According to Forbes, there are 21 billionaires in the world who managed to make it onto the year’s list, and none of them are from Africa.
It was rapper 50 Cent who titled his album Get Rich or Die Tryin’, and this is what most people in the world do. Becoming a billionaire can take decades, even a lifetime, and this is evident in Forbes’ rich list.
However, Forbes has revealed that the youngest billionaire in the world is a 20-year-old from Germany, and his net worth is about half of what South Africa’s richest man owns.
Forbes annually updates its list of the world’s wealthiest people and provides real-time tracking of their net worth. The world’s billionaires’ list is mostly made up of individuals aged between 50 and 79, with 12% being under 50.
World’s youngest billionaires
The rarest of all are individuals who can achieve billionaire status by the age of 30, making it onto the world’s youngest billionaires list.
According to Forbes, there are 21 billionaires in the world who managed to make it onto the year’s list, and none of them are from Africa.
Out of the 21 billionaires, only two are self-made; the rest inherited their wealth from their families. Most of these billionaires come from Europe.
Family of billionaires
The youngest billionaire on the list is a 20-year-old Johannes von Baumbach, heir to Boehringer Ingelheim. His three siblings, aged 23, 25, and 27, are also on the youngest billionaires list, each with an estimated net worth of $5.8 billion (more than R102 billion).
Founded in 1885, Boehringer Ingelheim is the world’s largest privately-owned pharmaceutical company, focused on developing innovative medicines for both humans and animals.
The family is not known for being in the public eye. Their company is currently run by Hubertus von Baumbach, Johannes’ uncle. Hubertus’ net worth is $5.8 billion (more than R102 billion).
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Three richest on the list
According to the list, the three richest people under the age of 30 each hold a net worth of $6.6 billion (more than R166 billion).
The first is 29-year-old Leonardo Maria Del Vecchio, who inherited a 12.5% stake in the family holding company after the death of his father. The family company owns nearly a third of Essilor Luxottica, the world’s largest eyeglasses business. Leonardo is Essilor Luxottica’s chief strategy officer.
The second is 23-year-old Luca Del Vecchio, the young brother of Leonardo, with the same net worth. He also inherited a 12.5% stake in the family holding company, which also owns the bank UniCredit and the insurer Generali. Luca plays a role in these two companies.
Twenty-year-old Clemente Del Vecchio is also the wealthiest young billionaire, with the same net worth as his brothers, Leonardo and Luca. He also inherited a 12.5% stake in his family company. Their eyeglasses company is behind brands like Arnette, Ray-Ban and Persol.
Self-made billionaires
Out of 21 billionaires on the list, only two are self-made: 29-year-old Ed Craven and 28-year-old Alexandr Wang.
Craven is the co-founder of Stake.com, one of the world’s biggest crypto-backed online casinos. He has a net worth of $2.8 billion (more than R49 billion), and his company generated a revenue of $4.7 billion (more than R82 billion) last year.
Wang is the co-founder of an AI data annotation unicorn, Scale AI. His net worth is $2 billion (over R35 billion). His company raised $1 billion (over R17 billion) at a $13.8 billion (over R243 billion) valuation in May.
“Forbes estimates that he has a 14% stake in the company, which labels the data used to train the AI for large language models (including ChatGPT) and self-driving cars.”
The rest of the list
The rest of the list can be accessed on Forbes and includes some of these youngsters:
20-year-old Lívia Voigt de Assis – net worth of $1.2 billion (over R21 billion). She has a 3.1% stake in Brazilian electrical motor producer WEG, founded by her late grandfather, Werner Ricardo Voigt, in 1961.
21-year-old Kim Jung-youn and her 23-year-old sister Kim Jung-min. Each holds a net worth of $1.3 billion (over R22 billion). They each inherited 9% of Nexon, a game developer, through their late father.
22-year-old Kevin David Lehmann – net worth $3.6 billion (over R63 billion). Received 50% stake in DM dm-drogerie markt, Germany’s leading pharmacy chain, when he was 14.
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South Africa’s richest
Forbes’ real-time list of dollar-billionaires has seven South Africans.
The list includes Johann Rupert and family as the 208th richest in the world, making him the richest in South Africa. Their net worth sits at $13 billion (R229 billion). It was previously at $13.6 (more than R246 billion).
Rupert is the founder and chairman of the Swiss-based luxury goods company Richemont.
Richemont was founded in 1988, and is a major player in the luxury goods industry, owning brands like Cartier and Montblanc
Other South African billionaires
Other billionaires include the likes of Nicky Oppenheimer and family, with a net worth of $10.5 billion (over R184 billion). He is the heir to the De Beers diamond fortune.
Koos Bekker, known for his leadership at newspaper publisher Naspers, transformed the company into an e-commerce investor and cable TV provider. He has a net worth of $3.8 billion (over R66 billion).
Patrice Motsepe with a net worth of $3.4 billion (over R59 billion). He is the founder and chairman of African Rainbow Minerals.
The rest are Michiel Le Roux with a net worth of $2.7 billion (over R47 billion); Jannie Mouton and family with a net worth of $1.9 billion (over R33 billion); and Christo Wiese with a net worth of $1.7 billion (over R29 billion).
