Every year, Forbes announces a list of a new class of billionaires joining the ranks of the mind-bogglingly wealthy business leaders that essentially run the world. This year Elizabeth Holmes, the CEO of Theranos (a medical technology company), was added to the list. Not only that, she is also the youngest self-made billionaire to ever make the list.
The 31-year-old woman’s net worth comes in around $4.5 billion, according to Forbes. Her company is actually making a difference in the medical field, which makes her net worth all the more incredible. Theranos’ goal is to make blood analysis faster, simpler, and cheaper. The blood tests they have developed are able to use much less of a blood sample to find much more than blood analysis has been able to in the past—with only a few drops, they are able to find dozens of illnesses.
Ultimately, Theranos aims to allow you to diagnose and treat illnesses like diabetes or high cholesterol for less than five dollars at a drugstore near you, rather than dealing with huge needles and even bigger medical bills at a doctor’s office. Walgreens in both Arizona and California have already hopped on board with this plan, and Theranos hopes to get 8,200 more pharmacies to join them in the future to help make this dream a reality.
Elizabeth Holmes founded this company when she was only 19 years old, and she dropped out of Stanford to pursue her career. She told CNN, “I think a lot of young people have incredible ideas and incredible insights, but sometimes they wait before they go give their life to something. What I did was just to start a little earlier.”