Cyrus Mistry's sons are the richest billionaires under 30

The 2024 Forbes Billionaires List reveals that the top 25 youngest billionaires worldwide are all aged 33 or younger, collectively amassing a staggering wealth of $110 billion.

While this youth-centric trend suggests a new era of wealth accumulation, a closer examination reveals that a significant portion of these fortunes were inherited rather than self-made.

Leading the list of young billionaires under 30 are Zahan and Firoz Mistry, sons of the late Cyrus Mistry. Their combined wealth totals $9.8 billion ($4.9 billion each).

The brothers, aged 25 and 27, inherited their fortune following their father's passing, the former chairman of Tata Sons, in a car accident in 2022.

Citizens of Ireland residing in Mumbai, the brothers inherited a share of the family's 18.4% stake in Tata Sons, catapulting them into the elite circle of young billionaires.

After more than 18 months of working in various sectors of the family business, they assumed executive roles within the company in December 2022. Zahan Mistry is an alumnus of Yale University, and Firoz Mistry studied at the University of Warwick.

The Mistry brothers' grandfather, Pallonji Mistry, played a pivotal role in establishing the family's business legacy, while their uncle, Shapoor Mistry, currently serves as the chairman of the family's Mumbai-based construction giant, the Shapoorji Pallonji Group.

To alleviate debt pressures, the Mistry family intends to raise approximately $850 million by listing Afcons Infrastructure, a privately held construction and engineering firm.

However, inherited wealth is not exclusive to the Mistry brothers among the 18 heirs on the list.

Clemente Del Vecchio, a 19-year-old from Italy, inherited a substantial stake in EssilorLuxottica, the Italian-French eyewear conglomerate, making him the youngest billionaire until surpassed by Livia Voigt, a Brazilian student and heir of WEG, an electrical equipment manufacturer.

Vecchio, two months older than Voigt, has a net worth of $1.1 billion.

Similarly, Sophie Luise Fielmann, a 29-year-old German heiress, inherited the leadership of Fielmann AG, a prominent eyeglasses empire, from her late father, Günther Fielmann, who passed away in January.

The emergence of these young billionaires underscores a broader phenomenon known as "the great wealth transfer," wherein over 1,000 affluent individuals are projected to pass on more than $5.2 trillion to their heirs over the next two decades.

Only a handful of self-made tycoons, such as Evan Spiegel, 33, the creator of Snap, Ben Francis, 31, the entrepreneur behind Gymshark, and Palmer Luckey, 31, the innovator behind Oculus VR, made it to the list, where every billionaire under 30 acquired their fortune through inheritance.