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Baiju Bhatt, who is 40-year-old entrepreneur, has built a fortune of $6 billion, primarily from the 6% stake he continues to hold in Robinhood, according to Forbes.
Baiju Bhatt.
An entrepreneur of Indian origin has earned a spot among the youngest members of the Forbes 400 list of America’s richest people. Baiju Bhatt, co-founder of trading platform Robinhood, appears in the 2025 rankings as the only Indian-origin billionaire in the group of 10 youngest billionaires. Others in this bracket include Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg, 41, and Walmart heir Luke Walton, 38.
Who Is Baiju Bhatt?
The 40-year-old entrepreneur has built a fortune of $6 billion, primarily from the 6% stake he continues to hold in Robinhood, according to Forbes. Bhatt and co-founder Vlad Tenev met at Stanford University, where both were students, and went on to launch Robinhood in 2013.
Bhatt initially shared the chief executive role with Tenev until 2020, later becoming Robinhood’s chief creative officer. He stepped down from his executive post in 2024 but remains on the company’s board.
Robinhood’s strong run in recent months has lifted Bhatt’s wealth further. The company’s stock has surged nearly 400% over the past year, helped by crypto-fuelled trading, the introduction of retirement accounts and high-yield savings products, and a record $3 billion in revenue in 2024.
Son of Gujarati Immigrants
Bhatt is the only child of Gujarati parents who emigrated to the US after his father was admitted to a PhD programme at the University of Huntsville, Alabama. The family later settled in the small town of Poquoson, Virginia, where Bhatt was raised.
He pursued physics at Stanford, followed by a master’s in mathematics at the same university in 2008.
From Financial Struggles To Billionaire Status
Bhatt has spoken openly about his family’s financial struggles. In an interview with Shawn Ryan, he recalled how life changed after his father was diagnosed with kidney failure when he was just five years old. “He had to abandon his PhD studies and take up employment to manage the mounting medical expenses,” Bhatt said.
The family’s challenges meant overseas trips were out of reach. Their last visit to India, Bhatt recalled, was in 1997. “As an overweight, non-athletic only child, I often felt powerless, particularly as my father’s health worsened,” he added.
From those early hardships, Bhatt’s journey to becoming one of America’s youngest billionaires is a story of resilience — and of a Stanford student’s idea that grew into one of the world’s most recognisable trading platforms.
Haris is Deputy News Editor (Business) at news18.com. He writes on various issues related to personal finance, markets, economy and companies. Having over a decade of experience in financial journalism, Haris h…Read More
Haris is Deputy News Editor (Business) at news18.com. He writes on various issues related to personal finance, markets, economy and companies. Having over a decade of experience in financial journalism, Haris h… Read More
September 10, 2025, 17:00 IST
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