AI founder Lucy Guo dethrones Taylor Swift as the – Business News
Taylor Swift has been unseated as the world’s youngest self-made feminine billionaire, in line with Forbes — by a 30-year-old, hard-partying school dropout who has reaped a windfall from the artificial intelligence growth.
Lucy Guo — a self-professed workaholic who rides an electric skateboard to work when she’s not being chauffeured by an assistant — has a internet value of $1.3 billion, in line with Forbes’ checklist of America’s Richest Self-Made Women launched on Wednesday.
Guo took Swift’s title of world’s youngest self-made lady billionaire in April, when it was reported that Scale AI — the firm she co-founded with Alexandr Wang in 2016 when she was simply 21 and he was 19 — had been valued at $25 billion in a deal set to close by June 1.
Lucy Guo grew to become the world’s youngest self-made billionaire in April. Getty Images for Sinan Tuna
The tender offer has not been finalized but, however it’s anticipated to close at that valuation in a few weeks, a source acquainted with the matter advised The Post.
The daughter of Chinese immigrants, Guo was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, the place she rapidly picked up coding in center faculty. She dropped out of Carnegie Mellon University as she clinched a $100,000 entrepreneurial scholarship bankrolled by billionaire investor Peter Thiel.
She took a job in 2015 at Quora, the place she met Wang, and later labored at Snapchat for a temporary period as the company’s first feminine designer.
At Scale AI, Guo ran the operations and manufacturing design groups – till Wang, who took the chief government place, reportedly fired her after the two sparred over how the company ought to be run.
“We had a difference of opinion but I am proud of what Scale AI has accomplished,” Guo advised the tech information website The Information final 12 months.
Still, Guo stored most of her 5% stake in Scale AI, which is value roughly $1.2 billion, in line with Forbes. The firm labels knowledge utilized by tech giants like OpenAI and Alphabet to coach their chatbots.
Taylor Swift has been dethroned as the youngest self-made lady billionaire. Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for The Recording Academy
With “a swanky apartment in Miami” and a home in Los Angeles, Guo has admitted she by no means buys groceries or cooks, as a substitute ordering all of her meals from Uber Eats.
She says she works not less than eight hours a day when on trip and has boasted about taking two Barry’s bootcamp fitness lessons a day. She often attends techno raves.
“A lot of people don’t like me because, honestly, I seem like an a–hole online. I would not like me on the internet,” she advised The Post in 2022. “But I’ve made a lot of friends because I think people appreciate my savage personality.”
The Post beforehand reported on her huge assortment of Pokemon paraphernalia — together with slippers, stuffed animals, paintings and a Swarovski-crystal necklace.
Lucy Guo stated she commutes to work by way of electric skateboard or a chauffeured drive from her assistant. Sonya Revell for The New York Po
She now runs Passes, a content material creation platform that has been dubbed the family-friendly model of OnlyFans and Patreon, claiming to “make millionaires” by permitting creators to carry onto 90% of their earnings.
Passes reaped $40 million final 12 months in a Series A funding spherical, in line with Fortune — permitting Guo to fund her lavish party-girl life-style.
But now Passes and Guo are dealing with allegations that the platform allowed youngster pornography in a class motion swimsuit filed in February.
The bombshell swimsuit accuses Alec Celestin, an agent at Passes, and Lani Ginoza, the website’s director of expertise, of knowingly permitting sexually express content material that includes OnlyFans model Alice Rosenblum — who was underage at the time — to flow into on Passes.
The self-made billionaire stated she by no means cooks her own meals or buys groceries. Sonya Revell for The New York Po
“Guo personally intervened to override Passes’ strict internal safety controls tailored for creators of social media content aged between 15 and 17 years old to strip and deprive Plaintiff of any protections offered by Passes against the exploitation of a minor,” the grievance alleged.
Just earlier than the swimsuit was filed, Passes banned all underage creators and wiped the website of their content material, in line with Forbes.
Lawyers for Guo filed a movement in April to dismiss the swimsuit, which they slammed as a defamatory attempt to “pursue the ‘deep pockets’ of Passes, a successful startup, and its wealthy founder.”
“This lawsuit is part of an orchestrated attempt to defame Passes and Ms. Guo, and these claims have no basis in reality,” Rollo Baker of Elsberg Baker & Mauriri advised The Post.
Lucy Guo stated she attends two Barry’s exercise lessons a day and often attends techno raves. Getty Images for Passes
“Ms. Guo and Passes categorically reject the baseless allegations made against them in the lawsuit, which was only filed against them after they rejected a $15 million payment demand.”
In between founding Scale AI and Passes, Guo began a small investment firm recognized as Backend Capital.
Guo landed at No. 26 on Forbes’ checklist of America’s Richest Self-Made Women, whereas Swift got here in at spot 21.
Swift nonetheless holds the title of world’s richest feminine musician with a internet value of $1.6 billion, after her blowout-success worldwide “Eras Tour” pushed her into billionaire standing in October 2023.
Diane Hendricks took the prime spot, with a $22.3 billion internet value because of her company ABC Supply, one of the largest distributors of roofing, siding and home windows in the nation.
