Nearly all of these 25 who made the ranks are richer than last year. The rest are from Brazil, South Korea and Hong Kong (all heirs), or Japan and the United States (all self-made). Smith founded $100 billion (assets under management) Vista Equity Partners, the largest Black-owned private equity firm in the United States, in 2000. He still runs the firm, which has more than 700 employees and focuses exclusively on investing in software companies. He inherited 50% of German drugstore chain dm-drogerie markt from his father at age 14.
Palantir Technologies cofounder and CEO Alexander Karp ($8.4 billion) and Nigerian businessman Mike Adenuga ($6.8 billion) round out the top five. As the media company noted, most of the youngsters on the list inherited their wealth, including the Del Vecchio brothers, the heirs of eyeglass empire EssilorLuxottica. Remi Dassault, another 22-year-old billionaire, inherited his wealth from the Dassault family, known for their involvement in the aerospace and defense industries. With a net worth of $2.5 billion, his fortune comes primarily from a stake of about 2.5% in French software company Dassault Systèmes and about 4.1% in Dassault Aviation. He holds the ninth position in our list of youngest billionaires. Alexandra Andresen inherited a 42% ownership stake in her family-owned investment firm Ferd.
His great-grandfather, a Holocaust survivor, laid the foundations for the family fortune when he invented an airplane propeller the French used in the First World War. These people built their wealth through technology, entrepreneurship, investments or inherited wealth. These young billionaires, whether they acquired or earned their fortunes, are not just establishing businesses but also defining the future. They demonstrate that with dedication and enthusiasm, huge ambitions can become reality.
Del Vecchio is EssilorLuxottica’s chief strategy officer as well as the president of the iconic brand Ray-Ban. Her great-great-great grandfather purchased the tobacco producer Tiedemanns Tobaksfabrik in 1849 and built it into a family cigarette empire that lasted until Andresen’s father sold it in 2005. After gaining experience as a board observer for several years, she became a member of the board in June.
After that comes Italy, where three Del Vecchio brothers inherited part of the eyeglasses empire EssilorLuxottica. Their fortunes are all up 40%, to $6.6 billion, this year thanks to the company’s soaring stock price after strong earnings growth in 2024. Out of the six children of late Leonardo Del Vecchio, Luca Del Vecchio is one Like his brother Clemente, Luca acquired a 12.5 percent share in the Luxembourg-based holding firm Delfin after his father died. She and her sister hold 9% stakes in game developer Nexon, mostly through the holding company NXC as well as another called Wise Kids.
Though she doesn’t have a role in the company, she and her sister (above) hold approximately 9% stakes in the game developer Nexon inherited through their late father. Gamers across 190-plus countries operate Nexon’s slate of over 80 live games, including hits like MapleStory, KartRider and Dungeon & Fighter. The company is behind four of the 30-and-under fortunes on this list; Maximilian is the oldest among them.
He also owns a quarter of the streaming platform BET+ and a 330-acre studio in Atlanta. In contrast there is only one billionaire on the continent below the age of 50. His company, a data annotation platform, worked with other firms to put their raw data to work for AI and machine learning. Among its clients are big brands like Microsoft, General Motors, Etsy, Samsung, Uber, Meta, and even the US government. The duo—at 18 and 20—dabbled in crypto in 2014, creating a game called Primedice where players bet Bitcoin on virtual dice rolls. They earned enough to start a company, Easygo, with 18 employees in top 10 youngest billionaires in the world 2016.
Welcome to StartupInsider, your go-to source for the latest news, insights, and analysis on startups and businesses in india. We are dedicated to providing you with accurate and up-to-date information that can help you navigate the ever-evolving landscape of entrepreneurship. The rise of the youngest billionaires in the world showcases the potential for success and innovation among young entrepreneurs and inheritors.
He is one of the offspring of the late Leonardo Del Vecchio, who served as the chairman of EssilorLuxottica until his passing in 2022. Following his father's demise, he acquired 12.5 percent ownership in the Luxembourg-based holding company Delfin. Delfin's portfolio includes EssilorLuxottica holdings, shares in insurer Generali, banks like Mediobanca and UniCredit, and real estate developer Convivio. Though he has inherited this fortune, he has a keen interest in science and technology and desires to attend college and pursue a career in these fields. He is the chief strategy officer of EssilorLuxottica, the largest eyeglasses company in the world and the owner of Ray-Ban, which his father chaired until his death in June 2022.
Now he and Firoz are helping to refinance the debts of the construction company Shapoorji Pallonji Group, in which they inherited 25% ownership. In March, they secured $3.3 billion in credit for the SP Group from a slate of five private funds, including Ares Management Corp and Davidson Kempner Capital Management. Andresen’s fortune originally stems from the 150-year-old cigarette empire her father sold in 2005. After the sale, the family refocused on its investment firm Ferd, which has portfolios in real estate, finance and a variety of private Nordic companies. Like her sister (below), she owns a 42% stake in Ferd and sits on the board. She’s also a strong supporter of LGBTQ+ rights and is an advisor for Oslo Pride.
Francoise Bettencourt Meyers, the French heiress is the richest woman in the world.
He is one of six children of Leonardo Del Vecchio, the late chairman of EssilorLuxottica, the world’s largest eyeglasses firm. He and his brother Geoffrey, 38, owe their fortunes to the family’s Hong Kong real estate empire. Jonathan now runs Empire Group Holdings with his brother and is the youngest billionaire in Hong Kong.
Karp is the cofounder and CEO of Palantir Technologies, a data mining company whose customers include the FBI, the Department of Defense and other government agencies. Palantir went public in 2020 and now has a market capitalization of nearly $200 billion. Aliko Dangote, the wealthiest person in Nigeria, firmly believes in the phrase “seeing is believing.” Even after years of amassing his fortune, he sought additional confirmation of his wealth. To verify this, he drove to a bank on his own, wrote himself a check for $10 million, then cashed it.
Jung-ju founded Nexon, known for its massively multiplayer online games Kingdom of the Winds and MapleStory, in 1994. The richest 30-and-under—by far—is Red Bull heir Mark Mateschitz, whose father Dietrich died in October 2022. With an estimated $34.7 billion fortune, he’s worth nearly ten times more than the next-richest young billionaires, Clemente Del Vecchio and his two siblings. Mateschitz is the richest of all 150 newcomers to the 2023 billionaires list.
He owns 50% of Germany’s biggest drugstore chain, dm-drogerie markt. Kevin does not take part in running the stores, focusing instead on managing his wealth in private. Both Jung-youn and her sister would rather keep a low profile in public and are not directly involved in daily running Nexon. He is the third Del Vecchio sibling and the fourth heir to an eyeglasses fortune among the 33-and-under set. Like his brothers, he owns 12.5% of the holding company Delfin, which has stakes in a range of companies that include the Ray-Ban producer EssilorLuxottica.
You might look at how these billionaires got their wealth, and you’d be like there are very few self-made billionaires that are young, but that’s not true. There are a lot of individuals who became billionaires from the ground up, and we’ll talk about that in some other post. Get the magazine delivered with a Premium membership, find it at all good newsagents, or purchase previous issues online.
