The Forbes 2016 list of the richest people on the planet now includes a teenager. The youngest ever entrant to the billionaires’ club is 19-year-old Norwegian heiress, Alexandra Andresen.
Andresen, who has just finished high school, is an accomplished horse-rider who has been taking part in professional dressage competitions since childhood. The teenager made her debut on the Forbes list after her wealth was established at $1.2 billion.
The Andresen family fortune comes from investing in the tobacco industry since the 19th century. In 2007, her father, Johan H. Andresen turned over major ownership of his investment company to his two daughters.
Alexandra and her sister Katharina currently each hold 42.2 percent of shares in the investment company Ferd, which has diverse interests including real estate, private equity holdings, a hedge fund and security investments. Katharina, aged 20, also made it to the Forbes billionaires’ list. Both siblings were also featured in the ‘Top Ten Richest People Under 30’ list.
Far from being a spoilt brat, Alexandra says the honour comes with ‘a great sense of responsibility’ to ensure that she keeps working hard to consolidate and advance her company’s success.
Apparently, according to Forbes, after the sisters’ names were published in the list, they’ve been flooded with friend requests on Facebook. That these could be ‘friends in need’ is a big possibility, so the girls are proceeding with caution.
By the way fellas, before you start getting ideas, Alexandra’s boyfriend is reportedly a 24-year-old professional martial arts fighter.