The World’s Youngest Billionaires 2024: For the first time in 15 years, there are no self-made billionaires under the age of 30. (NextGen) - Forbes

The great wealth transfer has arrived. The $84.4 Trillion that I've written about for the past several years is now taking place in real time. The NextGen is inheriting a tremendous amount of money and it is incumbent upon the Family Office community to make sure we get it right. Almost every one of the billionaires mentioned below is going to have some type of Family Office handle their affairs. And this involves much more than simply managing their money. It also involves philanthropy, governance, education, and succession planning.

It’s a rare feat to become a billionaire, especially at a young age. The average billionaire is 66, and the oldest person in the ranks is 102. Still, a select few have gotten super-rich super young.

This year, the 25 youngest people on the Forbes’ World’s Billionaires list are all 33 or younger. Together they are worth $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 aging into their 30s, and a sign that the “great wealth transfer” has begun.

The youngest billionaire in the world is Brazil’s Livia Voigt. Just 19 years old and still in college, she’s worth an estimated $1.1 billion thanks to her minority stake in the electrical equipment producer WEG, which her late grandfather cofounded. 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.

The wealthiest of the heirs are Ireland’s Mistry brothers, ages 25 and 27, who are worth an estimated $4.9 billion apiece thanks to the 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.

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.

These inheritances illustrate the beginning of a long-anticipated generational wealth transfer among aging populations around the world. In the United States, Baby Boomers and their elders (those born in 1964 or earlier) hold $95.9 trillion of a total $147.1 trillion of household wealth, per the Federal Reserve. Trillions are expected to change hands every year as the affluent elderly pass away and leave their fortunes to descendants. Aging billionaires like Charles Koch, 88, and Phil Knight, 86, are currently preparing to pass their inheritances on to their children.

Another reason so many super-young billionaires are heirs: Many of the archetypal self-made young moguls, such as Snap’s Bobby Murphy (35) and Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg (39, United States), have grown up. They aren’t being replaced. This year, there’s just one self-made newcomer among the 25 youngest: Japan’s Shunsaku Sagami, 33, a merger and acquisitions dealmaker whose company M&A Research Institute Holdings uses AI to match clients. Its stock has spiked over 800% since it went public in June 2022, sending him soaring into the billionaire ranks. And making fortunes young is no guarantee that entrepreneurs can hold onto them. Ryan Breslow was the youngest self-made billionaire last year at 28. If he hadn’t blown it, he still would be.

Nearly all of these 25 who made the ranks are richer than last year. The biggest year-over-year gain belongs to Red Bull heir Mark Mateschitz, whose fortune is up by $4.9 billion, followed by Michal Strnad, who inherited and now runs the defense producer Czechoslovak Group and is worth $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 United States (all self-made).

Here are the 25 youngest members of the World’s Billionaires list, all of whom are 33 and under, ranked from oldest to youngest.

NET WORTHS ARE AS OF MARCH 8, 2024 - * SELF-MADE FORTUNES

Evan Spiegel*

Age: 33 | Citizenship: U.S. | Source of Wealth: Snapchat | Net Worth: $3.1 Billion

Spiegel dropped out of Stanford to start Snapchat with his fraternity brothers Bobby Murphy and Reggie Brown in 2011 and became a billionaire by the age of 25. Now he and Murphy, 35, together own about a quarter of publicly traded Snap Inc., which generated $4.6 billion in revenue last year. He serves as CEO. In 2022, he paid off the student loan debt for the entire graduating class of the Otis College of Art and Design, where he’d taken classes during high school.

John Collison*

Age: 33 | Citizenship: Ireland | Source of Wealth: Stripe | Net Worth: $7.2 Billion

Born to scientist parents near Limerick, he and his brother Patrick, age 35, sold their first startup—the eBay management software Auctomatic, which they formed with brothers Harj and Kulveer Taggar—for $5 million in 2007, when John was in secondary school. It was just the beginning for the duo: After John enrolled and then dropped out of Harvard (Patrick went to neighboring MIT), they founded Stripe, a payment software whose investors have included Fidelity and Ireland’s sovereign development fund. In 2016, a funding round that valued the unicorn at $9.2 billion made him the world’s the-youngest self-made billionaire at 26. An employee tender offer in February valued the company at $65 billion.

Shunsaku Sagami*

Age: 33 | Citizenship: Japan | Source of Wealth: M&A Brokerage | Net Worth: $1.9 Billion

Moved by the experience of his grandfather, who was forced to close his real estate business because he didn’t have a successor, Sagami, who got his start in advertising, launched M&A Research Institute Holdings in 2018. The company uses AI to advise small- and medium-scale enterprises with aging owners who have no one lined up to take over. He became a billionaire last April, when M&A Research Institute Holdings’ share price skyrocketed thanks to spiking revenues and a surge of M&A activity in Japan.

Jonathan Kwok

Age: 32 | Citizenship: Hong Kong | Source of Wealth: Real Estate | Net Worth: $2.4 Billion

He and his brother Geoffrey, 38, owe their fortunes to the family’s Hong Kong real estate empire. After their father Walter Kwok's death in 2018 at age 68, they inherited his stakes in Sun Hung Kai Properties—the territory’s largest property developer—and Empire Group Holdings, the developer Walter started after family feuding kicked him out of the SHKP chairmanship. Jonathan now runs Empire Group Holdings with his brother and is the youngest billionaire in Hong Kong.

Mark Mateschitz

Age: 31 | Citizenship: Austria | Source of Wealth: Red Bull | Net Worth: $39.6 Billion

He inherited 49% of Red Bull when his father Dietrich Mateschitz, who founded the business in 1984, died in 2022. Prior to his father’s death, he’d run the company’s organics division, but resigned because “I do not believe one should be both an employee and a shareholder of the same company,” according to a statement at the time. Red Bull generated $11.6 billion in revenue last year and sold 12.1 billion cans, enough for each person on earth to pep up with 1.5 energy drinks.

Ben Francis*

Age: 31 | Citizenship: United Kingdom | Source of Wealth: Gymshark | Net Worth: $1.3 Billion

When he was a 19-year-old college student with a Pizza Hut delivery job, he and his friend Lewis Morgan started a website they called Gymshark, which they used to sell supplements they’d bought in bulk for a small profit. When they transitioned into sewing and screen printing fitness clothing in Francis’ parents’ garage, their sportswear brand was born. Morgan offloaded his stake to private equity firm General Atlantic in a 2020 deal that valued the company at $1.5 billion. Francis still owns 70% of Gymshark and serves as CEO.

Andy Fang*

Age: 31 | Citizenship: U.S. | Source of Wealth: DoorDash | Net Worth: $1.2 Billion

He and his Stanford freshman dormmate Stanley Tang teamed up with MBA student Tony Xu (now 39) to launch DoorDash after noticing that the only food delivery options in the area were a local Chinese joint and Domino’s. They founded the company in 2013, while still at Stanford, and took it public in 2020. Fang currently runs DoorDash’s “LaunchPad” engineering team.

Michal Strnad

Age: 31 | Citizenship: Czech Republic | Source of Wealth: Weapons | Net Worth: $4.4 Billion

His father was a small town scrapyard owner who started out renovating ex-Soviet equipment at the end of the Cold War. He transformed the business into the $3.2 billion (2023 revenue) defense producer Czechoslovak Group, which Strnad has since taken over as owner and CEO. In his spare time, Strnad collects art, sports cars and historic vehicles.

Palmer Luckey*

Age: 31 | Citizenship: U.S. | Source of Wealth: Virtual Reality, Defense Technology | Net Worth: $2.3 Billion

The self-taught software engineer made his first fortune when he launched the startup Oculus VR, selling a virtual reality headset he’d made at age 16, then cashed out to Facebook in 2014 in a $2 billion deal. In 2017, he founded the defense technology company Anduril, which has been sending drones to Ukraine. A December 2022 funding round valued Anduril at $8.5 billion.

Stanley Tang*

Age: 31 | Citizenship: U.S. | Source of Wealth: DoorDash | Net Worth: $1.2 Billion

He and his DoorDash cofounder Andy Fang rejoin the billionaire ranks this year after a tough 2022, when the company’s big net losses sent its stock price tanking. DoorDash began 2023 with sizable layoffs, then managed to increase its revenue 31%, to $8.6 billion, and shrink its net loss by 59%, to $558 million, from 2022. It was enough to boost shareholders’ confidence: DoorDash stock is up 127% year over year. Tang heads the company’s robotics and automation arm, DoorDash Labs.

Gustav Magnar Witzøe

Age: 30 | Citizenship: Norway | Source of Wealth: Fish farming | Net Worth: $4.2 Billion

He was only 19 when his father gifted him nearly half of the fish farming behemoth SalMar. Eleven years later, his dad continues to operate the company while Gustav focuses on real estate and tech startup investments. SalMar’s share price has soared 800% over the past decade, inflating the younger Witzøe’s wealth along with it. He’s now Norway’s fifth-richest person and its biggest taxpayer, having given the government NOK 292.4 million—the equivalent of about $29.6 million—in 2022. Exporting to over 50 countries, SalMar is the world’s second largest salmon farmer. The company says it produces enough to feed every Norwegian a nightly fish dinner.

Sophie Luise Fielmann

Age: 29 | Citizenship: Germany | Source of Wealth: Optometry | Net Worth: $2.7 Billion

When Günther Fielmann, the entrepreneur known for bringing cheap eyeglasses to Germany, died in January at the age of 84, he left much of his fortune to his two children, Sophie and Marc. While Marc, age 34, has helmed Fielmann AG since 2019, Sophie has no role in the eyeglasses company but still owns about a third of its stock.

Leonardo Maria Del Vecchio

Age: 28 | Citizenship: Italy | Source of Wealth: Eyeglasses | Net Worth: $4.7 Billion

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. Del Vecchio, his mother and his six half-siblings all inherited a 12.5% stake in the family’s Luxembourg-based holding company Delfin, which owns nearly a third of EssilorLuxottica.

Katharina Andresen

Age: 28 | Citizenship: Norway | Source of Wealth: Investments | Net Worth: $1.7 Billion

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. Now the family focuses on its investment firm Ferd, which deals primarily in real estate and private Nordic companies, including the oil service business Interwell and Norway’s largest private medical laboratory. Andresen and her sister each own 42% stakes in Ferd. After gaining experience as a board observer for several years, she became a member of the board in June.

Alexandra Andresen

Age: 27 | Citizenship: Norway | Source of Wealth: Investments | Net Worth: $1.6 Billion

Like her sister Katharina, she holds a 42% stake in the investment company Ferd and currently sits on its board. But her biggest passions are equestrian. She owns the Oslo horse-breeding stable Andresen Dressage and herself rode horses competitively (she is a three-time junior Norwegian champion in dressage riding) until spinal stenosis-related back problems forced her to exit the ring.

Firoz Mistry

Age: 27 | Citizenship: Ireland | Source of Wealth: Diversified | Net Worth: $4.9 Billion

He and his brother Zahan are the richest of the 30-and-unders, thanks primarily to their 4.6% stakes in Tata Sons, the $150 billion (revenue) Indian conglomerate that owns 29 public companies, including Tata Consultancy and Tata Motors. Tata is considering its own IPO in the coming months. He and Zahan inherited their stakes during a 2022 marked by family tragedy, when their 54-year-old father died in a car accident less than three months after their grandfather, one-time chairman of Tata and its largest individual shareholder, died at the age of 93. Their uncle Shapoor Mistry holds the rest of the family’s 18.4% stake.

Dora Voigt de Assis

Age: 26 | Citizenship: Brazil | Source of Wealth: Industrial Machinery | Net Worth: $1.1 Billion

She and her sister Livia are the youngest granddaughters of Werner Ricardo Voigt, the billionaire cofounder of the Brazilian electrical equipment producer WEG, who died in 2016. They each own 3.1% of WEG, slightly less than the 3.9% stakes owned by their older cousins Eduardo and Mariana. WEG exports to over 135 countries and is one of the world’s biggest electric motor manufacturers. Neither Dora nor Livia has a role in its operations.

Zahan Mistry

Age: 25 | Citizenship: Ireland | Source of Wealth: Diversified | Net Worth: $4.9 Billion

Like his brother Firoz, his wealth comes from a 4.6% stake in the Tata conglomerate as well as a 25% stake in construction giant Shapoorji Pallonji Group. He and Firoz have been taking on leadership roles in the debt-laden SP Group and helping to reorganize it in the wake of their father’s death. Though he and his brothers are Irish citizens, they live in Mumbai, where both the SP Group and Tata are based.

Remi Dassault

Age: 22 | Citizenship: France | Source of Wealth: Inherited | Net Worth: $2.5 Billion

He inherited his wealth when his father died in a 2021 helicopter accident at age 69. The bulk of his fortune comes from an estimated 2.5% stake in the French software company Dassault Systèmes and an estimated 4.1% stake in Dassault Aviation. 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.

Luca Del Vecchio

Age: 22 | Citizenship: Italy | Source of Wealth: Eyeglasses | Net Worth: $4.7 Billion

He is another Del Vecchio sibling whose fortune stems from his 12.5% ownership of Delfin, the holding company that has stakes in the eyeglasses giant EssilorLuxottica, as well as the insurer Generali, the banks Mediobanca and UniCredit and the real estate developer Covivio, all based in France or Italy. Unlike his half-brother Leonardo, he has no role in EssilorLuxottica.

Kim Jung-min

Age: 22 | Citizenship: South Korea | Source of Wealth: Online gaming | Net Worth: $1.4 Billion

She and her sister Jung-youn each own approximately 9% of the South Korean-Japanese online gaming publisher Nexon, founded by their late father Kim Jung-ju in 1994. They inherited their stakes upon his death at age 54 in 2022. Nexon’s hit role-playing video game MapleStory, released in 2003, helped popularize the free-to-play model whereby users paid only for cosmetic, nonessential accessories for their characters. Neither she nor her sister has a role in the company.

Kevin David Lehmann

Age: 21 | Citizenship: Germany | Source of Wealth: Drugstores | Net Worth: $3.3 Billion

Even for this list, his windfall came young: His father gave him his 50% stake in Germany’s leading drugstore brand, dm-drogerie markt, when he was just 14. Neither he nor his father are operationally involved in dm, and they intentionally keep a low profile. The drugstore chain has over 4,000 stores across Europe and recorded revenue of about $17 billion for the 2023 fiscal year.

Kim Jung-youn

Age: 20 | Citizenship: South Korea | Source of Wealth: Online gaming | Net Worth: $1.4 Billion

She and her sister hold 9% stakes in game developer Nexon, mostly through the holding company NXC as well as another called Wise Kids. Those assets, plus millions in dividends, make up the bulk of their fortunes. They paid a hefty inheritance tax after their father’s 2022 death in the form of NXC shares that gave the government a 29.3% stake in the company. The sisters now own 36.7%.

Clemente Del Vecchio

Age: 19 | Citizenship: Italy | Source of Wealth: Eyeglasses | Net Worth: $4.7 Billion

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. The three brothers currently reside in Milan.

Livia Voigt

Age: 19 | Citizenship: Brazil | Source of Wealth: Industrial Machinery | Net Worth: $1.1 Billion

Nineteen until July, and two months younger than Clemente Del Vecchio, she is the world’s youngest billionaire. Like her sister Dora, she owns 3.1% of WEG and has pulled in millions from dividends. She is currently enrolled in university and is completing coursework in psychology.

Why do Family Offices Matter?

There are roughly 15,000 Family Offices around the globe which currently control approximately $10 trillion in assets. In comparison, there is only $6.5 trillion globally in the entire hedge fund world. But even more important than the size Family Offices currently are, we are currently experiencing the largest transfer of wealth in history. It is estimated that approximately $84.4 trillion is being transferred from the baby boomers to the next generation over the next 20 years. This has massive implications from how companies will be financed in the future, how Family Offices are going to disrupt the private equity and venture capital industries, and lastly, but most important, the major role Family Offices are going to have in the world of philanthropy. While the industry is growing exponentially, the current model does not work. Only 25% of Family Offices make it to the second generation, 10% make it to the third generation, and 5% make it to the fourth generation. But that’s about to change.

"The next generation is very concerned about major societal issues such as climate, income inequality, and poverty. This is why it's really important; we're leaving a tremendous amount of money to the next generation, but the hands we're leaving it in generally feels a need to do something and give back. Family Offices are not a panacea to solve all of the world's problems; but many Family Offices have a passion, a cause, and the means to run their philanthropy more like a business—and that's how many of these real-world problems are going to get solved."

"It's not going to necessarily come from the government and probably not from the corporate sector; it's the Family Offices that are going to solve a lot of these problems. So, over the next 3-5 years, you're going to hear the term 'Family Office' over and over again, and understand when you hear the term Family Office don’t just think of a really, really rich person who's made a lot of money—they did, maybe their parents did, maybe their grandparents did—but think about the generation that's going to inherit the money that's going to try to solve these real-world problems. Family Offices will help to solve a lot of major issues that we need to solve." - Ron Diamond for TEDx

Reframing Education and Engagement for Rising Gen Inheritors

Preparing the rising generation to inherit significant wealth is a process, not an event, and along that journey, the words and mindsets we use matter deeply. Based on over a decade of experience working with rising gen members and their families, below are several important reframes and ways to implement them today.

1. Reframe: From Individual Focus to Family-Centric Learning

No one likes to be told what to do, even when it is for their own benefit. Effective education, change, and transitions happen with input and buy-in from all generations rather than a top-down mandate. Instead of singling out next-gen members, reframe education as a family-wide endeavor, fostering a culture of shared learning and understanding. By involving the entire family in educational initiatives, we shift the focus from individual responsibility to collective growth and cohesion.

2. Reframe: From Financial Fluency to Financial Confidence

While some family members may be looking to become experts in a space, many only need the confidence to ask the right questions. Keep educational sessions concise to maintain engagement, with a maximum of 20 minutes for lectures or presentations. Encourage hands-on, experiential learning that empowers next-gen members to take action, explore, and learn from real-world scenarios, fostering confidence and autonomy. Examples might include performing a rapid market assessment on a new industry or potential investment or asking the rising gen to help lead the charge in interviewing a new family advisor. 

3. Reframe: From Responsibility to Opportunity

Money is anxiety-inducing for most people, regardless of where they fall on the wealth spectrum. While it is important to be financially prudent and plan for future generations, staying in this mindset can feel heavy and sometimes paralyzing. Bring excitement and collaboration to your family by posing questions such as “What is the best impact this money can have on us and those we care about?” 

Use this mindset shift in more specific conversations as well, such as budgeting. Instead of saying “You need to stop overspending or there won’t be anything left for your children” try, “Why don’t we talk about your financial plans so you can get more of what you really want.”

4. Reframe: From Uniformity to Individuality

Many parents who plan to leave substantial assets for their children prioritize ongoing harmony and unity. But these priorities can lead to expectations of uniformity that can be challenging to fulfill and may unintentionally add stress to the individuals and/or their sibling relationships. Thriving families focus on family harmony through the lens of celebrating differing values, priorities, and walks of life. A family discussion on the unique skills each member brings to the table can be a fun way to recognize and celebrate individual strengths. 

5. Reframe: From Wealth Preservation to Wealth Stewardship

Moving beyond the traditional focus on preserving wealth, education should emphasize the importance of stewardship. Providing opportunities for inheritors to learn about sustainable investing, philanthropy, and social entrepreneurship empowers them to use their resources for positive impact and long-term sustainability.

6. Reframe: From Isolation to Community Engagement

Wealth is often isolating, as many inheritors don’t feel comfortable talking openly about their unique issues. Offer networks and events to help the rising generation find peers and new ways to engage with the world. Some suggested networks and events to explore include: Launch Generation, Nexus, Maverick Collective, and Enclave.

7. Reframe: From What Could Go Wrong to What Has Already Gone Right

It is common for parents to embark on this work from a place of fear: “I’m worried this money will throw them off track.” or “If they know what they are inheriting, they will lose all motivation to find meaningful work.” Instead of focusing on the risks, think about the times your kids have impressed you with their creativity, resilience, responsibility, generosity, etc. How can you create more opportunities for these positive values to shine?

By reframing through these lenses, we empower future stewards of wealth to embrace their roles with purpose, integrity, and independence.

Reframing Education and Engagement for Rising Gen Inheritors written by: Whitney Webb Managing Director, Family Governance at Cresset.

The largest transfer of wealth in history over the next 20 years is underway

This year’s Forbes list of the world’s youngest billionaires starkly illustrates a turning point: the initiation of an $84.4 trillion wealth transfer from the baby boomers to the next generation, marking not only a shift in wealth but also in the values and intentions of those who inherit it.

The rise of Family Offices is central to this transformation. These entities are no longer just about wealth management; they are becoming pivotal in addressing some of the most pressing global challenges. With a growing emphasis on impact investing, especially driven by younger inheritors, Family Offices are set to play a crucial role in sectors like climate change, education, and poverty alleviation.

Furthermore, the change isn’t just in what Family Offices do, but also in how they operate. As wealth passes to the next generation, there's a noticeable shift towards treating philanthropy and investment with the rigor and strategic planning typical of successful businesses. This evolution could redefine not just the landscape of personal wealth management but potentially the broader mechanisms through which societal change is funded and enacted.

Ultimately, the path forward is about more than just wealth transfer; it's about how the next generation chooses to leverage this wealth. The challenge for Family Offices and their stakeholders is to ensure that this wealth does more than grow—it must also positively impact the world. The heirs of today, equipped with resources and a new vision, are at the forefront of a unique opportunity to shape the future. In their hands, the vast fortunes of yesterday can become the tools for building a more equitable and sustainable tomorrow.

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