Remarkable: 35 Gen Z Individuals Possess Wealth Exceeding $17 Trillion

Jakarta — The surge in artificial intelligence and family inheritances have resulted in increasingly more billionaires achieving wealth at remarkably young ages. Forbes’ latest World’s Billionaires list records 35 individuals achieving a net worth of at least $1 billion USD, equivalent to approximately Rp 17 trillion, before reaching age 30.

This figure represents approximately 1% of the world’s total 3,428 billionaires. However, this proportion has increased compared to 2025, which recorded only around 0.6%.

These young billionaires have accumulated wealth across various business sectors. These range from pharmacy chains and pipe supply companies to prediction markets and artificial intelligence-based technology companies.

Whilst most inherited their wealth from families, a new record has emerged: 12 young billionaires who built their fortunes independently.

The youngest billionaire who genuinely built his own business comes from AI-powered recruitment startup Mercor. Its three founders — Surya Midha, Brendan Foody, and Adarsh Hiremath — are each 22 years old with wealth around $2.2 billion USD.

Foody previously admitted his surprise at achieving this milestone. He described the wealth as feeling distinctly unreal and far exceeding their previous expectations.

Midha, a few months younger than his two colleagues, has now become the world’s youngest self-made billionaire. He took this title from Scale AI founder Alexandr Wang, who held the record on last year’s list.

The three Mercor founders, also recipients of the Thiel Fellowship programme, have made history. They became the youngest self-made billionaires to ever appear on the Forbes list, surpassing Mark Zuckerberg’s previous record when he first appeared on the list at age 23 approximately two decades ago.

Additionally, this year’s list presents a new youngest female self-made billionaire. She is Luana Lopes Lara, a 29-year-old former ballerina from Brazil and Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate.

Lopes Lara is a co-founder of prediction market company Kalshi. She replaces Scale AI founder Lucy Guo, who previously held the title after taking over from Taylor Swift in April.

Another Kalshi co-founder, Tarek Mansour, also appears on this year’s list of new young billionaires. In total, there are 17 new billionaires under age 30 this year, with 11 of them having built their own wealth.

Most of these new young billionaires originate from the artificial intelligence sector. These include Fabian Hedin from Sweden, who founded AI coding startup Lovable at age 26.

Additionally, there are the founders of AI coding startup Cursor — Michael Truell and Aman Sanger — each age 25. Other names on the list include Arvid Lunnemark, now 26 years old, though he is no longer with the company.

Meanwhile, the world’s youngest billionaire is currently Amelie Voigt Trejes, aged only 20. Her wealth derives from family inheritance, with her family owning Brazilian industrial machinery company WEG, founded by her grandfather Werner Ricardo Voigt in 1961.

Amelie is even younger than her twin siblings Pedro Voigt Trejes and Felipe Voigt Trejes. She is also seven weeks younger than German pharmaceutical heir Johannesvon Baumbach, who is now the world’s second youngest billionaire.

Several other young billionaires who inherited their wealth include Clemente Del Vecchio, aged 21, heir to the Italian eyewear empire Essilor Luxottica. There is also Kim Jung-youn from South Korea, who inherited wealth from the online gaming industry alongside his sibling.

In total, eight billionaires under age 30 are United States citizens. Three others, including Lopes Lara, now reside in the country.

Additionally, 13 young billionaires reside in Europe and six others in Asia. All young billionaires from the United States built their own wealth independently, whilst most young billionaires in Europe inherited their fortunes.

Overall, the combined wealth of these 35 young billionaires reaches approximately $92.4 billion USD. This figure is down from last year’s $152.3 billion USD.

This decline is partly because last year’s list still included young billionaires with exceptionally large fortunes, such as Red Bull heir Mark Mateschitz and Stripe co-founder John Collison, who have now exceeded the age threshold for this category.