Stewart Butterfield Net Worth: Unveiling the Fortune of Flickr and Slack Founder

You may not have heard of the term “Internet entrepreneur” before, but Stewart Butterfield defines and fits the term very well. A Canadian-based billionaire, Stewart is primarily known as the co-founder of the very famous image-sharing platform, Flickr, and communication platform Slack. He was also the co-founder of the company, formerly known as Tiny Speck, which built Slack and an online game called “Glitch,” which enjoyed short-lived fame.

He has made his name immortal in the digital space for transforming digital communication, and he is often credited for his efforts and innovation. He not only earned fame, but has also amassed great fortune for himself that we will be exploring here.

Early Life

Born on 21st March, 1973 in Lund, British Columbia, Stewart was named Dharma Jeremy Butterfield, which his parents changed later. His parents were David and Norma Butterfield, and they lived in a remote community post his father fled the US to avoid being posted for the Vietnam War.

He was raised in a log cabin for the initial 5 years of his life, and the family was also deprived of running water or electricity. Later, the family moved to Victoria. At a very small age, Butterfield learnt coding that later shaped his life in terms of career.

He received his Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from the University of Victoria in 1996, and during this period, he started making money by designing websites. Later, he went to the University of Cambridge and received his Master of Philosophy in Philosophy of Mind and Philosophy of Language in 1998.

Post completing his education, Butterfield invested himself in exploring the world of the internet.

Beginning of Career

Butterfield’s beginning of the career was marked when he was already building websites while studying, but his official beginning came when he co-founded a company called Gardfinfer.com, a website that helped people to reconnect with their former classmates. The project was not particularly a success and was wrapped up soon.

In 2002, he co-founded another company named Ludicorp with Jason Classon and Caterina Fake, and the company developed a game, Game Neverending and which also didn’t see success.

The same company started a photo-sharing website, Flickr, which can be considered the biggest turnaround of Butterfield’s career. The company Ludicorp was acquired by Yahoo! in 2025, with Butterfield continuing as the General Manager for Flickr, and he left the position in 2008.

The very next year in 2009, Butterfield co-founded another company Tiny Speck and the first project developed under the company was a game Glitch. The game didn’t gain any attention and was closed in 2012, but the company was operational.

In 2014, Butterfield released Slack, an instant-messaging tool meant for team communication. The tool grew and was a hit. In 2015, Slack raised $340 million in Venture Capital and was named Inc. Magazine’s 2015 Company of the Year. In 2021, Salesforce officially acquired Slack for $27.7 billion.

Shot to Fame

Butterfield was founding companies as soon as he was out of college, but his shot of fame moment came with co-founding Flickr, an image sharing website. Another feather in his cap was added when he co-founded Slack.

Relationships

Butterfield married Caterina Fake, the co-founder of Flickr, in 2001 and has a daughter together. However, the couple headed for a divorce in 2007. Later, he married Jennifer Rubio in 2020 and has 2 children together.

Major Sources of Income and Net Worth

The major source of Butterfield’s net worth comes from the companies he has founded and that have been acquired by bigger companies. He also holds stakes in Slack, and his net worth is said to be $1.6 billion.