Korean heiresses rank higher than Taylor Swift on Forbes rich list

Taylor Swift during the ″Eras″ world tour on May 5, 2023, at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee [AP/YONHAP]

Daughters of the late Korean gaming mogul Kim Jung-ju, founder of Nexon, were named among the world’s youngest billionaires by Forbes, with each estimated to have a net worth higher than pop star Taylor Swift.

According to Forbes’ World Billionaires list published on April 2, older sister Kim Jung-youn, born in 2002, was the fifth-youngest billionaire in the world, while the younger Jung-min, born in 2004, ranked third.

Both the sisters are estimated to each have a net worth of $1.4 billion as of March 8.

Their father, a former Korean gaming pioneer and founder of game publisher Nexon, died at the age of 54 in February 2022.

Upon his death, his two daughters and widow inherited assets worth 10 trillion won ($7.4 billion) in total. They later sold a 29.3 percent stake in NXC Corporation, the largest shareholder of Nexon, to Korea’s Finance Ministry, as a form of inheritance tax.

Each of the sisters held a 16.82 percent stake in NXC, according to its regulatory filing published in October last year. Their mother, Yoo Jeong-hyeon, held a 34 percent stake in the company.

Meanwhile, Taylor Swift was estimated to have a net worth of $1.1 billion.

The 25 youngest billionaires listed by Forbes, all of them aged 33 or younger, are worth $110 billion in total.

Kim founded the game giant Nexon in 1994, which went public on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in 2011.

BY SHIN HA-NEE [shin.hanee@joongang.co.kr]