft, Microsoft, Bloomberg L.P. |
| Stanford University | 69 | USA | Jerry Yang, Andy Fang | Yahoo, DoorDash |
| University of Pennsylvania | 38 | USA | Elon Musk | Tesla |
| Columbia University | 32 | USA | Warren Buffett | Berkshire Hathaway |
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology | 28 | USA | Charles Koch | Koch Industries |
| Yale University | 24 | USA | Stephen A. Schwarzman | Blackstone Group |
| Cornell University | 22 | USA | Robert F. Smith | Vista Equity Partners |
| University of Mumbai | 22 | India | Mukesh Ambani | Reliance Industries |
| Tsinghua University | 19 | China | Sun Hongbin | Sunac China Holdings |
| New York University | 18 | USA | John Paulson | Paulson & Co. (hedge fund) |
| University of Southern California | 17 | USA | George Lucas | Lucasfilm (Star Wars franchise) |
| University of California, Berkeley | 15 | USA | Tony Xu | DoorDash |
| University of Michigan | 15 | USA | Larry Page | |
| Peking University | 14 | China | Robin Li | Baidu |
| Moscow State University | 13 | Russia | Andrey Melnichenko | EuroChem |
| Princeton University | 13 | USA | Jeff Bezos | Amazon |
| University of California, Los Angeles | 12 | USA | Larry Fink | BlackRock |
| University of Chicago | 12 | USA | Joe Mansueto | Morningstar, Inc. i |
| Fudan University | 12 | China | Bruno Wu | Sun Media / Entertainment |
| Seoul National University | 12 | South Korea | Kim Beom-soo | Kakao |
| Zhejiang University | 12 | China | Colin Huang (Huang Zheng) | Pinduoduo |
Stanford University, with its deep ties to Silicon Valley, counts Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang and DoorDash co-founder Andy Fang among its billionaire alumni. The University of Pennsylvania produced Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Columbia University lists Warren Buffett, the legendary investor behind Berkshire Hathaway, among its most notable graduates, while the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has shaped both tech and industrial leaders, including Charles Koch of Koch Industries.
U.S. vs Asia: Power Shift Underway
While U.S. schools still dominate the top slots, the Salas Díaz & Young data shows how universities in Asia are rising fast.
Institutions such as the University of Mumbai, Tsinghua, Peking University, and Seoul National University now appear in the top 20 for billionaire alumni. The shift coincides with Asia’s broader economic expansion, higher rates of entrepreneurship, and strengthening of domestic capital markets.
For example, Peking University, one of China’s most prestigious schools, counts Baidu co-founder Robin Li among its billionaire alumni. Similarly, Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries and India’s richest man, studied chemical engineering at the University of Mumbai.
