Taylor Swift is a Grammy-winning artist, a business powerhouse, and a global icon. She’s also held more than a few impressive titles — including the world’s youngest self-made female billionaire. But not anymore.
On Thursday, April 17, Forbes officially named Lucy Guo the new titleholder.
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The 30-year-old San Francisco native co-founded Scale AI at age 21. Today, the company is valued at $25 billion — a massive 80% jump from its $13.8 billion valuation in May 2024.
Guo left Scale in 2018 after a disagreement with cofounder Alexandr Wang but held on to a nearly 5% stake. That move now makes her worth an estimated $1.25 billion. “I don’t really think about it much,” Guo told Forbes. “It’s a bit wild.”
While Wang, 28, remains CEO, Guo went on to launch two ventures of her own: a VC fund called Backend Capital and creator platform Passes, which has signed talent such as Shaquille O’Neal, Olivia Dunne, and DJ Kygo.
The college dropout is now one of just six self-made women billionaires under 40, and the only one to hit that milestone after leaving the company that made her rich.
After the news hit social media, it didn’t take long for the internet to weigh in.
“That’s great news! We shouldn’t just look up to ‘celebrities’ though Taylor does a lot of charity,” one person wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
“Scale AI was one of my fav companies. Fan-girling 🥰,” another gushed.
“Finally some earned success rather than support from 14yos,” chimed in a third.
“Breaking glass ceilings looks better than breaking records. Go Lucy,” another cheered.
Not everyone was impressed, though.
“You aren’t self made if your ‘shares’ are your wealth and you got thrown out of the company,” someone else pointed out.
“There is a small difference between a valuation being a billion dollars and having a billion dollars in the bank — well, maybe a big difference ;-)” another added.
Swift, 35, has yet to comment on the shake-up, but there doesn’t seem to be any bad blood. In fact, Guo appears to be a fan.
Met Taylor Swift
— Lucy Guo (@lucy_guo) April 15, 2024
Met Taylor SwiftIn April 2024, the tech entrepreneur shared a video on X of herself meeting the pop superstar and Travis Kelce — whom Swift has been dating for nearly two years — at a music festival. “✅ Met Taylor Swift ✅ Danced with Rihanna all night ✅ Took over Coachella,” Guo captioned the post at the time.
Swift hit billionaire status in October 2023, but unlike Guo, the “Cruel Summer” singer made the list mostly through her music and touring — not brand deals or business ventures, according to Forbes.
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