Norway's Fredriksen clan has welcomed its latest delivery in the shape of little John Christian.
The son of Cecilie Astrup Fredriksen, 36, is also the grandson of shipping tycoon John Fredriksen, 75, and so is already richer than most of the world's population.
But if his mother's side of the family should fall on hard times, his UK billionaire father David Ross might be able to help out.
According to Cecilie, John loves children and she has said John Christian resembles his grandfather.
Cecilie sits on the board of several Fredriksen companies and will continue to do so during her maternity leave.
Selected TradeWinds odds on the baby's first words*:
Evens: Grandpa
2-1: VLCC
10-1: Accretive
* In Norwegian, obviously. And not actual odds.
****
Weekend nuptials
The super-elite descended on St Moritz last weekend for the wedding of shipping heir Stavros Niarchos III and Dasha Zhukova, the ex-wife of Russian-Israeli tycoon Roman Abramovich.
Despite Niarchos’ Golden Greek lineage, wedding guests from the shipping business appear to have been outnumbered by Hollywood types and European royals.
TradeWinds is reminded of a post on the now-defunct investment blog Stalwart, which in 2005 declared Niarchos' relationship with then-girlfriend Paris Hilton as an economic indicator.
In short, it said, you could always track the economy based on who Paris Hilton (and other starlets) was dating.
The real-estate boom was peaking when she was dating hoteliers in 2004.
She switched to dating Greek shipping heirs around the same time as the commodity supercycle in 2006 to 2008.
2005 saw no less than 10 shipping companies complete initial public offerings in the US, while she was dating Niarchos.
Amid the "golden age of television", Paris broke up with an actor last year — meanwhile, economists are predicting muted global economic growth in 2020 (coincidence?)
If young shipowners start dating starlets again, consider calling your stockbroker.
