"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 and their wealth recovered by 9%, from USD 11.0 trillion to USD 12.0 trillion," UBS said in its Billionaire Ambitions Report 2023.
There were early signs of improving fortunes for billionaires with industrial companies, whose wealth has increased by 15%, while "billionaires with innovative companies in technology and healthcare have accumulated the greatest wealth over the past decade," the group said. UBS expects a continuing trend in the improvement of fortunes for billionaires with industrial companies against the background of the energy transition and increased defense spending in several countries.
"This year’s report found that the majority of billionaires that accumulated wealth in the last year, did so through inheritance as opposed to entrepreneurship. This is a theme we expect to see more of over the next 20 years, as more than 1,000 billionaires pass an estimated USD 5.2 trillion to their children," UBS quoted Benjamin Cavalli, Head of Strategic Clients at UBS Global Wealth Management, as saying in the report.
UBS specified that a total of $150.8 billion was inherited by 53 heirs over the last year and exceeded the $140.7 billion in income of "the 84 new self-made billionaires."