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Greek Rich List News
The 16 year old millionaire entrepreneur
He has vowed that he will not stop building the business he established only a year ago until it is worth £100m.
But hard-working Christian Owens can afford to pause for at least a moment’s celebration after making his first £1m aged just 16.
The schoolboy entrepreneur used his pocket money to fund his first venture, website Mac Box Bundle, at just 14 – which has taken £700,000 since its launch in 2008.
He then launched advertising pay-per-click company ‘Branchr’ a year later and worked on the business after school and at weekends.
Branchr was a smash hit with internet sites, made a staggering £500,000 in its first year, and now counts betting site William Hill as a client. That is despite the fact that Christian is too young to place a bet there.
Social networking site MySpace has also benefited from his company’s services.
Christian, from Corby, Northamptonshire, currently employs eight staff – all adults – around the UK and America as sales and technical assistants, and plans to open two Branchr offices in the next year.
The youngster, who lives with his parents, company secretary Alison, 43, and factory worker Julian, 50, said he was inspired to go into business after observing the immense success achieved by Apple chief executive Steve Jobs.
Christian invests the majority of his earnings back into his two businesses.
He said: ‘I really wanted to create something groundbreaking and simple that would revolutionise the way advertising works.
‘Mac Box Bundle was already becoming a success but I really wanted to push myself and do something different, so I came up with the idea of Branchr.
‘I think everyone has business sense in them, they just need to gain experience and be determined to make it.
‘There is no magical formula to business – it takes hard work, determination and the drive to do something great.
‘My aim is to become a leading name in the world of internet and mobile advertising and push myself right to the top of the game.
‘I don’t know where I will be in ten years’ time but I won’t leave Branchr until it has reached £100m,’ he added.
The teenager insists his professional success has not affected his personal life, and says his interests include photography and playing the guitar.
‘My friends and I don’t really talk about my success. To them I’m just a normal teenager and it doesn’t change anything between us.’
Christian, who has used a computer since the age of seven, began teaching himself basic web design aged ten when he was given his first Mac computer.
Branchr works as a platform for website owners to sell advertising, and business owners to buy it.
The company now sells more than 250m adverts to 11,000 websites every month and has acquired a second company, Atomplan, which provides business software.
Mac Box Bundle sells a combination of popular Mac applications, worth up to $400 together for under $100 a time – and donates 10% of each bundle to charity.
Source: Daily Mail / This is Money
