(Image courtesy of Gizmodo)

And who says today's youth aren't up to any good?  Christian Owens is only 16 and is already a millionaire.  All it took was a little self teaching in web design, and an inspirational hero in Steve Jobs.

Christian--who resides in Corby, Northamptonshire--received his first computer at seven years old.  Three years after, he received a Mac and then began to learn web design.  Fast forward four years later to 2008 and he's started his first company.  It's a site that might be familiar to some called Mac Bundle Box.  The site was visually pleasing, almost reminiscent of something Apple might even come up with.

On the site, one could purchase a package of various Mac OS X apps for a discounted price and for a limited time.  Christian negotiated various deals with developers in order to receive a discount on their apps.  While the bundle of apps would normally retail for about $400, he sold it for a mere tenth of the price.

To boot, if a large enough amount of users purchased the package, a new app would become unlocked for all buyers.  And if that wasn't enough, Christian also learned the skills of any blooming businessman--philanthropy.  He dedicated a percentage of all sales to charity.

So, how did the venture work out?  In the first two years, the Mac Bundle Box made a cool million (or about 700,000 British Pounds).

But why stop there?  Owens has now moved on to a new medium, called Branchr, which is a pay-per-click advertising company that sends out 300 million ads a month on well over 17,500 websites, iPhone and Android apps.  That company has already made $800,000 in the first year and employs eight adults--one that even includes his mother Alison, 43.

While it would seem the sky would be the limit, in the next ten years, Christian's goal is to make one hundred million British pounds through Branchr.  Branchr has even already bought another company, and Christian reinvests all of it right back into the company.

So what's his tip? 

"There is no magical formula to business, it takes hard work, determination and the drive to do something great."

Indeed.  Kudos Christian!

via Gizmodo

Follow this article's author, Matthew Tilmann on Twitter