von Bechtolsheim vs Blavatnik

Arista Networks and Warner Music Group.

The differences

Forbes puts Andreas von Bechtolsheim about $0.5B ahead of Len Blavatnik.Forbes figures from 9 Oct 2026 and 9 Oct 2026.
Both started the company their money comes from.
Andreas von Bechtolsheim is from Germany; Len Blavatnik is from United States.

Put someone else on either side

von Bechtolsheim

Blavatnik

Net worth, Forbes: $36BForbes, 9 Oct 2026; $35.5BForbes, 9 Oct 2026
Net worth, Bloomberg: $42.5BBloomberg, 14 Oct 2026; $40.2BBloomberg, 21 Sep 2026
Forbes rank: No. 64Real-Time list, 9 Oct 2026; No. 66Real-Time list, 9 Oct 2026
Billionaire since: Not stated; Not stated

How it started: Co-founded itCo-founded Arista in 2004 (as Arastra) after co-founding Sun Microsystems; Forbes says much of his fortune stems from the $100,000 cheque he wrote to Google in 1998; Founded itFounded Access Industries in 1986; Forbes says his early fortune came from TNK-BP dividends and the $7 billion sale of his stake in 2013, and Access bought Warner Music Group for $3.3 billion in 2011
Main source: An early Google investment and his Arista Networks stakeForbes' source of wealth is Google; the 2026 Arista proxy shows 14.6% held by his family trust; Warner Music Group, held through Access IndustriesBloomberg names WMG as his biggest asset; Access also holds about one-fifth of LyondellBasell and a majority of DAZN
Companies: Arista NetworksArista Networks: Co-founder and chief architect; Warner Music Group, Access IndustriesWarner Music Group: Director and vice chairman of the board; Access Industries: Founder
Biggest stake: Arista Networks14.6% owned; Warner Music Group72% owned

Born: 30 Sep 1955Bavaria, Germany; 1957Odesa, Ukraine
Country: GermanyLives in Palo Alto, California, United States; United StatesLives in London, United Kingdom
Education: Graduate degreeMS computer engineering, Carnegie Mellon University (1976); doctoral student in computer engineering at Stanford, 1977-1982; Graduate degreeMS computer science, Columbia University (1981); MBA, Harvard Business School (1989); earlier studied at Moscow State University
Parents: Grew up on a farm in Bavaria; his father was an elementary-school teacher and his mother a homemakerThe farm was leased to a farmer; Son of two university professors; the family emigrated from the Soviet Union to the United States in 1978

Giving Pledge: Not a signer; Not a signer
Foundation: Not stated; Blavatnik Family FoundationA self-funded 501(c)(3) private foundation
Lifetime giving: Not stated; $1.5BBlavatnik Family Foundation, 17 Oct 2026. 'More than $1.5 billion' contributed over the past decade, per the foundation's site; covers ten years, not his whole life

Role now: Founder, no executive roleCo-founder and chief architect of Arista Networks; On the boardFounder of Access Industries; director and vice chairman of Warner Music Group
Successor: Jayshree Ullal, Arista's founding CEO, is now also its chairpersonArista said in 2015 he has no family relationship with any of its executive officers or directors; Lincoln Benet has been CEO of Access Industries since 2006; his brother Alex Blavatnik is its chairman
Public office: None found; None found
Legal record: 2024: US District Court for N.D. California (SEC case)A consent final judgment in an SEC insider-trading case bars him from serving as an officer or director of a public company for five years and ordered a $923,740 civil penalty; Forbes reports he agreed without admitting guilt.; 2016: US District Court for D.C. (DOJ case at the FTC's request); 2017: US Bankruptcy Court, S.D.N.Y.A consent final judgment in a Hart-Scott-Rodino premerger-notification case ordered him to pay a $656,000 civil penalty, without trial, adjudication or admission. In the Lyondell Chemical trustee's suit, the court cleared him of the fraud claims but found him liable on one of nine counts, a $7.2 million judgment related to a lending requirement, per the Financial Times.