Isha Ambani No 2 on Forbes list of world’s billionaire heiresses
Isha Ambani No 2 on Forbes list of world’s billionaire heiresses
New Delhi: The Forbes list of The World’s Billionaire Heiresses (To Be) has ranked Isha Ambani, daughter of Mukesh and Nita Ambani as number two on the list. She is the youngest of the top ten females ranked by Forbes.
The survey looked at the daughters of 150 of the world’s richest people, all of whom had a net worth of $6.4 billion or more in March. It also focused on those daughters who come from smaller families, with few or no siblings before eliminating anyone whose mothers or fathers had already announced Carnegie-esqe philanthropic pledges.
The result is a hypothetical list subject to change. Parents could lose their fortune. Plus, as Leona Helmsley’s dismayed relatives discovered last year, Mom or Grandma might just leave it to the dogs. We did not include women who have already inherited their money, such as the world’s richest woman, Liliane Bettencourt, or China’s richest, Yang Huiyan, who at 26 is also one of the world’s youngest billionaires.
Vanisha Mittal Bhatia leads the pack
No. 1 on the Forbes list is Vanisha Mittal Bhatia, daughter of Lakshmi Mittal, the fourth-richest person in the world as of March. Perhaps best known for the $60 million wedding her father threw for her in 2004, she now serves as a director on the board of her father’s $103 billion (market cap) steel company, ArcelorMittal. Her corporate involvement and small family--she has only one brother--puts her in good stead to inherit a sizeable chunk of her father’s fortune.
The only daughter of Mukesh Ambani, ranked fifth in the world of billionaires, Isha Ambani is just a teenager but already has her own stake in the family’s Reliance Industries, worth about $80 million.
Also making the cut are several heiresses who already play an active role in the family empire, a fact that appears to bode well for their chances of inheriting the business as well as a piece of the estate. Leading that group is Delphine Arnault-Gancia, the daughter of Bernard Arnault, the world’s 13th-richest man, who heads $50 billion (market cap) luxury goods behemoth LVMH. Delphine who sits on LVMH’s board was named managing director of couture house Christian Dior (other-otc: CHDRF.PK - news - people ) in April, adding to her roles at sister brands Pucci and Loewe and positioning her as her father’s likely successor.
Future probables
Another one poised to inherit and lead is Marta Ortega Perez, daughter of Spanish retailer Amancio Ortega. She could choose live a life of idle pleasures off her presumed cut of his $20.2 billion fortune, but instead she’s being groomed to succeed him at the helm of fashion conglomerate Inditex.
Some of the heiresses on our list aren’t waiting for their windfalls to pursue their passions. Anastasia Potanina, whose father, Vladimir Potanin, has amassed a $19.3 billion fortune in publishing, banking and mining, is a former Russian champion in the extreme sport of Aquabiking (or Jet-Ski as it’s known in the U.S.). Former wild-child heiress Samantha Kluge, daughter of media mogul John Kluge, has tapped into her entrepreneurial gene and is now running a jewelry and accessories design firm in Los Angeles.
Missing from these rankings are far more visible socialites like Paris Hilton or Amanda Hearst, whose relations to billionaires are more distant, and whose chance of inheriting the family fortune not as great. Even Paris’ nightclub-appearance fees wouldn’t bring her close to the ranks of these 10 women.
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