Wealth Reaches Approximately $1.1 Billion in 2004
LVMH Family Ranks First Again This Year Following Last Year
In the 2024 billionaire rankings released by the U.S. economic media Forbes, a 19-year-old Brazilian woman was named the world's youngest billionaire. On the 2nd (local time), Forbes announced the 2024 billionaires and identified Livia Boyte, the heiress of WEG, the world's largest electrical equipment manufacturer located in Santa Catarina, Brazil, as the youngest billionaire.
She owns an 11 billion dollar (approximately 1.4 trillion KRW) stake in the company. Local media such as CNN Brazil reported that Livia Boyte's wealth amounts to an average of 760,000 Brazilian Reais (about 2 billion KRW) earned per day since her birth in 2004. Livia Boyte's older sister, Dora Boyte (26), also appeared on Forbes' billionaire list.
They are the youngest granddaughters of Berne Ricardo Boyte, the co-founder of WEG who passed away in 2016, and are reportedly not involved in the company's board or management. Founded in 1961, WEG operates across four continents and exports to more than 135 countries. According to the company's financial statements, the net operating profit in 2023 was 32.5 billion Brazilian Reais (approximately 8.7 trillion KRW). Last year's youngest billionaire was Clemente Del Vecchio (19), the youngest son of Leonardo Del Vecchio, founder of Luxottica, the world's largest eyewear brand based in Italy.
2,781 billionaires hold assets worth $14.2 trillion
In the previously released Forbes billionaire rankings, the richest in the world is Bernard Arnault, chairman of LVMH, and his family. They have been named the wealthiest family in the world again this year following last year. According to Forbes' real-time global billionaire rankings, Arnault and his family ranked first with a net worth of $211 billion, Elon Musk, founder of Tesla and SpaceX, ranked second with a net worth of $180 billion, and Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, ranked third with a net worth of $114 billion.
By country, the United States had the highest number of billionaires at 813, followed by China (473) and India (200) in second and third place, respectively. Among the top 10 billionaires excluding the top three, Larry Ellison, chairman of Oracle (net worth $107 billion) ranked fourth, Warren Buffett, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway (net worth $106 billion) ranked fifth, Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft (net worth $104 billion) ranked sixth, and Michael Bloomberg, chairman of Bloomberg (net worth $94.5 billion) followed.
Among Korean-descended billionaires, the only person to appear in Forbes' top 200 billionaire group was Masayoshi Son, chairman of SoftBank Group (ranked 51st with a net worth of $32.7 billion). Others included Changpeng Zhao, CEO of Binance (ranked 50th with a net worth of $33 billion), and Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing (ranked 38th with a net worth of $37.3 billion).
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
