Forbes has released a list of America’s top 250 most successful immigrants – with actor, politician and real estate mogul Arnold Schwarzenegger topping the list. Schwarzenegger edged past Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, to claim the title of America’s most successful immigrant.
“Since its inception, America has been a place where people come to turn ambition into opportunity and possibility into reality,” said Forbes Chief Content Officer, Randall Lane. “This list recognizes individuals whose ambition and achievements have not only created extraordinary success for themselves, but have also transformed industries and expanded opportunity for others.”
India was represented by a number of successful immigrants . Sundar Pichai, arguably among the most recognisable Indian names in Silicon Valley, however, was not the top-ranked.
In fact, there were four Indians who ranked above Sundar Pichai on Forbes’ list of America’s most successful immigrants.
Take a look:
Vinod Khosla
Vinod Khosla, the 71-year-old founder of Sun Microsystems, was adjudged India’s most successful immigrant by Forbes. He was ranked 14 on the list, which described him as “one of Silicon Valley’s most powerful venture capitalists.”
Khosla is a graduate of the Indian Institute Of Technology Delhi (IIT Delhi) and holds an MBA from Stanford.
Naval Ravikant
At the 27th spot on the Forbes list of America’s most successful immigrants sits Naval Ravikant, the co-founder and chairman of AngelList. Ravikant was born in Delhi and “made early bets on Uber, Twitter and delivery service Postmates”.
(Also read: )
Hemant Taneja
Hemant Taneja, 50, is the CEO of General Catalyst Partners. Born in Delhi, he moved to the US while still in high school. Taneja holds three undergraduate and two graduate degrees from MIT. As of May 2026, Forbes estimated his net worth at $3.6 billion. Forbes ranked him 31st on the list.
Sanjay Mehrotra
Sanjay Mehrotra is the CEO of Micron and the founder of Sandisk, which was acquired by Western Digital for $19 billion in 2016. The Kanpur-born businessman studied at BITS Pilani and later at Stanford. He was ranked 44th on the list of America’s most successful immigrants by Forbes.
, the CEO of Alphabet and Google, ranked 55th on the list.
