What Taylor Swift
has managed to achieve in two decades of her career, many people could not do in an entire lifetime. Beyond the glamour and unending fame, she successfully established a very rewarding career, which not only profited her but also uplifted the music industry and, in return, boosted the economy of her nation. And the humongous earnings she made from music, tours, royalties, movies, and advertisements successfully placed her in the billionaire club in 2023.
But with time, the pop royalty has received a big setback as a new and younger face has managed to dethrone her from the post of youngest self-made billionaire.
Whom did Taylor Swift lose to?
, Taylor Swift was recently left in the second position, as she was succeeded by Lucy Guo, a 30-year-old co-founder of the American data annotation company Scale AI in San Francisco
. Guo is a San Francisco resident and college dropout who founded her data-labeling startup, Scale AI, nine years ago at the age of 21. Though Guo walked away from the company in 2018 after a disagreement with her co-founder, she did so with her 5% stake, which is now worth close to $1.25 billion, placing her on top of the list.
Meet Lucy Guo.
She just unseated Taylor Swift as the world’s youngest self-made woman billionaire.
But here’s the twist: She made her fortune from a company that fired her years ago.
Her story is a masterclass in playing the long game… pic.twitter.com/KWFiNGO7Pg
— Hugo Borensztein (@HugoBorensztein) April 21, 2025
Guo created her company in association with Alexandr Wang, who is the company’s new CEO after Lucy Guo and is the world’s youngest self-made billionaire with a net worth of $3.6 billion. Behind her sudden rise is a very big tender deal, which is supposed to be done by June, and has increased Scale AI’s value by 80% to $25 billion from its original $13.8 billion value last calculated in May 2024. About this spectacular achievement, Guo told Forbes through text, “I don’t really think about it much; it’s a bit wild.”
While this is a big win for women all around, it is also not that disheartening for Taylor Swift, who supports other women and is still on the list.
A look at Taylor Swift’s vast musical fortune
Following Lucy Guo, Taylor Swift is just behind her on the Forbes list with her own $1.6 billion worth of wealth
and continues to be the richest female musician. She has accumulated it from her music catalog, which is now valued at approximately close to a billion, 200 million album sales worldwide, record-breaking Eras Tour, and other previous tours, real estate, exclusive merch, brand partnerships, and selective movie appearances.
As for Lucy Guo, who bested her this time, she has found Passes, a subscription platform for creators, and continues to thrive from it. She and Taylor Swift are among the six self-made women billionaires under 40 whose fortunes are made from their own businesses or careers and not from inheriting wealth from parents and other sources. At this point, the difference between Swift and Guo is marginal, but the young entrepreneur gets to enjoy a big achievement over Swift currently.
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