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Stanford University is one of the most highly sought-after institutions in the world for its academic rigour and prestige, but it’s also one of the hardest colleges to get into due to its low acceptance rate.
Recent data shows that the university’s acceptance rate stands at only 4.3%, meaning that only four out of 100 applicants are offered admission.
Yet the university has produced some of the richest, most brilliant, and iconic individuals in modern history. Things that we use daily, such as Google, Instagram, Netflix — all were invented by famous graduates from Stanford.
Billionaire Phil Knight received an MBA from Stanford University in 1962. He then went on to sell Onitsuka Tiger in the US and later co-founded Nike in 1964. Source: AFP
Stanford University: A producer of billionaires
Stanford is second in producing the most billionaires since its beginnings. The university has produced 30 billionaires so far, beating its Ivy League siblings: Harvard University, which has produced 28; Yale University, 19; Cornell University, 13; and Princeton University, 12.
Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin are among the few billionaires who graduated from Stanford. They first met while pursuing their master’s degrees in computer science and later founded Alphabet Inc. and Google together. Forbes ranks them as the 10th and 11th wealthiest men in the world, respectively.
Phil Knight is another billionaire who brought us our beloved Nike sneakers and sportswear. Knight graduated from Stanford University with an MBA and co-founded the multinational sportswear and equipment corporation. It is one of the few non-tech companies founded by a Stanford graduate.
Other American billionaires from Stanford:
- Reed Hastings, co-founder of Netflix
- Evan Spiegel, co-founder of Snapchat
- Bobby Murphy, co-founder of Snapchat
- Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal
- Tiger Woods, golf athlete
So, what’s the similarity between all the billionaires besides graduating from Stanford University?
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Location in Silicon Valley
If you mentioned “Silicon Valley” during a tech convention, you’d probably find tech-loving individuals flocking to you like seagulls going for your chips.
It’s a dream destination for those looking to dip their nachos into the technological industry or become start-up founders.
Before Silicon Valley earned its name in 1971, it was known as the “Valley of Heart’s Delight,” a name inspired by the region’s myriad orchards and acres of ripening fruit. By the 1950s, manufacturers and innovators of the silicon chip moved into the area.
In 1951, Stanford, located at the heart of Silicon Valley, established the world’s first university research park, Stanford Research Park. The research park is home to the R&D branches of pioneering companies such as HP, Tesla, Varian Associates, Lockheed, and more.
In addition to being a haven for companies, start-up founders, and tech lovers, Silicon Valley has made its mark on the economy.
California remains the fifth-largest economy in the world for the seventh consecutive year in 2024, beating the UK and India by a margin, according to the Governor of California, — a success that Stanford has a clear part of.
Generous resources
Stanford is one of the top-spending colleges in the country when it comes to funding research and other academic resources. The latest data shows that there were over 7,500 externally funded sponsored projects throughout the university, with a total sponsored support revenue of US$1.98 billion.
There are also 15 independent laboratories, centres and institutes filled with cutting-edge equipment, providing physical and intellectual intersections between schools and disciplines.
Top academic programmes
Stanford’s top 50 undergraduate programmes have created over 1,400 founders, 1,200 companies, and US$47.8 billion in capital, placing it number one in the charts and beating the University of California, Berkeley, MIT, and Harvard University.
Stanley Tang, the billionaire co-founder of DoorDash, received his Bachelor’s in Computer Science from Stanford, which is ranked as one of the best places for computer science in the US. Tang had always been fascinated by technology since childhood, and his time at Stanford allowed him to receive a world-class education and be among those with the same mindset.
Brazilian entrepreneur and software engineer Mike Krieger benefited from the same programmes as Tang, and co-founded Instagram two years after graduating from Stanford with a BS and MS in symbolic systems. He co-founded the billion-dollar platform alongside fellow graduate Kevin Systrom.
Many of the school’s international alumni have benefited from its programmes and gone on to become billionaires.
Here are some of its other international alumni who have made a mark on the world.
Jensen Huang is worth US$121.6 billion in 2025, according to Forbes. Source: AFP
Famous graduates from Stanford who are foreign and rich that you should know about
Pichai Sundararajan
Pichai Sundararajan, or Sundar Pichai, is an Indian-born American billionaire and the CEO of Google and its holding company, Alphabet Inc.
Before becoming the CEO of Google and Aplhabet Inc., his career started as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company and then as a Google search toolbar manager, where he eventually worked his way up to the highest position possible.
After earning his degree in metallurgy at the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Sundararajan was awarded a scholarship to Stanford University for an MS in Material Science and Engineering.
Jensen Huang
Taiwanese-born Jensen Huang is one of the richest and most famous graduates from Stanford.
Huang’s wealth is self-made. In 1993, he co-founded a semiconductor company, Nvidia, and later served as its CEO and president. The company became a staple in computer gaming chips, data centres, robots, and self-driving cars.
He graduated from Stanford University with an MS in Engineering in 1992.
Jawed Karim
German-Indian Jawed Karim is known as the first person to create a YouTube profile and upload the platform’s first video, “Me at the Zoo”. In fact, he is the co-founder of YouTube itself.
After completing his bachelor’s degree, he worked as one of PayPal’s earliest engineers. Later, he partnered with two of his PayPal colleagues and founded YouTube. A few years after YouTube, he co-formed YVentures and invested in Airbnb before its ever-growing success.
Karim graduated from Stanford University in 2008 with an MS in Computer Science.
Jerry Yang
Taiwanese Jerry Chih-Yuan Yang was the co-founder and former CEO of Yahoo! Inc., and he is now a billionaire with a net worth of US$2.6 billion.
Yang is also a founding partner of AME Cloud Ventures, which invests in data-driven startups such as Wattpad, Wish, Zoom, and Lyft.
Yang holds a BS and MS degree in electrical engineering from Stanford. However, while getting his PhD in the same field, he dropped out to start Yahoo! Inc. In 2021, he was elected chair of the Stanford University Board of Trustees and served his two-year term.
Dasha Navalnaya
Although not a billionaire like other famous Stanford graduates, Dasha Navalnaya is the daughter of the late political activist Alexey Navalny.
She has been actively speaking about the Russian government’s corruption and political persecution, which have been featured in The New York Times and TIME. The 22-year-old also spoke on a TED Talk about her father and the lessons she has learned from him.
Navalynaya recently graduated from Stanford in June 2024 with a Bachelor’s in Psychology with a pathway in Society, Culture, and Mind and a minor in Political Science.
Though not a billionaire, Akshata Murty is a multi-millionaire, a businesswoman, fashion designer, and a graduate from Stanford. Source: AFP
Akshata Murty
Akshata Murty is an Indian heiress, businesswoman, and fashion designer. She is also the daughter of N. R. Narayana Murthy, the founder of the Indian multinational IT company Infosys. She was Britain’s “First Lady” — wife to former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
After earning her bachelor’s degree, Murty worked at Deloitte and Unilever. She later started her own fashion company, Akshata Designs. Over the years, her investment in multiple tech companies led her to her millionaire title.
She received an MBA from Stanford University in 2006.
Rishi Sunak
Alongside his wife, Akshata Murty, Rishi Sunak is among the most famous graduates from Stanford. Sunak served as Prime Minister of the UK from 2022 to 2024; however, he later resigned after losing an election.
Before becoming Prime Minister, he started his career in hedge funds at Goldman Sachs and then The Children’s Investment Fund (TCI). He left TCI and was elected a Member of the Parliament of Richmond (Yorks) and later Chancellor of the Exchequer at HM Treasury.
Sunak completed his MBA at Stanford University in 2006. He and Murty met at Stanford while completing their master’s degrees.
Sergey Brin
Russian-born Sergey Mikhailovich Brin is best known for co-founding Google and its parent company, Alphabet Inc. As of July 17, 2024, Brin is the seventh wealthiest man in the world with a net worth of US$145.3 billion, making him the second richest (after Larry Page) and one of the most famous graduates from Stanford.
While at Stanford, Brin started a search engine called PageRank alongside Page to create a universal digital library to calculate the relevance of a web page to a user’s query, which led to the creation of Google. In addition to PageRank, Brin’s resume mentions that he has released two academic publications.
Brin received an MS and PhD in computer science from Stanford University in 1995 and 1997, respectively.
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Stephanie Syjuco
While not a billionaire, Stephanie Syjuco has made a mark in the art industry. She is a Filipino-born conceptual artist and educator.
“I’m interested in how objects reflect cultural moments, and I’m trying to figure out…why we value what we value,” says Syjuco. Her work is often based on her curiosity about what it means to be an “authentic Filipino”, politics, and activism.
Syjuco received her Master’s in Fine Arts from Stanford in 2005.
Andy Bechtolsheim
Billionaire Andreas (Andy) von Bechtolsheim is the co-founder and Chief Architect of Arista Networks, with a net worth of US$21 billion.
Before Arista Networks, he was the co-founder and Chief System Architect at Sun Microsystems and Granite Systems. He was also an early-stage investor in Google, VMware, and many others.
Bechtolisheim attended Stanford University from 1977 until 1982 as a PhD student in computer science and electrical engineering.
Sigourney Weaver
Best known for starring in the “Alien” franchise and dubbed fondly as the Sci-Fi Queen, Sigourney Weaver is a pioneer for women in science fiction films.
Before she began acting, she studied Literature at Stanford and graduated in 1972, before going to Yale for drama school alongside her friend and fellow actress Meryl Streep.
While not a billionaire, her net worth is still quite hefty — Weaver is worth US$60 million.
Issa Rae’s memoir “The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl” is also a New York Times bestseller. Source: AFP
Issa Rae
Award-winning actress Issa Rae — real name JoIssa Rae Diop — is best known for her roles in “Insecure”, “Barbie”, and “Spider-Man: Across the Spiderverse”.
She graduated from Stanford University with a BA in African and African-American studies. While at Stanford, she made music videos, wrote and directed plays, and created her own mock reality series “Dorm Diaries” for fun.
Stanford was also where she met screenwriter and producer Tracy Oliver, and worked together to produce “Awkward Black Girl” which Diop starred as the titular character “J”. The series gained traction and quickly propelled Diop into stardom shortly after.
Mae Jamison
An outstanding engineer, doctor, and the first black woman to travel to space — Dr Mae Jamison served as a mission specialist upon the Space Shuttle Endeavour.
She entered Stanford at only 16 years old. It was tough at first, as she was one of the few African American students there, and constantly faced discrimination, but she successfully graduated in 1977 with a BS in chemical engineering and a BA in African and African-American studies. While at Stanford, she also pursued additional studies related to her childhood interests in space.
Today, she’s still a strong advocate for science education, especially for minority groups. Dr Jamison has held teaching positions with Dartmouth College and Cornell University, too.
Disclaimer: This article was last updated on February 21, 2025.
