Billionaire Born in 1990 Becomes New Owner of Forbes in the US

US Autonomous Driving Sensor Startup 'Luminar' CEO
Austin Russell, Filed Patent for Groundwater Recycling System at Age 15

Austin Russell, known as the 'second Musk,' has acquired the majority stake in Forbes, the American economic media outlet.

He, who became the youngest self-made billionaire through autonomous vehicle sensor technology, is the CEO of the American auto parts company Luminar Technology. He was previously named the 'youngest self-made billionaire in the world' by Forbes.

On the 12th (local time), Forbes and Luminar issued an official statement announcing that Russell, born in 1995, acquired 82% of Forbes Global Media Holdings, the parent company of Forbes, becoming the largest shareholder.

Austin Russell CEO [Photo by Forbes]

On the 13th (local time), the U.S. Wall Street Journal (WSJ) also reported this fact. After Russell's acquisition, Forbes' corporate value was estimated at $800 million (approximately 1.0752 trillion KRW). Russell is not involved in Forbes' day-to-day operations but is expected to lead the board of directors composed of media technology and artificial intelligence (AI) experts.

Founded in 1917, Forbes is an American business magazine boasting over 100 years of history. It maintained an unlisted family management style but suffered management difficulties in the 2000s due to a decline in readers and advertising.

Subsequently, it sold its Manhattan headquarters in New York in 2010 and transferred shares to a Hong Kong investment company in 2014. In 2017, it was reported that China's Hainan Airlines (HNA) Group attempted to purchase shares of Forbes.

The shares Russell will acquire are mostly held by Hong Kong-based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments (IWM). Forbes explained that IWM plans to retain only a small portion of shares. The share transfer process will be completed in the second half of this year.

Russell, who took control of Forbes shares, was born in 1990, founded Luminar at age 17, and is regarded as a rising genius CEO in the autonomous driving industry.

Raised in Newport Beach, California, he showed exceptional talent in technology from a young age, filing his first patent for an underground water recycling system that reuses sprinkler water at age 15.

Russell's parents introduced him to laser entrepreneur Jason Eichenholz, which led to the founding of Luminar. Eichenholz acted as Russell's mentor and joined Luminar as co-founder and chief technology officer (CTO).

Founded in 2012, Luminar develops and manufactures LiDAR, a high-performance sensor that is a key component of autonomous vehicles. LiDAR is a technology that projects lasers onto targets to detect distances and various physical properties, serving as the eyes of autonomous vehicles.

Russell became a billionaire overnight when Luminar was listed on Nasdaq in December 2020. At that time, the value of his Luminar shares (about 30%) reached $2.4 billion (approximately 3 trillion KRW).

Austin Russell, CEO of Luminar Technologies
Photo by Luminar

In April 2021, Forbes introduced him as the 'youngest self-made billionaire.' At that time, Russell described Forbes as a 'brand and media empire he had always respected.' He has now come to own the media company that once highly valued his worth.

Russell enrolled at Stanford University in 2013 but dropped out in his first year to focus solely on running his company after participating in the 'Thiel Fellowship.' The Thiel Fellowship is a program by U.S. venture capitalist Peter Thiel that awards $100,000 to students who drop out of college to start a business.

According to Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Luminar (ticker symbol LAZR) had a market capitalization exceeding $8 billion on its first day of listing. As a result, Russell's asset value, holding 104.7 million shares of Luminar, rose to $2.4 billion, making him the youngest self-made billionaire selected by Forbes at age 25. Currently, Luminar's market capitalization is $2.1 billion, and last year's revenue was recorded at $40.7 million.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.