Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook tops the list

Retireat21.com, a site dedicated to recognizing the accomplishments (and cake) of VERY young business people recently published the top 30 Internet Millionaires under 30. This list is not to be mistaken with INC magazine top 30 Entrepreneurs under 30 which details the top entrepreneurs in all fields. Although you should check that one out too this on is very interesting because being a student of small business and entrepreneurs, I’m a little floored by some of the companies that made it and some that didn’t. Most of the internet millionaires ARE under the age of the 30 (or 35) because the internet is so relatively new and endearing to the younger population.

First thing that pops out is there’s not ONE black person on the list. Siamak Taghaddos of GotvMail is the closest but he was born in Iran and only looks light skinned. To be sure I Googled every one of the names that I didn’t know already. I can’t say I’m surprised. Cyberspace isn’t a sector that African-Americans traditionally excel in however it is important to note.

I’ve gotta give props to Alexander Levin. Not only did he found WordPress, the programming engine that powers this blog but he’s on the list TWICE! Big ups my man. Next I only see two females Ashley Qualls of What Ever Life and Catherine Cook of My Year Book, but the later almost doesn’t count because her company is a combined effort with her brother. Both of these young ladies however are ONLY 17 and comprise of THE YOUNGEST on the list. I also noticed that there were two openly gay members of the list. One is Kevin Rose of Evorgleb’s favorite company Digg and Mario Lavandeira more commonly known as everyone’s favorite celebrity gossip, Perez Hilton.

I’m a little irritated by the fact David Levich and icedoutgear.com made the list. He’s made a living online selling to white suburbia accessories that mock hip hop lifestyles. Everything from LED belt buckles to fake chains and jeweled pimp cups. No love here.

Lastly I encourage all of you to check out some of the company’s. For one thing a lot of them are pretty cool but also to learn especially if you’re a young business person. Pin the list up on your wall and use it as a driving force especially if you own an internet based business. The dot.com era busted a long time ago but that has only purged the industry of frauds. The internet isn’t going anywhere. These people didn’t get there by being perfect but you can learn from their mistakes and successes. Hey at the very least you might be able to buy some stock.

Rank – Name – Company – Age – Annual Turnover

1 – Mark Zuckerberg – Facebook – 23 – $700 Million
2 – Andrew Gower – Runescape – 28 – $650 Million
3 – Blake Ross and David Hyatt – Mozilla – 22 – $120 Million
4 – Chad Hurley – Youtube – 30 – $85 Million
5 – Angelo Sotira – Deviant ART – 26 – $75 Million
6 – John Vechey – PopCap Games – 28 – $60 Million
7 – Alexander Levin – WordPress – 23 – $57 Million
8 – Alexander Levin – Image Shack – 23 – $56 Million
9 – Jake Nickell – Threadless – 28 – $50 Million
10 – Sean Belnick – Biz Chair – 20 – $42 Million
11 – Kevin Rose – Digg – 30 – $31 Million
12 – Robert Small – MiniClips – 24 – $23 Million
13 – Ryan Block – Engadget – 25 – $20 Million
14 – Aodhan Cullen – Stat Counter – 24 – $18 Million
15 – Tom Fulp – Newgrounds – 29 – $15 Million
16 – Rishi Kacker and Matt Pauker – Voltage – 24 – $12 Million
17 – Markus Frind – Plenty Of Fish – 29 – $10 Million
18 – Catherine and David Cook – My Year Book – 17 & 19 – $10 Million
19 – Fredrik Neij – The Pirate Bay – 28 – $10 Million
20 – David Levich – Iced Out Gear – 25 – $10 Million
21 – David Hauser & Siamak Taghaddos – GotvMail – 24 – $8 Million
22 – Jermaine Griggs – Hear and Play – 23 – $5 Million
23 – Jay Westerdal – Domain Tools – 29 – $5 Million
24 – Ashley Qualls – What Ever Life – 17 – $3 Million
25 – Mario Lavandeira – Perez Hilton – 29 – $3 Million
26 – Ben Way – Rain Makers – 27 – $2.2 Million
27 – Lauris Liberts – Frype – 25 – $2 Million
28 – Alex Tew – Million Dollar Homepage – 22 – $1.6 Million
29 – Rob Benwell – Blogging to the Bank – 23 – $1.2 Million
30 – Matt Wegrzyn – Bodis – 19 – $1 Million