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Billionaires have accumulated more wealth through inheritance than entrepreneurship: UBS report

Khairani Afifi Noordin
·2-min read

Asia Pacific minted the most new billionaires during the survey period among all regions.

Billionaires have accumulated more wealth through inheritance than entrepreneurship for the first time in the nine editions of the UBS Billionaire Ambitions report, indicating the gaining momentum of the great wealth transfer.

This follows the great surge in entrepreneurial activity over the last few decades, which saw many billionaires passing their wealth on to the next generation.

“This is a theme we expect to see more of over the next 20 years, as more than 1,000 billionaires pass an estimated US$5.2 trillion ($6.94 trillion) to their children,” says UBS Global Wealth Management head of strategic clients Benjamin Cavalli.

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A total of US$150.8 billion was inherited by 53 heirs over the last year, exceeding the 84 new self-made billionaires’ total of US$140.7 billion, the report found.

Of the billionaires surveyed with inherited wealth, 68% aim to continue and grow what their parents achieved in terms of business, brand or assets. Believing in continuing the current family legacy, 60% of heirs want to enable future generations to benefit from their wealth and plan to continue to follow their parents' pre-defined philanthropic goals (32%).

When it comes to investing, 43% of first-generation billionaires intend to increase their allocation to private debt over the next 12 months and 38% plan to increase developed market bond holdings. Heirs, on the other hand, favour private equity, with 59% looking to raise direct private equity investments and 55% looking to invest more in private equity funds.

Meanwhile, the report found that Asia Pacific minted the most new billionaires during the survey period among all regions, with a total of 85 new billionaires from Mainland China and Hong Kong. Across the region, the number of Asia Pacific billionaires increased from 922 to 1,019, with their total wealth increasing by 8.1% to US$3.7 trillion.

Notably, there is a broadening of wealth across the region, as markets with smaller numbers of billionaires such as Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore and Taiwan saw wealth increase by almost a third.

Asia Pacific is also the region with the highest new self-made billionaires at 81.4% across the globe.

Globally, billionaire wealth partially recovered in the 2022/2023 period, lifted by billionaires with consumer and retail businesses in Europe after falling by almost a fifth in the previous 12 months.

Overall, the number of billionaires rose by 7% globally in the last year, increasing from 2,376 to 2,5442. Their wealth recovered by 9% from US$11 trillion to US$12 trillion.

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