This paper introduces and reports the first results of a research project on the emerging billionaire-entrepreneurs of the Visegrád countries (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia). The increasing visibility of V4 billionaire-entrepreneurs has largely happened under the radar of recent scholarship, and their economic activities — including increasingly significant outward FDI towards the West — seem to defy the dominant thesis of the Visegrád countries' economic dependence on foreign capital. The project aims to map the origins, economic activities, internationalization strategies, and political connections of V4 billionaire-entrepreneurs who have entered the Forbes World's Billionaires List. This paper provides a descriptive snapshot of 26 billionaires from three countries — Hungary, Poland, and Czechia — and offers first insights into the origins of their wealth and the importance of different privatization patterns.
