- The youngest billionaire in the world right now has a German drugstore chain to thank for his fortune.
- That’s according to Forbes‘ annual billionaire ranking, which was released on April 6.
- The teen, 18-year-old Kevin David Lehmann, is worth $3.3 billion and inherited his wealth from his dad.
- See more stories on Insider’s business page.
It’s good to be Kevin David Lehmann.
Lehmann, 18, is worth $3.3 billion after inheriting stakes in German drugstore chain dm-drogerie markt from his father, Guenther Lehmann. That’s according to Forbes’ 35th annual billionaires list, which was released on April 6.
Dm-drogerie markt, the source of Lehmann’s wealth, is the leading drugstore chain in Germany. It was founded in 1974. According to the company website, it employs over 41,000 people across more than 2,000 stores throughout Germany.
According for Forbes, neither Lehmann nor his father is actively involved in the company, and little is known about them. Insider has reached out to Dm-drogerie markt for comment. Lehmann could not immediately be reached for comment for this story.
The No. 2 spot among the world’s youngest billionaires in 2021 is held by 24-year-old Wang Zelong of China, who is worth $1.5 billion. The No. 3 and 4 spots are held by Norwegian sisters Alexandra and Katharina Andresen, who are 24 and 25 years old respectively and each worth $1.4 billion. They both own part of their family company, Ferd, a multibillion-dollar investment firm.
The low profile of the current youngest billionaire in the world – who has no discernible presence on any major social platform – stands in stark contrast to the previous titleholder. In the 2020 edition of Forbes’ billionaire ranking, the title was held by reality TV star and fashion mogul Kylie Jenner. While 23-year-old Jenner has fallen off Forbes’ 2021 billionaire ranking altogether, she was – controversially – named the world’s youngest self-made billionaire in 2019 at the age of 21.
Forbes’ list pulls together information on the world’s wealthiest people using stock prices and exchange rates as of March 5 and only considers those individuals whose net worths are higher than $1 billion. According to the list, there are now 2,755 billionaires in the world, more than there have ever been before.
Even after the pandemic year of 2020, the world’s billionaires are also richer than they’ve ever been, though estimates of their collective gains vary. Per Forbes, the collective fortunes of the world’s billionaires increased by $8 trillion to a whopping $13.1 trillion. Meanwhile, a report from the Institute for Policy Studies found that the world’s billionaires added $4 trillion – substantially less than Forbes’ estimate – to their wealth from March 18, 2020, to March 18, 2021.
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