It's almost as if dropping out of Harvard is a sure short way of becoming a billionaire.

John Collison, an entrepreneur from Ireland, has been named the youngest self-made billionaire in the world. The 27-year-old is the co-founder and President of Stripe, a company that lets businesses and individuals easily accept payments over the internet.

© Time

A list released by Forbes indicates that the number of billionaires has reached an all-time high at 2,043. Making a record, their net worth has risen by 18% to USD 7.67 trillion. In addition to Collison, there were 195 newcomers.

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So, apparently John, and his brother Patrick, conceived the idea for Stripe while on a trip to South Africa. As of now, the company, which is valued at USD 9.2 billion, has 550 people and processes billions of dollars in transactions per year in 25 different countries.

© Wall Street Journal

But, this is not Collison's first successful company; previously, both the brothers founded Auctomatic together, another start-up which helped sellers on e-retailing websites manage transactions. They sold the company for USD 5 million in 2008, becoming teenage millionaires in the process.