Gustav Magnar Witzoe is worth $4.3 billion. Photo / Instagram
Gustav Magnar Witzoe is worth $4.3 billion. Photo / Instagram
He's 26, a glamorous international fashion model and the heir to an outrageous fortune. Here's how Gustav Magnar Witzoe spends his billions.
Gustav Magnar Witzoe is one of the world's youngest billionaires, and he's also one of the richest people in Norway.
But in addition to his staggering $4.5 billion fortune — the result of his family's salmon farming empire, Salmar ASA — he's also forging a successful career in his own right.
Gustav Magnar Witzoe came into his fortune at the age of 19. Photo / Instagram
Witzoe initially scored a professional contract with Norway's leading model agency Team Models, and is now on the books of international agency Next Models Worldwide.
The 26-year-old boasts a 110,000-strong following on Instagram and regularly shares professional modelling shots on the platform as well as happy snaps taken from exotic locations around the world, including Dubai, New York and London.
He's famously close to his parents Gustav and Oddny Witzoe. Photo / Instagram
The young model came into his eye-watering fortune in 2013 at the age of just 19, when his father Gustav handed over a 47 per cent stake in Salmar ASA.
It was allegedly done in order to avoid a large inheritance tax bill — echoing a decision made by fellow Norwegian billionaire Johan Andresen who handed over more than 80 per cent of his wildly successful investment company Ferd to daughters Alexandra and Katharina in 2007.
Witzoe instantly became the youngest male billionaire and the third-youngest billionaire in the world overall, behind the Andresen sisters.
Salmar ASA was founded in 1991 by the senior Witzoe — who still runs the company — and it is now one of the planet's biggest producers of salmon.
It also owns a large stake in Scottish Sea Farms, which is the UK's second-largest salmon farmer.
According to Forbes, the business has "led the industrialisation of fish farming in Norway, refining the product into more sophisticated cuts with higher margins".
Witzoe was born on February 8, 1993, in Frøya, a small island connected to the mainland by a tunnel, to parents Gustav and Oddny Witzoe.
Not much is known about his childhood, but shortly after completing high school he was briefly jailed for two weeks after being arrested and charged with driving 116km in a 60km zone.
While Witzoe has some involvement in Salmar — his Instagram account shows he has attended board meetings in the past — he told local newspaper Dagbladet in a lengthy profile last June he was in no rush to take over the company.
"You can't just demand to be the boss of such a big organisation," he told the publication, as translated by Business Insider.
"You have to be suited to it. If there are alternatives, the best man or woman must get the job. There is so much at stake — values, jobs, crucial factors."
He also opened up about his parents' regret over thrusting him into the spotlight at such a tender age.
"They believe they should have taken more time to think it over," he said.
"That's due probably to my being shoved out into the public limelight. It was very strange at first. It makes you a bit nervous about what people think."
Witzoe has also invested in tech start-ups and real estate over the years, and previously worked for MGM Property.
He has invested in both Snapchat rival Gobi and Keybutler, an app which helps Airbnb hosts.
Witzoe is a lover of high fashion and is regularly seen in the front rows of Norway's top fashion shows.
According to his Instagram account, he's also a keen traveller and dog lover, regularly posting snaps of his beloved staffordshire bull terrier.
He also appears to enjoy golfing, skiing, sailing and other outdoor pursuits.
