Top 10 youngest billionaires in the world in 2024

It is a rare feat to become a billionaire, especially when you are young. The average age of billionaires is 66, and the oldest person on the list is 102. Still, a few have managed to become super rich at a very young age.

This year, The 25 youngest people on Forbes’ list of the world’s billionaires are under 33 years old. Together, they are worth US$110 billion (R$555.5 billion). Some are self-taught, having built notable companies such as Snap (Evan Spiegel, 33), Gymshark (Ben Francis, 31) It is Oculus VR (Palmer Luckey, 31).

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Most had a lot of help. For the first time since 2009, all billionaires under the age of 30 inherited their wealth – the result of some self-made entrepreneurs reaching their 30s and a sign that the “great wealth transfer” has begun.

The youngest billionaire in the world is Livia Voigt, from Brazil. At just 19 years old and still in college, she is worth around US$1.1 billion (R$5.5 billion) thanks to her minority stake in the music production companyWEG electrical equipment, which his late grandfather co-founded. She and her older sister, Dora Voigt of Assisi26 years old, are two of the seven new faces among the 25 youngest billionaires and two of the 18 heiresses in this group.

The richest of the heirs are the brothers Mistry, from Ireland, aged 25 and 27which are worth around US$4.9 billion (R$24.7 billion) each, thanks to the conglomerate based in Mumbai, Tata Sons, covering IT and communications, engineering and energy. They received their minority stakes in Tata following the death of their father, Cyrus Mistry, in 2022.

They are far from the only young billionaires to join the list in the last three years due to the death of a parent. Clemente Del Vecchio, from Italyaged 19, received a large stake in Italian-French eyewear manufacturer Ray-Ban, EssilorLuxottica, following the death of Leonardo Del Vecchio in 2022. His brothers Leonardo Maria, 28, and Luca, 22, also inherited fortunes, as did three older brothers.

And there is also Sophie Luise Fielmann, 29 years old, German heiress of Fielmann AGa fortune in eyewear left by his father, Günther Fielmann, who died in January at the age of 84.

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These inheritances illustrate the beginning of a long-awaited generational wealth transfer among aging populations around the world. Trillions are expected to change hands every year as wealthy elderly people pass away and leave their fortunes to descendants.

Another reason so many super-young billionaires are heirs: many of the self-made young tycoon archetypes, like Bobby Murphy from Snap (35 years old) It is Mark Zuckerberg from Meta (39 years old, United States)have grown and they are not being replaced.

This year, there is only one self-taught newcomer among the youngest 25: Shunsaku Sagami of Japan, 33, an M&A negotiator whose company, M&A Research Institute Holdings, uses AI to match customers. His shares have risen more than 800% since being publicly floated in June 2021, making him quickly rise through the ranks of billionaires.

And getting rich young is no guarantee that entrepreneurs can keep their fortunes. Ryan Breslow was the youngest self-made billionaire last year at 28 years old. If he hadn’t wasted it, it would still be.

Almost all of the 25 who made the list are richer than last year. The biggest year-to-year gain belongs to the heir of the Red Bull, Mark Mateschitz, whose fortune increased by US$4.9 billion (R$24.7 billion)followed by Michal Strnad, who inherited and now runs the defense producer Czechoslovak Group, and which is worth US$2.4 billion (R$12.1 billion) more than last year.

The majority of the youngest billionaires – 15, or 60% – are from Europe. The rest are from Brazil, South Korea and Hong Kong (all heirs), or from Japan and the United States (all self-taught).

Meet the 10 richest young people in the world in 2024:

Livia Voigt

Age: 19
Citizenship: Brazil
Source of Wealth: Industrial Machinery – WEG
Net Worth: US$1.1 billion (R$5.5 billion)

Nineteen years old as of July and two months younger than Clemente Del Vecchio, she is the youngest billionaire in the world. Like her sister Dora, she owns 3.1% of WEG and has received millions in dividends. She is currently enrolled at university and completing psychology courses.

Clemente Del Vecchio

Age: 19
Citizenship: Italy
Source of Wealth: Eyeglasses market
Net Worth: US$4.7 billion (R$23.7 billion)

He is the third Del Vecchio brother and the fourth heir to an eyewear fortune among those under 33. Like his brothers, he owns 12.5% ​​of the holding company Delfin, which has stakes in a number of companies, including Ray-Ban producer EssilorLuxottica. The three brothers currently reside in Milan.

Kim Jung-youn

Age: 20
Citizenship: South Korea
Source of Wealth: Online Games
Net Worth: US$1.4 billion (R$7 billion)

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

Kevin David Lehmann

Age: 21
Citizenship: Germany
Source of Wealth: Pharmacies
Net Worth: US$3.3 billion (R$16.6 billion)

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

Kim Jung-min

Age: 22
Citizenship: South Korea
Source of Wealth: Online Games
Net Worth: US$1.4 billion (R$7 billion)

She and her sister Jung-youn each own approximately 9% of South Korean-Japanese online game publisher Nexon, founded by their late father Kim Jung-ju in 1994. They inherited their holdings upon his death at age 54 in 2022 The success of Nexon, the MapleStory role-playing game, released in 2003, helped popularize the free-to-play model, in which users only pay for non-essential accessories for their characters. Neither she nor her sister have a role in the company.

Luca Del Vecchio

Age: 22
Citizenship: Italy
Source of Wealth: Eyeglasses market
Net Worth: US$4.7 billion (R$23.7 billion)

He is another Del Vecchio brother whose fortune comes from his 12.5% ​​ownership of Delfin, the holding company that has stakes in eyewear giant EssilorLuxottica, as well as insurer Generali, banks Mediobanca and UniCredit and property developer Covivio, all based in France or Italy. Unlike his half-brother Leonardo, he does not have a role at EssilorLuxottica.

Remi Dassault

Age: 22
Citizenship: France
Source of Wealth: Inheritance
Net Worth: US$2.5 billion (R$12.6 billion)

He inherited his wealth when his father died in a helicopter crash in 2021 at age 69. The bulk of his wealth comes from an estimated 2.5% stake in French software company Dassault Systèmes and an estimated 4.1% stake in Dassault Aviation. His great-grandfather, a Holocaust survivor, laid the foundation for the family fortune when he invented an airplane propeller used by the French in the First World War.

Zahan Mistry

Age: 25
Citizenship: Ireland
Source of Wealth: Diversified
Net Worth: US$4.9 Billion (R$24.7 billion)

He and his brother Firoz are the richest under-30s, thanks largely 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. The two inherited their holdings during a 2022 marked by family tragedies, when their 54-year-old father died in a car accident less than three months after their grandfather, a former Tata chairman and its largest individual shareholder, died at age 93. His uncle Shapoor Mistry holds the remaining 18.4% stake in the family.

Dora Voigt of Assisi

Age: 26
Citizenship: Brazil
Source of Wealth: Industrial Machinery – WEG
Net Worth: US$1.1 billion (R$5.5 billion)

She and her sister Livia are the youngest granddaughters of Werner Ricardo Voigt, the billionaire co-founder of Brazilian electrical equipment producer WEG, who died in 2016. They each own 3.1% of WEG, slightly less than the holdings of 3.9% of his older cousins ​​Eduardo and Mariana. WEG exports to more than 135 countries and is one of the largest manufacturers of electric motors in the world. Neither Dora nor Livia have a role in the operations.

Firoz Mistry

Age: 27
Citizenship: Ireland
Source of Wealth: Diversified
Net Worth: US$4.9 billion (R$24.7 billion)

Like his brother Zahan, his wealth comes from a 4.6% stake in the Tata conglomerate, as well as a 25% stake in construction giant Shapoorji Pallonji Group. The two have taken on leadership roles at the debt-ridden Grupo SP and helping to reorganize it following the death of their father. Although he and his brothers are Irish citizens, they live in Mumbai, where both the SP Group and Tata are based.