Markus Persson Net Worth

Markus Persson has an estimated net worth of $1.4 billion, according to Forbes Real-Time Billionaires, Markus Persson profile (figures as of October 20, 2026). That is down from a peak of $1.7 billion.

Markus Alexej Persson is a Swedish video game programmer and designer best known for creating Minecraft. He began in web design, then worked at Game Federation, Midasplayer, and jAlbum. In 2009, he founded Mojang Studios and released an early version of Minecraft on the TIGSource forums. He kept updating the game based on player feedback. The project grew quickly, and Minecraft became the work that made him famous in games.

Persson built his fortune through Minecraft and the sale of Mojang to Microsoft. Forbes says he made his money by selling the rights to the game. In September 2014, after Minecraft had sold 15 million copies across gaming consoles, Microsoft bought Mojang in a $2.5 billion cash deal. Persson left the company after the sale closed in November 2014. He later co-founded Rubberbrain in 2015, and that studio was relaunched as Bitshift Entertainment in 2024.

How Markus Persson built his wealth

Before Minecraft, Persson worked across several parts of the game business. He spent time at Game Federation, helped build Wurm Online, worked as a game developer at Midasplayer, and later became a programmer at jAlbum. In 2009, he released Minecraft on indie-game forums as a hobby project. Its blocky design and open-ended play caught on fast, and the game’s popularity gave Mojang a strong base for a much larger business.

The biggest money event in his career came in 2014. Microsoft agreed to buy Mojang for $2.5 billion, and Forbes ties his fortune to that sale of Minecraft rights. Persson had stepped back from leading Minecraft in 2011, handing creative control to Jens Bergensten, but the game remained central to his wealth. After leaving Mojang, he kept programming smaller projects and later returned to studio work through Rubberbrain, which was relaunched in 2024 as Bitshift Entertainment.

Forbes net worth and money picture

Forbes has followed Persson’s net worth for years, and the estimate has moved up and down. Forbes put him at $1.6 billion in 2019 and again in 2020. The estimate rose to $1.7 billion in 2021, then fell to $1.5 billion in 2022 and $1.2 billion in 2023. It then moved back to $1.3 billion in 2024 and stayed at $1.3 billion in 2025 before rising again in 2026.

On the 2026 Forbes World’s Billionaires List, Persson was estimated at $1.5 billion. Forbes’ real-time billionaires tracker later showed $1.4 billion in October 2026, and the current figure remains $1.4 billion as of October 20, 2026. Forbes places him in Media & Entertainment and marks him as self-made. The money story here is simple: his fortune is still tied mainly to computer games, especially the Microsoft deal built around Minecraft and Mojang.