KUALA LUMPUR (April 2): The youngest billionaire in the world is Brazil’s Livia Voigt, according to Forbes.
In a report on Monday, the magazine said that at just 19 years old and still in college, she is worth an estimated US$1.1 billion (RM5.22 billion) thanks to her minority stake in electrical equipment producer WEG, which her late grandfather co-founded.
She and her older sister Dora Voigt de Assis, 26, are two of seven fresh faces among the 25 youngest billionaires, and two of 18 heirs among this set.
This year, the 25 youngest people on the Forbes’ World’s Billionaires list are all 33 or younger.
Together they are worth US$110 billion.
A few are self-made, having built notable companies like Snap (Evan Spiegel, 33), Gymshark (Ben Francis, 31) and Oculus VR (Palmer Luckey, 31).
Most had a lot of help
For the first time since 2009, every billionaire under 30 inherited his or her fortune — the result of some self-made entrepreneurs ageing into their 30s, and a sign that the “great wealth transfer” has begun.
Forbes said the wealthiest of the heirs are Ireland’s Mistry brothers, ages 25 and 27, who are worth an estimated US$4.9 billion apiece, thanks to Mumbai-based conglomerate Tata Sons, which spans IT and communications, engineering and energy.
They received their minority stakes in Tata after the 2022 death of their father Cyrus Mistry, who died less than three months after their revered grandfather Pallonji Mistry.
The magazine said they’re far from the only young billionaires to have joined the list in the past three years due to a father’s passing.
Italy’s Clemente Del Vecchio, 19, received a hefty stake in the Italian-French maker of Ray-Ban, EssilorLuxottica, after the 2022 death of Leonardo Del Vecchio.
His brothers Leonardo Maria, 28, and Luca, 22, also inherited fortunes, as did three older siblings.
Then there’s Sophie Luise Fielmann, 29, German heiress to Fielmann AG, an eyeglasses fortune left by her father Günther Fielmann, who died in January at age 84.
Forbes said nearly all of the 25 who made the ranks are richer than last year.
It said the biggest year-over-year gain belongs to Red Bull heir Mark Mateschitz, whose fortune is up by US$4.9 billion, followed by Michal Strnad, who inherited and now runs defence producer Czechoslovak Group and is worth US$2.4 billion more than last year.
Most of the youngest billionaires — 15, or 60% — are from Europe. The rest are from Brazil, South Korea and Hong Kong (all heirs), or Japan and the US (all self-made).