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Fortune
Fortune
Orianna Rosa Royle

A Gen Xer sold his company for $1.6 billion. He kept less than $100 million and gave the rest away because he doesn't 'believe in billionaires'

(Credit: Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
  • Brian O’Kelley banked less than $100 million after selling his $1.6 billion startup AppNexus to AT&T —and gave the rest to charity. The Gen X CEO says billionaires with yachts and multiple mansions are “obnoxious,” and keeping a cap on his wealth keeps him grounded, accountable, and connected to reality. “I don’t get why you need $200 billion, $500 billion, or even $1 billion,” O’Kelley exclusively tells Fortune .

What would you do if you became an overnight multimillionaire? That’s exactly what happened to Brian O’Kelley in 2018, when he sold his ad-tech company, AppNexus, to AT&T for $1.6 billion.

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