The world's most eligible billionaires in 2016

According to one old adage, “He who marries for love without money has good nights and sorry days.” In that spirit and with a bit of a good natured wink, Forbes has combed through our 2016 ranks of the world’s richest in search of the most eligible billionaires.

To compile our admittedly unscientific ranking, we first narrowed down the list to just those who are single, as in never been married, not divorced, and not engaged.

That eliminated 97% of the billionaires and left us with 50 men and just 5 women.

Next we scanned through that sub-list, disqualifying those in very public relationships.

They may not be married, but let’s face it; they’re taken (at least for this year’s list).

That knocked out the world’s youngest self-made billionaire, Snapchat’s Evan Spiegel, 25, who has been seriously dating Victoria’s Secret model Miranda Kerr at least since June 2015.

Also read: Meet the biggest (billionaire) losers in the world

While he’s off the market, not so his cofounder, Bobby Murphy, 27, who reportedly owns a $2 million (A$2.7 million) dollar home on Venice Beach.

The son of state employees (his mother emigrated from the Philippines), he has been described as quite calm.

“I’d describe him almost like a monk,” Snapchat’s first hire David Kravitz told Forbes in 2014. He might be chill, but he runs a very cool tech outfit.

As cofounder of Snapchat, Murphy has helped revolutionise everything from the 2016 presidential elections to the Kardashian clan’s ability to sell make-up.

Anyone who owns a smart phone and has access to the Internet can post a video or photo for all to see, with the added advantage that it only lasts up to ten seconds.

“We weren’t cool,” Murphy once told Forbes about his and Spiegel’s experience in college. “So we tried to build things to be cool.”

This year’s most eligible list is dominated by America’s favorite technology startup entrepreneurs like Murphy.

Not just Snapchat, but also the billionaires behind Twitter, Airbnb, Whatsapp, Dropbox and Theranos.

These men – and one woman – are innovative risk takers who also happen to be quite a bit younger than your average 63-year-old billionaire.

Among our top picks are Jack Dorsey, the CEO of not one, but two tech giants, Twitter and Square.

His return to Twitter as CEO in 2015 demonstrates this 39-year-old billionaire is not afraid to get his hands dirty with hard work.

Fellow tech entrepreneur Brian Chesky, who is cofounder of Airbnb, is a former bodybuilder who got a bachelor of fine arts from Rhode Island School of Design (RISD).

Also read: Norwegian teen becomes the world’s youngest billionaire

In 2015, President Obama named him the Presidential Ambassador for Global Entrepreneurship.

Essential to our bachelors list are the young up-and-coming billionaire heirs. Lukas Walton, 29, not to be confused with the LA Lakers’ small forward, is the youngest heir to the Walmart fortune.

European heirs Gustav Magnar Witzoe, 22, and Tom Persson 31, also make the cut. Magnar Witzoe is a newcomer to the list and already owns 47% of his father’s Norwegian salmon empire, while Persson is the heir to fast fashion retailer H&M.

As for the fairer sex, well, the pickings are slim.

Of the five single women, Ana María Brescia Cafferata is 91; Alexandra and Katharina Andersen, are 19 and 20 years old, a bit too young to be included in these ranks.

Filiz Sahenk, 49, is a Turkish heiress who manages her family’s tourism and brand clothing business.  

Then there is Elizabeth Holmes, 32, the founder and CEO of Theranos, a private diagnostics technology firm.

Source: Forbes

Bobby Murphy

Age: 27

Net Worth: $1.8 billion (A$2.4 billion)

 

 

Jack Dorsey

Age: 39

Net Worth: $1 billion (A$1.35 billion)

 

 

Elizabeth Holmes

Age: 32

Net Worth: $3.6 billion (A$4.8 billion)

 

 

Jan Koum

Age: 40

Net Worth: $8.6 billion (A$11.7 billion)

 

Brian Chesky

Age: 34

Net Worth: $3.3 billion (A$4.5 billion)

 

Tom Persson

Age: 31

Net Worth: $2.4 billion (A$3.2 billion)

 

 

Kishin RK

Age: 32

Net Worth: $2.4 billion (A$3.2 billion)

 

Drew Houston

Age: 32

Net Worth: $1 billion (A$1.35 billion)

 

Alex Karp

Age: 48

Net Worth: $1.6 billion (A$2.1 billion)

 

Nicolas Berggruen

Age: 54

Net Worth: $1.5 billion (A$2 billion)