How Alexis Ohanian Achieved a Net Worth of Over $9 Million

Alexis Ohanian is a successful Internet entrepreneur and investor who has accrued an estimated personal net worth $9 million. This intelligent businessman may have faced challenges in his life, but he has now reached a level of wealth that most people can only dream of and has achieved many of his personal and professional goals. Here is how Alexis Ohanian became so rich.

Ohanian was born in New York on April 24, 1983, to parents who are of German and Armenian descent. He attended Howard High School before studying for a degree in commerce and history at the University of Virginia; While he was a student, he became friendly with Steve Huffman who would become an integral part of his professional success.

When the duo graduated in 2005, they pitched an idea to Y Combinator. They wanted to launch an app called MyMobileMenu. Although the investors turned down this idea, they were impressed by the creativity of Huffman and Ohanian and suggested they return with another idea. They came up with reddit.com and began to develop their website.

Unfortunately, during this time, Ohanian had to cope with some serious personal issues that could have potentially held him back in his career. His girlfriend at the time fell five storeys and was in a coma and his mum became ill with an inoperable tumor. Despite these problems, he was determined to see his ideas through.

In the summer of 2005, Reddit was acquired by Conde Nast for an undisclosed sum that is believed to have been more than $10 million. Ohanian continued to work for the website on the board of directors. This company has continued to contribute significantly to his wealth as he returned full-time in 2015 when it became an independent company but then left again in early 2018 to focus on working as an investor.

From 2007 onwards, Ohanian was involved in a range of projects, not all of which were started for financial reasons. For example, he established a geeky merchandise company called Breadpig that gave all its profits to charity. He helped to launch the travel website Hipmunk in 2010 and continues to work as an advisor to the company. In the same year, he also worked briefly in Yerevan, Armenia, as a Kiva fellow in microfinance.

Also in 2010, he launched his new company Das Kapital Capital. This was when he established himself as an investor and his focus was on advising and consulting for Startups. At the same time, he co-founded Initialized Capital, which also provided seed investments for startups. Some of the companies which they invested in included Cruise, Opendoor, Zenefits, and Instacart.

Ohanian then became involved with the Kickstarter project alongside Lester Chambers of the Chamber Brothers in 2012. This was a crowdfunding campaign aimed at releasing the album ‘Lester’s Time Has Come’. Chambers and Ohanian wanted to prove that there were sustainable funding opportunities available for new artists through platforms such as Kickstarter. Through the involvement of Alexis Ohanian, Lester Chambers was able to raise more than $61,000.

Following this success, Ohanian went on to support the crowdfunding campaign of Black Girls Code, a non-profit organization, on Tilt.com. With his help, they raised $12,244 which they used to launch ‘Save Net Neutrality: Billboard in FCC’s Backyard’. This was a campaign against eliminating net neutrality.

Overall, Alexis Ohanian earned a substantial amount of his wealth through Reddit, which he founded, sold, and worked for in various capacities. His other business ventures have also earned him a significant proportion of his wealth. Currently, his main sources of income are from profit shares of the companies in which he has invested. As he continues to invest in new startups, his own personal net worth should continue to grow.

Alexis Ohanian is also in a good place in his personal life. He got engaged to tennis player Serena Williams in 2016 and they married in New Orleans on November 16, 2017. Just before their wedding, they celebrated the birth of their daughter, Alexis Olympia Ohanian. Serena Williams has won almost $85 million in prize money during her career. As this couple shares a significant wealth, they are in the fortunate position to have several residences in the United States. They have one property in Palm Beach Gardens in Florida and another home in San Francisco, California.