Her family made a fortune in the tobacco industry, and at just 19-years-old Alexandra Andresen has just become the world’s youngest billionaire.
She inherited $1.2 billion (£858 million) from her father, Johan F. Andresen, and in their recent ‘Rich List’ Forbes magazine named her on their list of people worth at least one billion dollars, reports the Daily Mail.
It’s the first time the teenager – a professional dressage competitor – and her sister Katharina, aged 20, have appeared on the list, and they are ranked as the 1,475th richest people in the world.
The girls’ father transferred 80 per cent of his stake in Norway’s biggest company, Ferd Holdings, to his daughters back in 2007.
However, the sisters only made the list this year as they are both now over 17 and are required to publish their tax returns – which made their personal fortunes public.
Alexandra now lives in Germany, and according to the Daily Mail she has won several competitions on her horse ‘Belamour’ at the European Junior Riders Championships.
She actually seems pretty down to earth, and in an interview on her company website she talked about her family wealth, but said just having money wasn’t enough to succeed.
She said:
I feel a great responsibility. In a way I think that [am] not deserving of this, while I want to help develop Ferd and make it even better.
The fact that my family has resources has given me many opportunities – especially in riding, because it requires a lot of capital.
But it is not enough to have money to succeed.
She’s right, but having a billion dollars to your name at just 19 does open quite a few doors for you – I imagine.
