Photo: Seb Daley / Wikimedia
BILLION-DOLLAR KID: Austin Russell on the Autotech + Talkrobot stage during Collision 2018 in New Orleans.
Sam Pizzigati
The myth of the youngest self-made billionaire The super rich owe their super fortunes to factors that have little to do with ‘genius’
M
yths die hard, especially when the myths in question serve to prop up the legitimacy of the richest among us. And the myth these richest hold dearest: that
their grand fortunes represent a fitting reward for smarts and hard work. Wall Street has just juiced this deeply cherished myth with a stock public offering that’s created “the world’s newest and youngest self-
made billionaire”. Meet Austin Russell, the 25-year-old founder and CEO of Luminar, a company aiming to outfit self-driving cars with laser technology. Russell holds about a third of Luminar’s stock. After the first day
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