Who is Amjad Masad? Jordan-born self-taught coder becomes America’s newest billionaire of Arab origin
Not every billionaire begins their journey in Silicon Valley. Long before he was building one of the world’s hottest artificial intelligence startups, Amjad Masad was a young boy in Jordan teaching himself to code on an old IBM computer and creating software for neighbourhood internet cafés. Today, that curiosity has turned into a $2 billion fortune, making the Jordanian-born entrepreneur America’s newest billionaire of Arab origin.
The Replit cofounder and CEO entered the billionaire ranks after his AI coding startup was valued at $9 billion following a $400 million funding round announced in March 2026. According to Forbes’ America’s Richest Immigrants 2026 list released on July 8, Masad is worth an estimated $2 billion and ranks No. 102.
