Who'da thunk back in the late 2000s that a small indie developer, Markus 'Notch' Persson, would, in 2015, crack Forbes' list of billionaires. Well, it happened.
Yesterday, Forbes published its annual list of the world's billionaires for 2015. While there were more than a dozen newcomers, only one has ties to video games. That is Markus "Notch" Persson, the creator of hit PC sandbox adventure game Minecraft.
The success of Minecraft helped Persson, perhaps better known in the gaming community as Notch, start up Mojang. In September 2014, he agreed to selling Mojang and the Minecraft franchise to Microsoft for $2.5 billion. Notch is believed to have owned 70 percent of shares in Mojang, which could explain why he now has a net worth of $1.2 billion.
So what did he do with his massive payday? For starters, he bought a $70 million Beverly Hills mansion earlier this year, outbidding Jay-Z and Beyonce. Another recent Forbes article reveals that Swedish developer is known to spend upwards of $180,000 per night during trips to Las Vegas. Suffice to say, I think he's doing quite a bit with his money.
According to Forbes' list, Microsoft founder Bill Gates is once again the richest person on the planet. His fortune grew another $3.2 billion since last year to $79.2 billion.
