New billionaire heirs overtake self-made ones as $5.2 trillion wealth.
For the first time since UBS started tracking the fortunes of the world’s richest almost a decade ago, billionaires in the latest year accumulated more wealth through inheritance than entrepreneurship.

According to the Swiss lender, billionaire heirs are more likely than their parents to focus on the major opportunities and challenges facing the global economy, investing in fields like clean energy and artificial intelligence.

A growing number of billionaire entrepreneurs are aging, and the great wealth transfer is gaining momentum, said Benjamin Cavalli, head of UBS’ global wealth management unit.

It is a theme we expect to see more of over the next 20 years as more than 1,000 billionaires will be leaving their children an estimated $5.2 trillion.”

The majority of the world’s billionaires are clients of UBS (UBS), which found that 53 heirs inherited $150.8 billion between January and April, exceeding the $140.7 billion that 84 new self-made billionaires accumulated during that time.

A total of 2,544 billionaires now live around the world, an increase of 7% from last year. A combined $12 trillion in wealth was gained by their combined wealth, before inflation is factored in.

After a post-pandemic rally in assets such as stocks and property, the global billionaire community reached 2,686 members in 2021, when the total was $13.4 trillion.

Moreover, the report’s findings also reflect the subdued state of the IPO market for the remainder of 2022 and the beginning of 2023, which limited the chances for entrepreneurs to list their companies and increase their wealth by doing so.

As of late, economic, geopolitical and policy uncertainty have hindered the creation of entrepreneurial wealth, said Max Kunkel, chief investment officer for UBS’ family and institutional wealth management clients.