Matthew Prince net worth: All on Cloudflare CEO’s fortune amid global outage
Matthew Prince net worth: He founded Cloudflare in 2009. Prince is the 598th richest person in the world.
Matthew Prince's net worth: Cloudflare has experienced an outage, causing global disruptions in internet access. The internet infrastructure company’s shares fell around 4.5 per cent in premarket trading due to global websites like HSBC and Shopify going down, a CNBC report stated. The company later said it had implemented a fix. Amid the global Cloudflare outage, attention has turned towards Matthew Prince, the founder and CEO of the company.
He remains one of the most influential leaders of the tech industry in 2025. His company, Cloudflare, has seen steady growth since the start, especially after going public in 2019.
Matthew Prince's net worth
According to Forbes, Prince’s net worth is $6.3 billion. He is the 598th richest person in the world.
Cloudflare was founded by Prince in 2009. It has grown into a major pillar of global internet access. The company provides security, performance solutions, and essential infrastructure to millions of websites around the world. Prince owns about 8 per cent of Cloudflare, and this share forms the largest part of his wealth.
The company’s successful IPO in 2019 marked a major milestone, sharply increasing the value of his stake and solidifying his position as one of the prominent figures in the tech industry.
Also read: Cloudflare down again: Full list of websites impacted by global outage
Career journey before Cloudflare
Before building Cloudflare into a global powerhouse, Matthew Prince worked as a law professor and co-founded Unspam Technologies, a startup focused on blocking spam, Forbes reported. These early experiences helped shape his understanding of online safety and digital threats, knowledge that became essential in his later role at Cloudflare. His long-standing focus on a safer internet continues to be a driving force behind his career.
Also read: ‘Cloudflare down again?’: Internet asks as people struggle to access sites
Prince’s strong stand against Google
In recent months, Prince has made headlines not only for his growing wealth but also for his outspoken criticism of Google and its Gemini AI. On WIRED’s The Big Interview recently, he strongly warned against Google using its dominant search position to control the future of artificial intelligence, The SF Gazetteer reported.
Prince even joked, “We could just block them,” highlighting Cloudflare’s power to influence Google’s online access. He also revealed that many Google employees quietly send supportive anonymous emails, agreeing with his concerns over the company’s direction.
According to Prince, Google controls about 90% of global search traffic, a level of dominance that forces website owners to give their content to Google’s AI systems to maintain visibility. At the Web Summit conference in Lisbon last month, he went further, calling Google “the great villain of the internet today.”
The recent Cloudflare outage has highlighted how essential Matthew Prince's company is to internet access across the globe.
