The latest additions to the three-comma club, the world’s billionaires, are a diverse group of individuals from various industries and countries. With a record number of billionaires this year, Forbes has identified 265 new members, including a fashion legend, an NBA hall-of-famer, and a famous popstar, collectively commanding $510 billion in wealth. The United States leads with 67 new billionaires, including Todd Graves, the founder of fast-food chain Raising Cane’s, while China follows closely with 31 new billionaires, with the richest being the cofounders of Shein, worth an estimated $4.2 billion each. India added 25 new billionaires, including Renuka Jagtiani, the chief executive of e-commerce conglomerate Landmark Group.
The richest newcomer this year is Italy’s Andrea Pignataro, with an estimated net worth of $27.5 billion. Pignataro, a former bond trader, launched financial software firm ION Group and expanded it through acquisitions, making it a major competitor to Bloomberg LP and FactSet. The richest women to join the ranks are Swedish sisters Sofia Högberg Schörling and Märta Schörling Andreen, with estimated net worths of $5.6 billion each. The most famous newcomer is Taylor Swift, whose record-breaking Eras Tour helped her amass an estimated $1.1 billion fortune, making her the first musician to achieve ten-figure status solely through music and performances.
NBA legend Earvin “Magic” Johnson and French fashion designer Christian Louboutin also join the ranks this year, with estimated net worths of $1.2 billion each. The world’s youngest billionaire, 19-year-old Livia Voigt, inherited a fortune based on her stake in Brazilian turbine manufacturer WEG. More than half of this year’s newcomers are self-made billionaires, with Japan’s Shunsaku Sagami, founder of M&A Research Institute, being the youngest at 33 years old with an estimated net worth of $1.9 billion.
The manufacturing sector is the most prominent route to new wealth this year, with 46 new billionaires, including India’s Anil Gupta of KEI Industries and Nicholas Howley, cofounder of TransDigm. The technology sector also saw 38 newcomers, with Charles Liang of Super Micro Computer and Haluk Bayraktar of Baykar Defense among the notable names. In finance and investments, Seth Boro, Scott Crabill, and Holden Spaht of Thoma Bravo, as well as Giancarlo Devasini of Tether, are among the new billionaires, with Devasini estimated to be worth $9.2 billion.
