According to a research conducted by Swiss banking giant UBS, the large-scale transfer of wealth is gaining traction as billionaires obtain their massive fortunes through succession rather than entrepreneurship.
The number of billionaires has increased in recent decades, as booming entrepreneurial activity in technology and other industries has added new members to the super-rich club.
However, UBS recognizes a dramatic shift in the way money is produced and grown in its ninth annual study on the world's billionaires.
"Billionaire heirs are becoming increasingly important," according to Benjamin Cavalli, head of strategic clients at UBS Global Wealth Management, in the report's preface.
"This year's report found that most billionaires who amassed wealth in the past year did so through succession rather than entrepreneurship," he said in a statement.
"It's a theme we expect to intensify over the next 20 years, as more than 1,000 billionaires will pass an estimated $5.2 trillion to their children."
According to UBS, this projection is based on the predicted accumulated wealth of today's billionaires over the age of 70.
"Following the sharp increase in entrepreneurial activity we've witnessed over the past few decades, many business founders are now aging out and passing their wealth on to the next generation," according to the report.
According to the survey, there were 2,544 billionaires in the globe as of April of this year, with the number increasing by 7% over the previous year.
After their overall wealth fell the previous year, billionaires' wealth increased by 9% to $12 trillion between April 2022 and April 2023, according to the report.
According to the report, the new billionaires include 53 heirs whose combined fortunes reached $150.8 billion, exceeding the $140.7 billion combined fortune of the list's 84 new self-made billionaires.
UBS explains this move in part to a weak IPO market through 2022 and into 2023, which inhibits entrepreneurs' ability to capitalize on the value of their enterprises. /BGNES
