More than half of the wealthiest people in Brazil inherited their fortunes

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – According to the annual Forbes ranking, entrepreneurship is still not the main mark of the fortune of the biggest Brazilian billionaires. In Brazil, the rich usually inherit most of their money.

Of the 62 Brazilians with more than US$1 billion, 34 of them are continuing family businesses to maintain their wealth.

Leading the list of billionaire heirs are the four children of the banker Joseph Safra, whose net worth is quoted at US$7.7 billion, according to Forbes. He died in December 2020.

Other names in the ranking are the four Moreira Salles brothers: Pedro, Fernando, João, and Walter. They are part of one of the oldest banker families in the country, and together they have a net worth of US$7.3 billion.

Other traditional names also appear on the list, such as Ermínio de Moraes (Votorantim) and Abílio Diniz (Pão de Açúcar).

The predominance of family legacy among the richest is a scenario that is repeated in the rest of Latin America.

FIVE BILLIONAIRES CONSIDERED ‘SELF-MADE MEN’

At the top of the list, the scenario is different. The five biggest Brazilian billionaires are “self-made”.

They are (in order, according to the Forbes ranking):

• Jorge Paulo Lemann
• Eduardo Saverin
• Marcel Herrmann Telles
• Jorge Moll Filho
• Carlos Alberto Sicupira

Lemann, Hermann Telles, and Sicupira are controlling shareholders of the largest brewery in the world, AB Inbev (owner of Ambev), but also own shares in Restaurant Brands International, the parent company of Burger King and the Canadian coffee chain Tim Hortons, and have a stake in 3G Capital, a private equity firm that owns Heinz.

The second place on the list belongs to the co-founder of Facebook, Brazilian Eduardo Saverin. He has a net worth of US$10.6 billion.

Jorge Moll Filho is a cardiologist who made his fortune investing in hospitals and laboratories in Brazil. He is the founder of Rede D’Or and today accumulates more than US$9.8 billion.

GROUP HARDLY EVER CHANGES

Except for a few names that have dropped off the list, such as Eike Batista, most of the fortunate people in the ranking have been in the group for more than ten years. They just move up and down, especially the heirs.

Two names that burst the bubble and swelled the list of the wealthiest people in Brazil in 2022 are the young Henrique Dubugras, 26, and Pedro Franceschi, 25. They also make up the ranking of the 12 greatest billionaires in the world under 30 years old.

Both are founders of a fintech that aims to reformulate the corporate credit card. Their fortunes are worth US$1.5 billion each.

According to Forbes, young people in the technology sector have been moving large financial volumes in the world.

Of the top 12 billionaires less than three decades old worth US$25.8 billion:

• 60% have amassed wealth on their own with digital businesses (cryptocurrencies, fintechs, food delivery apps, and payment software);
• 40% inherited their money from family.

They represent less than 0.5% of the 2,668 billionaires Forbes found in 2022.