Abel Avellan Net Worth 2026: AST SpaceMobile CEO

Forbes puts Abel Avellan's net worth at $4.7 billion (real-time estimate, checked September 25, 2026), ranking him No. 924 in the world that day. Almost all of it comes from his stake in AST SpaceMobile, the Nasdaq-listed company he founded to connect ordinary smartphones directly to satellites. He owns about a fifth of its Class A shares and controls a majority of the votes.

What is Abel Avellan's net worth?

The earlier version of this page said $24 million, with a salary of $450,000. Both were wrong. Avellan has taken no base salary since AST went public in 2021, and his stake alone is worth billions at recent share prices. The corrected figure comes from Forbes, which tracks his wealth in real time as the stock moves. On September 25, 2026, Forbes showed $4.7 billion, up $48 million on the day.

Because the figure moves with AST's volatile share price, it can change by hundreds of millions of dollars in a week. Treat it as a snapshot, not a fixed number.

Where the money comes from

• AST SpaceMobile shares. A June 2026 amended ownership filing (Schedule 13D/A) showed him beneficially owning 78,252,625 shares, or 20.8% of AST's Class A common stock. He also owns all of its Class C stock, which gives him a 71.6% voting interest, according to Stock Titan's summary of the filing.
• Equity pay. His 2025 compensation was $14,222,500, all in stock awards tied to performance targets, with $0 in salary.
• Emerging Markets Communications. He founded EMC in 2000 to provide satellite links to remote places. It was sold in 2016 for $550 million, and he used his share of the proceeds to start AST, according to Forbes.
• Liquidity deals. In June 2026 a company he wholly owns, AA Gables 2, received about $146.7 million up front under a prepaid forward contract covering up to 2.5 million shares.

Early life and education

Avellan was born in Venezuela and trained as an engineer there, Forbes says. After college he worked for the Swedish telecom equipment maker Ericsson. Forbes lists his age as 55, his residence as Coral Gables, Florida, and his citizenship as American. It gives him a self-made score of 8 out of 10.

The old page said he was 34, born into a wealthy family, and worked in insurance. It also gave a height, weight and health story. None of that was supported, and all of it has been removed.

Career timeline

AST SpaceMobile

AST builds large satellites, called BlueBirds, with big antenna arrays that can talk to normal phones in places without cell towers. Forbes notes that it has agreements with Verizon, AT&T and Vodafone. The company reported 2025 revenue of $70.9 million and, as of its proxy filing, had about $2.8 billion in cash and restricted cash, Benzinga reported via Yahoo Finance. Management was aiming for about 45 satellites in orbit by the end of 2026.

The FCC has granted the company authority to operate a system of up to 248 satellites. Avellan's 71.6% voting control means outside shareholders cannot outvote him, even though he owns about a fifth of the Class A stock.

Recent changes (2025–2026)

The biggest change for his wealth has been AST's share price. Because Forbes values his stake at market prices, his fortune now tracks AST's stock almost one-for-one.

In spring 2026 the proxy statement showed that some of his performance goals were missed. A target for the number of satellites in orbit by February 2026 was "not achieved" and paid 0%. A connectivity goal paid 75%, and the revenue goal, which fell just short of $75 million, paid 95%. The shares slid after the disclosure.

In June 2026 he arranged the $146.7 million prepaid forward on up to 2.5 million shares, which settles in March 2028 with a floor price of $59.58 and a cap of $111.72. The deal gives him cash while he keeps voting rights on the pledged shares.

Net worth compared

Other executives profiled here include Alex Melvin and Brick Show Brian. Avellan is in a different class from most business owners on this site. His Forbes figure puts him among the roughly 1,000 richest people in the world, and like other founder-billionaires of public companies, almost all of it is paper wealth tied to one stock.

How this figure was reached

Forbes values his publicly traded AST shares at the market price and updates the estimate every trading day; its general method also accounts for other assets and debts it can identify. Older sites that show tens of millions of dollars are years out of date or were never sourced. The main risk to the figure is AST's share price, which has swung sharply with satellite launch news.