Jeffrey S. Skoll

Net Worth:
$6.13 billion
(▲11.3% from 2017)

Rich 100 rank: #11
Change in rank from 2017: No change
Major company holdings: Ebay, Participant Media
Location: Palo Alto, Calif.
Age: 52

It’s been a banner couple of years for Participant Media, the production house owned by tech executive turned media mogul Jeff Skoll. After racking up a rash of nominations and minor wins at the Academy Awards, a Participant film finally took the big prize when Spotlight won Best Picture in 2016. Skoll also partnered with Steven Spielberg and Indian billionaire Anil Ambani to found content creation house Amblin Partners, and in July, Participant unveiled the highly anticipated sequel to the 2006 global warming documentary, An Inconvenient Truth. Meanwhile, Skoll was honoured with the Carnegie Medal this year for his work with the Skoll Foundation—a philanthropic organization that helps fund social enterprises around the world that are driving change on poverty, disease and injustice.

Skoll built his fortune as eBay’s first president and has given away a sizable portion of it; some $1 billion of eBay stock has been donated to the Skoll Foundation, since its establishment in 1999. The group puts on an annual event called the Skoll World Forum that has hosted speakers like Al Gore, Kofi Annan and Richard Branson.

Updated Thursday, November 9, 2017