Meet The Richest Tech Tycoon In 14 Major Countries Around The World

Net worth: $3.1 billion

Forbes ranking: 578

Background: Vancouver native David Cheriton, a professor in Stanford's computer science department, became one of the first investors in Google after Larry Page and Sergey Brin did a demo of their project on his front porch in 1998. That early investment has obviously paid off, but Cheriton doesn't like to flaunt his wealth. He also cofounded Arista Networks with Andy Bechtolsheim.

Net worth: $14.4 billion

Forbes ranking: 78

Background: Ma Huateng is the founder and CEO of Tencent, China's largest publicly traded Internet company. Tencent created the mobile messaging app WeChat, which now has more than 270 million users. Ma is now the second-wealthiest person in China.

Net worth: $9.8 billion

Forbes ranking: 133

Background: Xavier Niel is a college dropout who made his first fortune when the Internet provider he developed sold for $50 million in 1993. He has become $1 billion richer in the past year alone thanks to the rise in the share price of Iliad, the parent company of his telecom venture.

Net worth: $8.8 billion

Forbes ranking: 154

Background: Hasso Plattner joined four former IBM colleagues to found German software company SAP in 1972. Last year, he signed the Giving Pledge, promising to give at least half of his wealth to philanthropy. Plattner owns a superyacht called "Morning Glory" as well as a luxury golf course in South Africa.

Net worth: $15.2 billion

Forbes ranking: 70

Background: Azim Premji is the chairman of Wipro, an IT consulting and software company based in Bangalore. Premji is the wealthiest tech tycoon in India, but he also happens to be the biggest philanthropist in all of Asia, having given away $4.4 billion worth of Wipro shares.

Net worth: $1.8 billion

Forbes ranking: 1032

Background: Gil Shwed is the CEO of Check Point Software Technologies, one of Israel's biggest technology companies. The firm's stock value continues to rise, increasing by 30% in the last year alone. According to Forbes, Shwed's hobbies include photography and cooking.

Net worth: $8.1 billion

Forbes ranking: 175

Background: Hiroshi Mikitani is the CEO and chairman of Rakuten, Japan's largest e-commerce site. He's made several gutsy moves in the past few years, spending a total of $2 billion buying Buy.com, Play.com, and a $100 million share in Pinterest.

Net worth: $1.5 billion

Forbes ranking: 1213

Background: Goh Peng Ooi went on to found Silverlake Axis, a financial services software company, after spending nearly a decade at IBM in the U.S. Silverlake is now the top banking software provider in Malaysia.

Net worth: $3 billion

Forbes ranking: 581

Background: Jason Chang is the chairman of Advanced Semiconductor Engineering, the largest semiconductor-packaging company in the world. Though he was born in Singapore, he currently lives in Taiwan and has made significant real estate investments in China.

Net worth: $1.8 billion

Forbes ranking: 998

Background: Kim Jung-Ju created one of the world's first online games, "The Kingdom of the Winds," in 1996. He now runs Nexon, South Korea's largest online gaming company.

Net worth: $7.1 billion

Forbes ranking: 199

Background: Terry Gou is the chairman and founder of Foxconn, a Taiwanese company that manufactures electronics for tech companies like Apple. Foxconn is the largest private employer in China and one of the largest supply chain manufacturers in the world.

Net worth: $1 billion

Forbes ranking: 1545

Background: Though the deal is currently under investigation by the U.K. Serious Fraud Office and the U.S. Department of Justice, Michael Lynch became a billionaire when his software company Autonomy was purchased by Hewlett-Packard in 2011. He currently leads a British venture capital firm called Invoke Capital.

Net worth: $79 billion

Forbes ranking: 2

Background: Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates has topped Forbes' list of the wealthiest people in the world for 15 of the last 20 years. He's spent the last few years focusing on philanthropic work with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and has convinced more than 100 of the world's wealthiest people to donate at least half of their fortune as part of the Giving Pledge.

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