Alexandra And Katharina Andresen- Sibling Billionaires!

Before Kylie Jenner was crowned as the world’s youngest self made billionaire, Katharina and Alexandra Andresen were the youngest billionaires.  Alexandra Andresen shot into the limelight when she was named the planet’s youngest billionaire at the age of 19, in 2016. Although Katharina inherited the same amount of ownership stake at the same time as Alexandra, she was an year older to Alexandra (20.)  Hence Alexandra Andresen held the title of the youngest billionaire and continued to hold the title for the world’s youngest billionaire for three more years before Kylie Jenner claimed the title as her own. Both Katharina and Alexandra Andresen currently have a net worth of 1.4 billion dollars each.

How the Andresen siblings inherited their billions

Alexandra and Katharina Andresen became billionaires when they inherited a 42.2% ownership stake each in Ferd, an investment company based in Norway.  The stake was given to them by their father and founder Johan H. Andresen Jr. before he resigned as the Chief Executive Officer of Ferd and moved on to the role of Chairman while holding on to 15.2% ownership stake.

While not many in the world know about the Andresen family, they have a deep and rich history in Norway.  The Andresen family traces their roots back to Johan Henrik Andresen, who established his business in 1849 and is the great great great grandfather of Katharina and Alexandra Andresen.  Johan Henrik Andresen purchased J. L. Tiedemanns Tobaksfabrik, a tobacco factory and made it into one of the biggest tobacco manufacturers in Norway.  

Ferd currently operates in several business areas including  investing in private and public companies mutual funds,hedge funds (pool of money from investors) and real estate among many others.  Tobacco was eliminated from the Andresen portfolio in 2005 when the family sold the business for almost 500 million dollars.

A surprising fact is that Ferd founder, Johan H. Andresen Jr. decided to distribute ownership among his daughters so as to avail tax benefits.  Norway has a net wealth tax that orders the rich to pay about 1% on their net worth, but they can lessen that cost by distributing the money around the family.

ALSO READ: Top 4 Youngest Billionaires In The World

Billionaires yet humble

Alexandra Andresen is an accomplished equestrian rider who won many dressage (a competition where horse and rider are expected to perform from memory a series of predetermined movements) awards and recognitions.  Alexandra also modelled for the equestrian clothing company Kingsland.  Although she is a heiress worth billions, Alexandra prefers to drive second hand cars and earn her money through equestrian competitions.  Alexandra regularly competes on behalf of the Norwegian national team.

Katharina Andresen also prefers to stay humble .  Katharina interned at Ernst and Young office in Oslo for three months in 2018.  She has a strong passion for archery, skiing and fashion. Katharina Andresen hopes to obtain an Natural Language Processing (NLP) certification as well.  NLP is a subfield of linguistics and artificial intelligence. Katharina Andresen studied social sciences at the University of Amsterdam and currently works as a marketing coordinator at Brav, a Norwegian sporting goods company owned by Ferd.  Katharina is likely to be the sibling who would make a career at Ferd.

While it is not clear if the Andresen siblings have any plans to work with Ferd, they also are very wise when it comes to how they are spending their billions.  While the siblings have a lot of money at their disposal their father Johan H. Andresen Jr. believes Katharina and Alexandra, should be humble. During an interview with a popular news daily, Katharina says “Dad has a rule that we can buy a nice car, but it must be second hand (sic.)”  Alexandra Andresen said “I really save all the time, I’ve always done that. I save when I get weekly wages and cash prizes I win at events or if I get money as a gift for my birthday. It allows me to buy something I really want, like a purse or a pair of shoes, without having to ask mom or dad for money (sic.)”  The Andresen siblings are currently at the 2nd and 3rd position on the world’s youngest billionaires list.