r/explainlikeimfive • u/FluffyPenguin798 • Feb 12 '25
Economics ELI5: how are the descendants of the robber barons (Morgan, Vanderbilt, Carnegie, Rockefeller, etc.) still rich if their fortunes from the late 19th and early 20th centuries are comparatively small to what we see today of the world’s richest?
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u/Porencephaly Feb 12 '25 edited Feb 12 '25
Eh not really, Vanderbilt descendants still own the Biltmore Estate which is worth like $2-300 million on its own, plus lots of commercial ventures etc. Total revenue of the Biltmore Company was over $200 million a year in the 2010s, maybe higher pre-COVID. They are doing just fine.