10 Richest Heirs and Heiresses In the U.S
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| Richest Heirs and Heiresses In the U.S - Photo: KnowInsiders |
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For most of us, our only access to a billionaire's lifestyle comes from reality TV shows and magazine articles. A small percentage of people, nevertheless, are born into a life of luxury and social gatherings. Most American billionaires come from wealthy, long-standing families that transfer their wealth from one generation to the next. In honor of their lavish lifestyles, let's look at some of the wealthiest heirs and heiresses in America.
Who Are The Richest Heirs and Heiresses In America
1. Charles Koch
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| Photo Washington Post |
Net worth: $59.6 billion
Source of wealth: Koch Industries
The entrepreneur and visionary behind Koch Industries is Charles Koch. Since the company's founding in 1967, he has served as co-owner, chairman, and CEO. The company Koch Industries is responsible for a staggering array of well-known brands, such as Dixie Cups, Quilted Northern tissue, and Stainmaster carpet.
Charles is also a very active and well-known philanthropist. He has devoted a significant amount of his time to preserving the legacy of the Koch Family Foundation, a nonprofit that awards scholarships and grants to deserving young artists and students. Charles also regularly donates to a number of political groups and movements, such as the Republican Party and the Cato Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based libertarian think tank.
Charles Koch may be worth up to 59.6 billion USD, according to Forbes. Koch Industries was inherited by him and his late brother David from their father. The Koch Industries Corporation was established in 1940 with the purpose of refining oil.
2. Julia Koch
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| Photo Getty |
Net worth: $59.6 billion
Source of wealth: Koch Industries
The wife of the late billionaire David Koch has a fortune of 59.6 billion USD. After her husband's death, she and her three children inherited 42% stake in Koch Industries.
The 60-year-old female billionaire is currently a member of the group's board of directors.
| She met David Koch through a blind date Julia, 27, met her future husband, David, 50, in 1991 on a blind date. The couple, however, did not click right away. "I'm glad I met that man because now I know I never want to go out with him," she was quoted saying at the time. Later that year, however, the two would meet again at a party. She approached him after he had a near-death experience as a result of a plane crash. After dating for five years, the couple married in 1996 at Koch's home in Southampton, Long Island. They had three children: David Jr., Mary Julia, and John Mark, who attend Duke and Harvard, respectively, and John Mark, who attends a Manhattan prep school. |
3. Jim Walton
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| Photo Getty |
Net worth: $58.3 billion
Source of wealth: Walmart
The youngest son of Walmart's founder is worth up to $58.3 billion. Mr. Jim Walton owns 13% of his father's retail empire, which he founded in 1962. He served on Walmart's board of directors for over a decade before handing over his seat to his son.
Despite struggling to make a living on his own, Jim had no intention of joining his father's business until his brother died and there was no surviving heir.
Jim had a gifted personality from the start, which he demonstrated at Bentonville High School by serving as president of his junior class. After graduating from high school, he joined the football team and went on to play at the all-state level, as well as learn to fly a plane. After graduating with a BA (Marketing), he enrolled at the University of Arkansas in 1971 and began working as an entry-level employee in his father's company, Walmart. With four years of experience, he learned a lot about the business and joined the family corporation, Walmart Enterprises, in 1975.
4. Alice Walton
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| Photo Walmart |
Net worth: $57.5 billion
Source of wealth: Walmart
The only daughter of Walmart's founder is worth $57.5 billion. She chose to manage the arts rather than work for Walmart like her brothers.
Alice focused on curating art rather than running the family business with her brothers after inheriting her fortune in 1992. Alice opened the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Arkansas in 2011, which features works by famous painters such as Andy Warhol and Mark Rothko. Alice is the world's second-richest woman, with a net worth of $57.5 billion in 2022.
Despite being one of the family's biggest beneficiaries, Sam Walton's only daughter (dubbed the "misfit" of the heirs in a 2013 Forbes profile) has mostly avoided working for the family business--when she was younger, she held several positions at Walmart but never held any senior roles. Instead, she has devoted her time to hobbies such as horse breeding and art collecting, establishing the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in her hometown of Bentonville, Arkansas, in 2011.
5. Rob Walton
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| Photo Walmart |
Net worth: $57.2 billion
Source of wealth: Walmart
When his father died in 1992, the eldest of the Walmart founder's children took over as chairman. When he stepped down as chairman in 2015, the retailer had grown from about 2,000 stores and 271,000 employees that year to 11,000 stores and more than 2.3 million employees. He was succeeded by his son-in-law, Greg Penner, who is part of the group negotiating to buy the Denver Broncos; Walton remains on the Walmart board of directors.
| The Waltons are the world's richest family, with a $224.5 billion stake in Walmart, the world's largest company by revenue. Walmart is a retail titan. Walmart, founded in 1962 in Arkansas by Sam Walton, is now the world's largest company by revenue, with $524 billion and over 2.3 million U.S. associates. |
6. MacKenzie Scott
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| Photo Greg Doherty |
Net worth: $30.7 billion
Source of wealth: Amazon
After divorcing Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, MacKenzie Scott became a billionaire with a fortune of $ 30.7 billion. This female novelist received a quarter of her ex-husband's stock at Amazon.
Did MacKenzie Bezos start Amazon?MacKenzie Scott first met Jeff Bezos while working at the New York hedge fund D.E. Shaw, where they shared an office. They married three months after they began dating. "I do remember the first time I heard him laugh," she told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer in 2005. "I met him in New York at the hedge fund where we both worked... All day I could hear him laughing. I was smitten by his laugh." Scott then drove them across the country to Seattle to pursue Bezos' dreams of launching an e-commerce site while developing business plans for the start-up. According to the story, they came up with the company name together and she supported him when Amazon was just a fledgling e-commerce site selling books. "I'm not a businessperson," she told CBS once. "So what I hear when he tells me that idea is the passion and excitement... And to me, nothing beats watching your spouse, someone you care about, have an adventure and being a part of it." |
7. John Mars
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| Photo Forbes |
Net worth: $29.7 billion
Source of wealth: Candy, pet food
Following the death of their father Forrest Mars Sr. in 1999, John, now 86, and his siblings Jacqueline and Forrest Jr. (d. 2016), each inherited an estimated one-third of the candy company founded by their grandfather Frank Mars in 1911. Co-presidents John and Forrest Jr. oversaw the company's growth into a multifaceted, international conglomerate that included chewing gum, pet food, and sweets beginning in 1975.
READ MORE: Top 20 Richest Female Billionaires In The World 2023 - Updated
8. Jacqueline Mars
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| Photo Forbes |
Net worth: $29.7 billion
Source of wealth: Candy, pet food
Jacqueline Mars owns an estimated one-third of Mars, the world's largest candymaker, founded by her grandfather.
She worked for the company for nearly 20 years and served on the board until 2016.
Her son Stephen Badger is on Mars' board of directors.
Mars serves on the board of the National Archives and was formerly on the board of the Washington National Opera.
Her brother John owns an estimated third of Mars; her late brother Forrest Jr's. four daughters own the rest.
9. Miriam Adelson
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| Photo Forbes |
Net worth: $25.1 billion | Source of wealth: Casinos
Hebrew University of Jerusalem awarded Miriam a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology and Genetics. After that, she graduated from Tel Aviv University's Sackler Medical School with a medical degree.
Miriam worked as an emergency room physician at Rokach Hospital in Tel Aviv following the completion of her medical degree. She got married to another doctor about this time. They separated in 1980 but had two kids together. Eventually, she became the hospital's chief internist at the emergency department.
At the moment, she owns a 52% share in Las Vegas Sands, a casino operator. Her husband had owned the business before. But in early 2021, he passed away at the age of 87.
READ MORE: Interesting Facts About Youngest Billionaires In The World Today
10. Leonard Lauder
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| Photo Forbes |
Net worth: $20.7 billion
Source of wealth: Estée Lauder
His parents founded the cosmetics company Estée Lauder in 1946, of which he owns about 20 percent. Before retiring as CEO in 1999, Leonard Lauder led the company for over thirty years.
The Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation, which has granted over $209 million to fund trials in 19 countries, is co-chaired by him and his brother, Ronald.
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