Ben Chestnut
Source of wealth: Email marketing
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The scale of their wealth
Health
The price of life
Let's compare Ben Chestnut's fortune with the healthcare spending of a massive country
Ben Chestnut could fund the entire healthcare system of DR Congo, with a population of over 105,800,000 people, for approximately 2.1 years.
But even if we compare their fortune with that of a rich country
On the other end, Ben Chestnut could cover the healthcare spending of Luxembourg, considered the most heavily funded healthcare system in the world, for 0.9 years.
Education
Buying the future
Let's also compare their fortune with education spending, first with a poor country
Ben Chestnut could cover the total cost of Nigeria's education system, the most populous country in Africa with over 243,000,000 inhabitants, for 1.4 years.
And yes, we can also compare it with a rich country
But they couldn't just cover the cost of a poor country; Luxembourg is considered the country with the highest per capita investment in education in the world, and Ben Chestnut could pay for it entirely for 1.8 years.
Research
The monopoly on progress
Coming full circle, we think it's also interesting to add another gigantic country
Ben Chestnut could fully fund the state research budget of Pakistan, the fifth most populous country in the world with over 260,000,000 inhabitants, for 7.8 years.
And of course, the country that invests the most per capita worldwide
But even if we compare the total wealth of Ben Chestnut with Israel, the country that invests the most per capita in research in the world, they could cover the total cost of the system for 0.2 years.
Gold
Everyday luxuries
Ben Chestnut's fortune is equivalent to 32 tons of gold. It's hard to process, since we don't usually keep a handful of gold bars in our piggy banks.
A standard gold ring usually weighs between 4 and 7 grams. Let's say this one weighs 5 grams. It's usually 18 karats.
Based on today's gold price (excluding the jeweler's commission, shipping, or anything else), that ring would be worth $546.86.
Ben Chestnut could buy 8,439,811 gold rings. That's a lot of fingers and way too many gifts!!
And if you're struggling to visualize that many rings, it would take 2 trucks to transport them. Although Ben Chestnut will almost certainly have enough money left over to pay for the gas.
Biography
Ben Chestnut founded what later became Mailchimp with Dan Kurzius in 2001 as a side project to their web design company.
Mailchimp's email marketing software for small businesses garnered enough customers that in 2007 they committed to it full time.
Wary of giving up control to outside investors, Chestnut and Kurzius bootstrapped growth from profits and took no outside money.
In September 2021, Intuit announced it would acquire Mailchimp in a $12 billion cash and stock acquisition.
At the time of announcement, Chestnut and Kurzius each owned 50% of the Atlanta-based company, which had $800 million in 2020 revenue.
Financial Assets
Monthly wealth history
Fortune comparison
Historical data not available for comparison