The Vanderbilts. The Melons. The Morgans.
A century ago, these names signified wealth, luxury, and privilege, but a new group of names has taken over billionaire lists: Musk, Bezos, and Gates.
With these new names come new heirs and heiresses — those who have grown up with and stand to inherit massive amounts of wealth. A number of children of the tech generation are beginning to make themselves known, though many in a different way than the progeny of oil barons or banking titans of the past.
“There’s definitely been a greater openness in discussing financial matters with peers and online communities,” Ashley Fell, social researcher at generational research firm McCrindle, told Business Insider. “Probably this comes from being influenced by the transparency culture of social media and the fact that people do well online because they’re more authentic and they share.”
A number of today’s heirs and heiress’ have begun doing what they have for generations — working for their family businesses.
While Steve Ballmer’s sons lived a relatively normal life growing up, they have certainly benefited from their father’s Microsoft fortune. The eldest of his children, Sam, works for the family’s Ballmer Group, where he focuses on directing its philanthropic strategy toward the climate crisis. The Arnault children — there are five — are currently engaged in what seems like a much more congenial version of “Succession” for taking the helm at the family’s company that owns LVMH, the home of Louis Vuitton and Sephora.
Some have become vocal advocates for certain issues and causes, choosing to use their financial standing to become young philanthropic voices.
“Families know that planning is really essential in terms of if the family is wealthy,” Maya Imberg, the head of thought leadership and analytics at data firm Altrata, told Business Insider. “They’re more and more bringing in their children, the grandparents, the grandchildren, in terms of their kind of overall view of how they want to forge a legacy — not just in terms of wealth preservation, but also in terms of philanthropic giving.”
The children of Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates — Jennifer, Rory, and Phoebe Gates — receive a giving allowance to be used toward philanthropy of their choice, Puck reported earlier this year.
The Gates daughters, Jennifer and Pheobe, have been outspoken voices in the fields of public health and reproductive rights, respectively. The former, a pediatrician, has taken trips to Kenya centered on public health, while the latter graduated from Stanford in three years and started a climate-friendly fashion tech platform. And while quieter on social media, the Gates’s son, Rory, has become a magnet for those in DC looking for philanthropic funds, particularly for Democratic causes.
We took a look at the richest people in the world, according to the latest calculations by Forbes, who have children older than 18 but younger than 40. Here’s what we know about them — and what they may do with the vast sums of money they could one day attain.
