John Collison

John Collison (born August 1990) is an Irish entrepreneur. He is the president of Stripe, which he co-founded in 2010 with his brother Patrick. Collison was the youngest self-made billionaire in 2016. As of 2026, according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index, his net worth is estimated at US$9.3 billion.

Early life and education Collison was born in Limerick, Ireland, in August 1990 to microbiologist Lily and electronic engineer Denis Collison. He and his brothers were brought up in the small village of Dromineer in County Tipperary. In 2007, he founded "Shuppa" with his elder brother Patrick in Limerick. The company later merged with Auctomatic, a software company that built tools for the eBay platform and funded by Y Combinator. Collison later moved to Silicon Valley. Auctomatic was acquired for $5 million in March 2008, when Collison was 17.

In 2009, Collison, having returned to finish secondary school at Castletroy College, received eight A1 and two A2 grades in the Irish Leaving Certificate examination. He enrolled at Harvard University in September 2009, but dropped out the following year. Collison is a pilot and a pianist.

In November 2016, the Collison brothers became the world's youngest self-made billionaires, worth at least $1.1 billion, after an investment in Stripe from CapitalG and General Catalyst valued the company at $9.2 billion. In the same year, 2016, Collison was ranked by Forbes the 15th in the list America's Richest Entrepreneurs Under 40.

In 2018, Stripe, under the direction of the Collison brothers, contributed $1 million to California YIMBY, a pro-housing development lobbying organisation. The Collison brothers are citizens of Ireland.

In 2021 and 2022, Collison bought the Abbeyleix Estate and the derelict Millbrook House, neighbouring properties in County Laois, Ireland. He has stated he will spend several millions of euros over some years restoring Millbrook House to make a family home.

Forbes article A profile of the brothers published in Forbes in 2021 claimed the brothers had "escaped" from Limerick, describing it as a "warzone" because of a gang feud and it was "the 'murder capital' of Europe". It claimed "shootings, pipe bomb attacks, and stabbings" happened there every night.

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