Korea adds two billionaires to the Forbes list: they do not reach the age of 22 and they inherited a video game company

Her name may not ring a bell, but Kim Jung-youn has been a “rare bird” since 2022. Almost without equal. And she is because she has unexpectedly acquired an exceptional condition: she is unusually rich at an unusually young age. Hence in December they will point her out as the precocious billionaire in the world and that her name has just made its way to the fore at less than 20 years of age, along with her older sister, Kim Jung-Min, on the Forbes list of the wealthiest young people.

His fortune is due to a rather striking mix: the profits generated by the video game industry… and a family misfortune.

Who are Kim Jung-youn and Kim Jung-min? Not much is known about them, beyond a couple of biographical brushstrokes. her father was Kim Jung-jua South Korean businessman, co-founder of the Asian video game giant, nexonbehind popular titles, such as ‘MapleStory’, ‘The Kingdom of the Winds’ either ‘KartRider’. Now deceased, Kim Jung-ju also had his own holding company, NXC Corporation, with a significant stake in Nexon, and a fortune that made him the third richest person in his country.

In December The Economic Times assured that Kim Jung-youn was 18 years old. Forbes slips that she would now be 19 and calculates that her sister Jung-Min is around 21, although she acknowledges that she has not been able to reliably confirm the data, proof of the scant information that is handled about both young women.

And how have they become billionaires? The fortune they manage comes from the world of video games, but the jump to the Forbes list has been given by a family misfortune. In 2022, the death of his father, Jung-ju, 54, was revealed. “The deceased had been receiving treatment for depression and we are saddened that he appears to have worsened recently,” pointed NXC when breaking the news. Although Jung-ju exercised an important job As a philanthropist and a well-known figure in the Asian sector, his character was very reserved.

The last Forbes ranking before his death placed him as the third richest person in South Korea, behind only the pharmaceutical magnate Seo Jung-jin and Jay Y Lee, from Samsung. His estate was valued at $10.9 billion. After the tragedy, both sisters inherited a considerable sum.

But… what did they inherit? According to The Economic Timesboth Kim Jung-youn and her older sister inherited equally a 30.78% stake each in NXC, his father’s holding company and which, at least in the fall, was Nexon’s largest shareholder, with a stake of almost 48%.

The Asian medium and Forbes needed in 2022 that both sisters already had shares in the company, with which, after those received after the death of their father, the value of each of their shares in the company would amount to 2,500 million dollars. To that sum, however, the large taxes that are applied to inheritances in South Korea would have to be subtracted, which would leave the sisters with an estimated value of 1 billion each.

Have they been the only heirs? In compiling its list of the 15 youngest billionaires of 2023, sorted by age, Forbes includes the two sisters, assigning a net worth of $1.7 billion. Part of the legacy of the South Korean businessman, however, would have gone to Kim’s mother, 53, who was already a billionaire and participated in the founding of Nexon. Her participation in NXC was 34% in December, precise Economic Times.

What other names are on the list? In your list Forbes cites 15 billionaires aged 30 and under, citing them from oldest to youngest. The ranking starts it Ben Francisa Briton in his early thirties with a net worth of $1.2 billion who made his fortune from the sportswear brand gymshark. Something more, 1,700 million, is attributed to the American Palmer Luckey, born in 1992, founder of VR Oculus and behind Anduril.

The person in charge of closing the list is not Jung-youn, whom Forbes calculates to be 19 years old, although he does not have reliable data in this regard. The pin as the world’s youngest billionaire puts it Clement Del Vecchio, an 18-year-old Italian with a net worth of $3.5 billion. His fortune is also the result of an inheritance: the one he received from his father, Leonardo Del Vecchiofounded of luxottica, behind such popular brands as Costa, Ray-Ban or Oakley. Leonardo died at the age of 87, at the end of June 2022, months after he Kim Jung-ju.

Cover image: Alexander Gray (Unsplash)

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