Nepotism gets a bad reputation, but when your parents are billionaires, the accusations don’t really sting. These aren’t people who got a job through a family connection—they inherited or were given fortunes most people can’t comprehend. Some work to expand their wealth, others just spend it, but all of them started life on a financial level that makes “privilege” seem like an understatement.
1. Francoise Bettencourt Meyers – $88 Billion
The richest woman on Earth inherited her fortune from L’Oréal, the cosmetics empire her grandfather founded. Her mother was the principal shareholder before her death in 2017, and Francoise inherited the stake that makes up the majority of her wealth. She’s not just sitting on the money—she’s on L’Oréal’s board and has written books on Greek mythology and Jewish-Christian relations.
The wealth is so enormous it’s almost abstract. Her fortune is larger than the GDP of most countries, all from inheriting stock in a company her grandfather built. She works, but she’d be worth $88 billion even if she didn’t.
2. Shari Redstone – $3 Billion
Shari Redstone inherited control of Paramount Global and CBS through her father, Sumner Redstone’s media empire. According to the 2024 Sunday Times Rich List, Shari became one of the most powerful women in media not through her own ventures, but through inheriting her father’s controlling stake in National Amusements. Forbes reports she assumed control after a prolonged legal battle with her father and other family members over the company’s future. She now controls one of the largest media conglomerates in America because she was born into the right family.
Her father built the empire, and she inherited the power to control it. She’s made business decisions since taking over, but the opportunity to make those decisions came entirely from birth. In 2025, she sold Paramount to Skydance Media for $8 billion, ending nearly four decades of Redstone family control.
3. Hugh Grosvenor, Duke of Westminster – $13 Billion
Hugh Grosvenor became the 7th Duke of Westminster at age 25 when his father died suddenly in 2016. Overnight, he inherited a real estate empire that includes 300 acres in London’s wealthiest neighborhoods—Mayfair and Belgravia—plus estates across England, Scotland, and Wales. He didn’t build any of it. The wealth traces back to 1677 when an ancestor married an heiress who brought 500 acres of land as a dowry.
Today, at 34, he’s one of the richest people in the UK. He married in 2024 and welcomed his first child in July 2025. The inheritance structure meant he paid virtually no inheritance tax on billions in assets. He works managing the family estate, but the fortune was waiting for him from birth.
4. Katharina Andresen – $1.7 Billion
Norwegian heiress Katharina Andresen became a billionaire at 20 when her father transferred 42% of Ferd, the family’s investment company, to her in 2007. According to Forbes, she was once ranked as the world’s third-youngest billionaire. The transfer was likely done for tax purposes—Norway has a wealth tax that charges about 1% on net worth, but distributing ownership across family members reduces that burden.
She joined Ferd’s board in 2022 after years as a board observer. Her father still runs the company while she learns the business. She didn’t earn the stake—it was handed to her as a teenager because of favorable tax laws and family planning.
5. Julio Mario Santo Domingo III – $1.3 Billion
The New York DJ inherited his fortune from his grandfather’s beer empire. When Julio Mario Santo Domingo Pumarejo sold Bavaria Brewery to SABMiller in 2005, the deal created massive wealth for the family. When the younger Julio’s father died in 2009, his grandfather left him one-sixth of his estate. He now has a stake in Anheuser-Busch InBev after it acquired SABMiller in 2016.
He spends most of his time DJing in Manhattan with his group Sheik ‘n’ Beik and launched the Okeechobee Music & Arts Festival. He lives in a $4 million New York apartment. He also inherited his father’s collection of 50,000 books and photos about psychoactive drugs and the world’s largest opium pipe collection, now on loan to Harvard.
6. Alexandra Andresen – $1.6 Billion
Alexandra is Katharina’s younger sister and received the identical 42% stake in Ferd at the same time. At 19, she became the world’s youngest billionaire in 2016, a title she held for three years. Now 28, she’s focused on equestrian sports—she’s a three-time Norwegian junior dressage champion and runs an elite horse breeding and training stable near Oslo.
Despite the massive wealth, she claims to save her allowance and birthday money. Her father enforces a rule that they can only buy second-hand cars. Still, her social media shows Mediterranean vacations, luxury handbags, and yachting.
7. Gustav Magnar Witzoe – $3.8 Billion
Gustav owns 47% of SalMar ASA, Norway’s second-largest producer of Atlantic salmon. His father made him the main shareholder when he turned 18—partially for inheritance tax purposes. He made a splash at the 2023 Met Gala in a bejeweled outfit reminiscent of a salmon, which was probably intentional given his fish farming fortune. CNN Business reports he became a billionaire before his 20th birthday through this inheritance.
He’s not involved in the day-to-day operations of the company. At 31, he mostly pursues personal interests while the salmon empire generates wealth.
8. Clemente Del Vecchio – $4.9 Billion
The 20-year-old son of Italian billionaire Leonardo Del Vecchio inherited his stake when his father died in 2022. His father founded Luxottica, the eyewear giant behind Ray-Ban, Oakley, and Sunglass Hut. Clemente owns 12.5% of Delfin, the family holding company, which he shares with his five siblings. At one point, he was the world’s youngest billionaire before younger heirs emerged.
He’s reportedly focused on his education and interested in science and technology. He also owns 11 luxury sports cars, including an Aston Martin Valkyrie, six Ferraris, and a McLaren Senna. He has a villa in Lake Como and an apartment in Milan.
9. Livia Voigt – $1.1 Billion
At 19, Livia is the world’s youngest billionaire. The Brazilian university student studying psychology owns 3.1% of WEG, one of the world’s biggest electric motor manufacturers. Her grandfather, Werner Ricardo Voigt, co-founded the company. When he died in 2016, his wealth passed to his grandchildren. Livia and her sister Dora each received equal stakes.
She has no role in WEG’s operations. She’s enrolled in university courses and focusing on her education. Fortune reports that in 2023, WEG’s revenue was $6.3 billion. She owns a billion-dollar stake in a company she didn’t build, doesn’t run, and inherited before she could vote.
10. Firoz Mistry – $4.9 Billion
Firoz and his brother Zahan became billionaires at ages 26 and 24 when their father Cyrus Mistry died in a car accident in 2022. They each inherited 4.6% of Tata Sons, the holding company for India’s Tata Group, which includes Tata Steel, Tata Motors, and dozens of other companies. They also own 25% of the Shapoorji Pallonji Group, a construction giant.
Firoz graduated from the University of Warwick and holds executive roles in the family businesses. Still, the fortune came from tragedy, not entrepreneurship. The brothers wouldn’t be billionaires if their father hadn’t died and left them massive stakes in conglomerates they didn’t build.
11. Kevin David Lehmann – $3.3 Billion
Kevin inherited a 50% stake in dm-drogerie markt, Germany’s biggest drugstore chain, from his father Guenther Lehmann. The transfer happened when Kevin was 14, though he only gained control when he turned 18. The stake makes him one of the youngest billionaires in the world at 24.
He didn’t start the business or work his way up through the company. His father gave him half of a massive retail empire as an inheritance planning strategy. The wealth was simply transferred from one generation to the next.
12. Lukas Walton – $41.5 Billion
At 39, Lukas is one of the richest millennials on Earth. His father, John T. Walton, died in a plane crash in 2005 when Lukas was 19, and court documents revealed in 2015 that Lukas inherited the full estate, not his mother, as previously believed. He owns roughly 3.8% of Walmart, giving him a fortune that makes him the wealthiest person in Illinois. The stake alone generates hundreds of millions in annual dividends.
He survived childhood kidney cancer, which his mother attributed to an organic plant-based diet. Now he runs Builders Vision, his $15 billion impact investing platform focused on environmental sustainability. He bikes to work in Chicago and drives a Volvo instead of flashier cars.
13. Mark Mateschitz – $43.4 Billion
At 33, Mark is Europe’s richest millennial and the sole heir to the Red Bull empire. His father, Dietrich Mateschitz, co-founded Red Bull in 1987 and died in October 2022, leaving Mark a 49% stake in the energy drink giant that sold 12.7 billion cans in 2024. The other 51% belongs to the Thai Yoovidhya family.
He founded his own beverage company in 2018, Thalheimer Heilwasser, which makes beer and lemonade from Austrian spring water. In 2025, he spent $500 million buying Bernie Ecclestone’s collection of 69 historic Formula One cars. He’s intensely private, kept a low profile growing up, and even used his mother’s surname to avoid attention.
14. Abigail Johnson – $38 Billion
The CEO of Fidelity Investments inherited her position in a company her grandfather founded in 1946. She owns 28.5% of Fidelity, which manages over $5 trillion in assets. When her father stepped down as CEO in 2014, she took over.
She’s run Fidelity successfully and expanded into cryptocurrency, but she started with advantages no outsider could match. She joined the company in 1988 after graduating from Harvard Business School and worked her way up through positions that were available because of her last name. She’s now the richest person in Massachusetts and one of the world’s wealthiest women entirely because her grandfather started a company in the 1940s.
15. April Goh – $3.4 Billion
The Columbia University fellow inherited the largest stake among six grandchildren when her grandfather, Singaporean paint tycoon Goh Cheng Liang, died in August 2025. At 98, he skipped a generation and transferred $6 billion in Nippon Paint shares directly to his grandchildren. April received $3.4 billion worth of stock, though she’s holding some assets for two other siblings
She focuses on gender-based violence research at Columbia’s China Center for Social Policy and previously worked in finance. Her inheritance came from a rags-to-riches story she had no part in building. Her grandfather started selling paint in 1955 after growing up in poverty. April inherited billions simply by being born into the right family at the right time.
This article is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as financial advice. Consult a financial professional before making investment or other financial decisions. The author and publisher make no warranties of any kind.
