Austin Russell (born March 14, 1995) is an American entrepreneur, founder and former CEO of now bankrupt Luminar Technologies. Luminar specializes in lidar and machine perception technologies, mainly used in autonomous cars. Luminar went public in December 2020, temporarily making him a billionaire. In fact, he was the youngest billionaire at the age of 25 until Alexandr Wang (cofounder of Scale AI) became a self-made billionaire at the age of 24 in 2022. In May 2023, Russell began negotiating a contract to become the majority owner of Forbes, but the deal fell through in November after Russell was unable to fund it.
Russell grew up in Newport Beach, California. At age 15, Russell applied for his first patent for a groundwater recycling system to reuse water from sprinklers. When he was 15, Russell's parents introduced him to laser entrepreneur Jason Eichenholz, who became Russell's mentor and later joined Luminar as co-founder and chief technology officer.
He graduated from St. Margaret's Episcopal School in 2013. He also studied at the Beckman Laser Institute at the University of California, Irvine while in high school. Russell has said that he often teaches himself new skills from Wikipedia articles and YouTube videos.
Russell founded Luminar in 2012 while he was still in high school, shortly before turning 17. After graduating from high school, he attended Stanford University for three months, taking courses in applied physics. Russell won $100,000 from the Thiel Fellowship in 2013, leading him to drop out and focus on Luminar full-time.
The company spent its first five years in stealth mode. Rather than purchasing components, Russell engineered and manufactured Luminar's lidar components himself.
On December 3, 2020, Luminar went public, trading on the Nasdaq as LAZR. Russell's 104.7 million shares, roughly one-third of Luminar's equity, were worth $2.4 billion at the close of trading on December 3, making Russell the world's youngest self-made billionaire. He also became chairman of the company at this time. Although, he is no longer a billionaire; at the age of 25, he become the youngest ever self-made billionaire and he held that title from 2020 until 2022 when Alexandr Wang (cofounder of Scale AI) became a billionaire at age 24.
On May 14, 2025, Luminar announced via a press release that Austin Russell resigned as President, CEO, and as the Chairperson of the Board, effective immediately. The press release also stated the resignation followed a Code of Business Conduct and Ethics inquiry by the Audit Committee of LuminarâÂÂs Board of Directors.
On December 15, 2025, Luminar declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
In May 2023, Russell entered into negotiations to acquire an 82percent stake in Forbes, valuing the company at $800million. If the transaction had proceeded, his majority stake would have included the remaining portion of the company owned by the Forbes family, which was not previously sold to Hong Kong-based investor group Integrated Whale Media. Kremlin-connected tycoon Magomed Musaev claimed to be behind the attempted purchase, suggesting a variety of motives, including the intent to conceal his involvement. In November 2023, it was revealed the deal had collapsed due to RussellâÂÂs failure to secure the necessary funds.
On January 1, 2022, Russell donated $4 million to Team Seas, allowing the fundraiser to reach its goal of $30 million raised. In 2021, he donated $70 million to the Central Florida Foundation, ranking him among the top 50 philanthropists globally, that year.
In 2021, Russell purchased a mansion located at 1601 San Onofre Drive in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles for approximately $83 million. The approximately 20,000-square-foot estate featured luxury amenities and was used as a filming location for the fourth season of the HBO television series Succession.
In January 2025, the property was destroyed by wildfires that swept through the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles. Following the fire, the site was among several damaged properties that were later declared a public nuisance by the City of Los Angeles due to remaining debris and safety concerns.