Every billionaire on Earth who is under the age of 30 has earned their wealth through huge inheritance, a new research has found. Forbes' billionaires list for 2024 saw the highest-ever number of people on the list, 141 more than last year. Among them, there are 15 billionaires aged 30 or under, however, none have created their own wealth, instead, they've only benefited from huge inheritances, research by Forbes found.
This number is only expected to soar in the coming years as an elderly generation of super-rich people prepare to give their fortunes to their children. This is the first wave of "the great wealth transfer" in which heirs are expected to receive more than $5.2 trillion from over 1,000 wealthy people in the next two decades, the outlet reported.
Among the 15 billionaires under the age of 30 are Zahan and Firoz Mistry who each have an estimated $4.9 billion from their stakes in Tata Sons, the parent company of the Indian conglomerate Tate Group. The two brothers inherited their 4.6% stake in the company in 2022 after the death of their father Cyrus Mistry.
Three children of Leonardo Del Vecchio, the founder of the luxury sunglasses company Luxottica, also appear on the list. Leonardo Maria, 28, Luca, 22, and Clemente Del Vecchio, 19, each have a fortune of $4.7 billion courtesy of their 12.5% stake in Luxembourg-based holding company Delfin, which owns nearly a third of EssilorLuxottica, the company behind Ray-Ban and Oakley.
The world's youngest billionaire is 19-year-old Livia Voigt, who has a $1.1 billion fortune thanks to a 3.1% stake in WEG Industries, the largest manufacturer of electrical motors in Latin America. The company was co-founded by her grandfather Werner Ricardo Voigt, alongside late billionaires Eggon Joao da Silva and Geraldo Werninghaus.
The eldest individual in the 30-and-under category is salmon magnate Gustav Magnar Witzoe, who was gifted a stake worth nearly half the Salmar ASA business by his father in 2013.
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"During the next 20 to 30 years, over 1,000 of today's billionaires are likely to transfer more than $5.2tn to their heirs. How do we calculate this number? Simply by adding up the wealth of the 1,023 billionaires who are aged 70 or more today," experts at Swiss banking giant UBS explained, as per The Guardian.
"Looking to the longer term, the exceptional wealth resulting from the boom in entrepreneurial activity since the 1990s has established a foundation for future generations of billionaire families," they added.
Experts believe that a total of $70 trillion is expected to be inherited by the next generation over the next 20 years. The transfer is expected to make millennials the "richest generation in history", says research by the real estate agent Knight Frank.
