Chris Wanstrath’s net worth 2024: Ever been curious as to how much Chris Wanstrath is worth? Read on, as we take you through the biography and net worth of Chris Wanstrath.
Who is Chris Wanstrath and How Much is He Worth?
- Age: 36
- Source of Wealth: Software, Self Made
- Country: United States of America
- Net Worth: $1.4 billion
Chris Wanstrath is an American technology entrepreneur and the co-founder and former CEO of GitHub, a social network that focused on software development. His creation came to light with a joint effort of his co-founder, Tom Preston-Werner in 2008.
Prior to his big break (GitHub), he worked with CNET as a developer on projects like Gamespot and Chowhound. Chris has appeared in America’s richest entrepreneurs under 40 and is also acknowledged in CNBC’S Disruptor 50 list. He featured as a key speaker at NASA’s open-source summit. Wanstrath has an estimated net worth of $1.4 billion.
Early Life
Chris Wanstrath was born in 1984 in Ohio, United States. While growing up, as a kid, he taught himself how to code. Thinking that communication is fundamental to human relationships, Chris went to college to study English to be able to read and write. However, Chris never bore in mind that a degree was going to be necessary but rather, a skill. Believing in the power of much learning, Chris took several programming classes which will later introduce him to software coding.
He attended the University of Cincinnati but didn’t graduate. He became a University dropout in 2005 because he spent most of his time developing and programming codes rather than attending lectures. He was offered his first job as a software developer with CNET. This led to him moving to San Fransisco to take up the job offer.
In his words,
“I don’t ever think I thought that a degree was going to be necessary. I thought skills were necessary. All I wanted to do was start learning a lot,”
At CNET, Wanstrath worked as a developer on projects related to the websites GameSpot and Chowhound, which were both acquired by the media company.
How Did Chris Wanstrath Make his Fortune?
Chris Wanstrath made his fortune as a self-taught software developer. In October 2007, Chris met with Preston-Werner at a San Francisco meet-up for the community of developers working in the Ruby on Rails programming language.
Just like Wanstrath, Preston-Werner is a college dropout (he left Harvey Mudd College in 1999 after two years). Previously, Preston-Werner had founded a digital avatar startup, called Gravatar, which he later sold to web developer Automattic in 2007 for an undisclosed amount.
This meeting led to their future collaboration on software projects. In January 2008, Wanstrath and Preston-Werner launched a private beta version of GitHub. Three months later, their third co-founder, Wyett who had worked at CNET with Wanstrath as a senior software engineer on the Chowhound project joined them at GitHub.
With GitHub’s popularity among software developers, the company was able to survive without outside funding for the better part of four years. They often charge individual programmers and businesses money for monthly access to the platform.
In 2012, GitHub secured its first outside fundraising from the capital firm Andreesen Horowitz. This was the largest-ever investment by the firm at that time.
Wanstrath served as CEO until 2012 when Preston-Werner took control of the company. However, a harassment scandal forced Preston-Werner to resign and leave the company in 2014 with Wanstrath again taking the reins. Three years later, Wanstrath stepped down as CEO and took the role of executive chairman.
In June 2018, Microsoft bought over the company for $7.5 billion in an all-stock deal. With Microsoft’s acquisition, Wanstrath joined the tech giant as a “Microsoft technical fellow” where he will work on software-related projects, with Microsoft vice president Nat Friedman taking over the role of GitHub’s CEO.
What is Chris Wanstrath Net Worth?
As of 2024, Chris Wanstrath has an estimated net worth of $1.4 billion. Most of his earnings come from his software company, GitHub. Following his company’s takeover by Microsoft, Chris Wanstrath received $1.5 billion worth of shares in Microsoft.
Summary
Chris Wanstrath is an American billionaire with an estimated net worth of $1.4 billion. He is the former CEO and co-founder of GitHub, a social network that focused on software development. He worked with his co-founder for a little more than a decade before the software (GitHub) was sold to Microsoft for $7.5 billion in 2018.