Succession

The Gilded Age was a defining period of massive economic growth in the United States during the late 19th century. It fuelled a period of extraordinary wealth generation for some of the young nation’s wealthiest families, a period that was tinged with the darker shadow of inequality.

The cautionary tale of India’s Ambani family should be enough to scare any patriarch or matriarch into succession action. The sudden death of Reliance founder Dhirubhai Ambani, aged 69, in 2002 sparked an acrimonious battle between his two billionaire sons, Mukesh and Anil, leading to the brothers splitting up the family business in a deal mediated by their mother. Today relations are civil, but the businesses they inherited have had very different outcomes.

Boomers are retiring in droves. Generation X is not far behind. Millennials are taking charge of family fortunes. Now what?

Over the next 40 years, $30 trillion in financial and non-financial assets will pass from Baby Boomers to their heirs in North America, according to management consultants Accenture.

With so much capital in play private banks are keen to keep the millennial children of wealthy families sweet.

French icon Serge Dassault dies aged 93

The controversial French industrialist and politician Serge Dassault, chairman of the eponymous aviation and software giant Dassault Group, has died aged 93.

The nonagenarian, who took over the business after his father’s death in 1986, is understood to have died at the headquarters of Dassault Aviation, according to French media reports.