Meet Alexandra Andresen: The Youngest Billionaire in the World

Alexandra Andresen

Being a 19-year-old billionaire is hard work, contrary to popular belief. Alexandra Andersen was born in 1997, and she’s now worth a reported $1.2 billion. She is now the youngest billionaire in the history of the world, and she is an heiress. Her father is the man known as Johan H. Andresen Jr. He is an industrialist from Norway, as well as the owner of a private investment company called Ferd AS. She is not an only child, and she and her sister both own 42.2% of the company’s ownership since 2007. Her sister is one year older than her, missing out on the mark of being the world’s youngest billionaire thanks to her sister.

Part of what makes her life so interesting is the fact that she was only 9 when her father transferred billions to his daughter through stake in their company. She is a child who has had billions to her name since before she was old enough to stay home alone, yet she is one of the most down-to-earth young women.

Alexandra Andresen is the Norwegian equivalent of Paris Hilton in America. Her family is among the most famous in their nation, and they are recognized everywhere they go. They are famous, powerful and exceedingly wealthy, and her life has been one that is quite charmed to this point. For more than 100 years, her family has been famous in the Norwegian area. They’ve owned one of the most famous tobacco products in the world for that long, and it is called Tiedemanns. They sold their stock in that company back in 2005, which helped the family earn another $480 million thanks to the sale.

Alexandra is a famous face where she is from, but she’s not lazy. She is not an heiress who just sleeps late and parties all the time. In fact, she is a champion dressage rider. If you’re unfamiliar with dressage riding, it is a very popular sport in Oslo. The International Equestrian Federation considers is the highest expression of horse training. The rider and the horse are taught to work together so that they can perform movements that they have memorized in training. She has been practicing the sport her entire life, and she is quite good at it. Alexandra Andresen’s family has required that she become proficient in everything that she do, and her championship skills in this area of her life prove she is quite good at what she puts her mind to.

Something that really stands Alexandra apart from other heiresses around the world is her upbringing. She might be worth more than a billion dollars, but her family does not want their daughters to become spoiled rich kids. They did not spoil their kids. They never once bought them brand new cars, expensive items and they always encourage their girls to save their money and live a frugal life – even if billionaire frugal is a bit different than everyday frugal.

Growing Up Alexandra

Alexandra Andresen and her sister had a relatively normal life for kids with billions of dollars. Their mother stayed home with them and raised them using a very hands-on approach. Their father is a famous businessman worth billions, so he wasn’t always home. However, he did make it a point to spend as much time at home as possible, and the family did make it a point to travel together every summer to their summer home and spend quality time together as a family.

Extravagance was an everyday occurrence in their lives, but it wasn’t over-the-top. These girls had animals all the time. They live with a family who loves animals, so they always had horses and ponies, cats and dogs and other little creatures living with them. Animal activists now, they really do appreciate what animals have to offer them in terms of their love and care.

Dressage Riding

Alexandra Andresen loves animals, and she has her entire life. Growing up with horses at home meant she was taught to ride at a very young age. Her parents felt it was important for their daughters to learn to ride if they were to have these animals at home so that they could learn the proper respect, etiquette and treatment of the animals. Alexandra loves to ride, and she is now a three-time dressage champion. She was even award the AEG Galla 2014 Bet Achievement of the Year Award for her riding skills.

Even though she is set to run her family’s company at some point in her life, she is not interested in pursuing that just yet. At the moment, she is merely working very hard to ensure she can make the most of her professional riding career. She has been sponsored already by Kingsland. They make sure she is dressed and she is taken care of during her competitions, and it gets their name and brand out there for the world to see and celebrate.

While her older sister is already an intern with their family’s company, Alexandra is unsure what she wants to do with her future. She feels responsible to pay back the company for all it has done for her over the course of her life, but she doesn’t know how she will do that or when she will do that. Her father, Johan, has stated that he has no expectations that his daughters will take over his company in the future. He might hope that they will make that decision on their own, but he believes they are free to run their own lives and make their own dreams come true.

Whether or not this young billionaire will go to work for her company remains to be seen, but for now she is quite happy to get on with her studies and to pursue her dreams of riding and becoming famous for her own deeds. She will work for the company at some point, but don’t expect to see her there any time in the near future.

Photo by Getty Images

Written by Tiffany Raiford

Tiffany Raiford is a lifelong Floridian, wife to my high school sweetheart and mother of four littles (two girls and boy/girl twins...no, they are not identical and yes, I'm sure). My kids love to whine, so I love to wine. My loves include nap time, bed time, date night, travel and evenings and weekends when my husband is home because he handles all diaper changes.