What is Gurbaksh Chahal's net worth?
Gurbaksh Chahal is an award-winning entrepreneur and author with a net worth of $100 million. He has founded multiple online advertising companies, becoming a millionaire by the age of 18. Notable ventures include BlueLithium, RadiumOne, and Gravity4.
Chahal dropped out of school at 16 and started ClickAgents, an advertising network focused on performance-based advertising. ClickAgents was earning hundreds of thousands a month, and at 18, he sold it to ValueClick in an all-stock merger valued at almost $40 million. This sale made Chahal a millionaire without a high school diploma.
In 2003, Chahal applied to be on The Apprentice but was rejected. He co-founded Blue Lithium in 2004, which Yahoo bought for $300 million in 2006, earning Chahal $100 million. That same year, he got a book deal for his memoir, started appearing on TV shows, including Oprah's, and volunteered for neighborhood charities on the Fox show "Secret Millionaire." Men's Health magazine named him one of the world's fittest and richest men, and he was featured on "Extra" as an eligible bachelor.
Chahal's memoir ends in 2008, eight years after selling his first company and just before he appeared on Oprah.
In 2008, Chahal worked on what would become RadiumOne, another ad tech company using social media data to target ads. RadiumOne raised over $85 million, reaching a valuation of half a billion by 2012. In 2013, Ernst and Young named Chahal an entrepreneur of the year. RadiumOne was on track for an IPO, a first for Chahal’s companies.
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Early Life
Gurbaksh Chahal was born on July 17, 1982, in Tarn Taran Sahib, Punjab, India, to Sikh parents Arjinder, a nurse, and Avtar, a police officer. He has three siblings: Taj, Nirmal, and Kamal. Following the Khalistani insurgency, his family moved to the US in 1985, reuniting with Chahal a year later in San Jose, California. He attended Independence High School but dropped out to pursue his online advertising career.
Career Beginnings
After being turned down for a job at McDonald's, Chahal bought and resold second-hand printers on eBay. He then bought domain names Dell.net and HP.net, offering to sell them back to the respective companies. However, after receiving cease-and-desist letters, he was forced to return them.
ClickAgents
In 1998, Chahal found success with ClickAgents, one of the first pay-per-click networks focused on performance-based advertising. He sold it to ValueClick in 2000 for nearly $40 million, making him a millionaire overnight.
BlueLithium and MingleNow
In 2004, Chahal launched BlueLithium, an online advertising company specializing in targeted advertising, and MingleNow, a social network. BlueLithium grew into the fifth largest advertising network in the US and was sold to Yahoo! in 2007 for $300 million.
gWallet and RadiumOne
In 2009, Chahal launched gWallet, partnering with major companies like Disney, Nestlé, and Best Buy to offer virtual currency to users. He founded RadiumOne in 2010, initially a loyalty and rewards program, which later became a targeted-advertising network. At its peak, RadiumOne was valued at around $500 million, eventually being acquired by RhythmOne in 2017.
Further Internet Ventures
In 2014, Chahal founded Gravity4, focusing on targeted advertising and later venturing into AI and blockchain. After failing to buy back RadiumOne in 2017, Gravity4 shut down. He then founded the tech incubator TaaraLabs and RedLotus, an AI advertising company in Hong Kong. In 2020, he launched ProcureNet, a subsidiary of VendorCloud that supplies pharmaceuticals and vaccines.
Philanthropy
Chahal runs a charitable foundation providing academic scholarships, disaster relief, and assistance to victims of hate crimes. The foundation also fights child trafficking in India. During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Chahal donated face masks, test kits, and ventilators to hospitals in Asia.
Personal Life
Since 2019, Chahal has been dating Canadian actress and Punjabi film star Rubina Bajwa. They got engaged in 2021 in San Francisco. Chahal currently resides in Hong Kong.
