Fortune Archive: Valley of the dollars
Fortune 46
Fortune’s Archive revisited a 1999 “40 Under 40” story in which Eryn Brown described Silicon Valley “netheads” built by dot-com wealth and expectations tied to money. The update notes that in 2026 there are 10 new billionaires under age 40 on Forbes’ list, with four Anthropic cofounders now able to claim $15.5 billion apiece. The focus shifts from dot-com IPO timing and estate planning to the AI boom’s billionaire-scale outcomes and ongoing pressure to treat personal success as dollar-defined.