Mike Krieger

Krieger's reported 10% Instagram stake made him a major beneficiary of the 2012 Facebook acquisition, even though it was much smaller than Kevin Systrom's holding. The company's lawyers confirmed a transaction involving $300 million in cash and roughly 23 million Facebook shares. Some employee shares were unvested, so a simple percentage of the original headline valuation is not a reliable description of an immediate personal payout. Equity ownership, rather than job title alone, drove the gain.