Lucio Tan, Henry Sy make it again to world’s richest list
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 05:59:00 03/07/2008
Filed Under: Economy, Business & Finance
NEW YORK -- Tobacco king Lucio Tan and mall magnate Henry Sy remained among the world’s super-rich, according to Forbes magazine’s annual billionaires list.
The number of billionaires in Asia jumped more than 30 percent, with tycoons from India and China leading the charge, but US financier Warren Buffett has dislodged Bill Gates as the world’s richest man, according to Forbes.
In total, this year saw 1,125 people around the world making the list, up from 946 last year, representing a total net worth of $4.4 trillion, a dramatic increase from the $3.5 trillion in 2007.
The list had two billionaires from the Philippines -- Tan and Sy, and their respective families.
Tan was 785th on the list with a net worth of $1.5 billion. Sy was 843rd with a net worth of $1.4 billion.
Tan and Sy were also on the Forbes billionaires list in 2006 and 2007.
Forbes ranked Tan No. 451 in 2006, placing his fortune at $1.7 billion. It listed him at No. 407 in 2007, with $2.3 billion.
Sy and family were No. 512 in the 2006 list, with $1.5 billion. The 2007 list had Sy and real estate tycoon Jaime Zobel de Ayala at No. 349 with a net worth of $2.6 billion each.
Ayala and family were also on the 2006 Forbes list at No. 606, with $1.3 billion. Ayala, who was listed by Forbes in October last year as No. 1 among the Philippines’ 40 richest Filipinos, was not mentioned in the latest Forbes list.
US has most number
In the latest list, the richest woman in the world was France’s Liliane Bettencourt, of cosmetics company L’Oreal, with a personal fortune of $22.9 billion, partly helped by the weak US dollar, the magazine said.
Former Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg, the 23-year-old founder of social networking site Facebook, is the youngest ever self-made billionaire. Forbes put his personal wealth at $1.5 billion.
By country, the United States had the most billionaires with 469, up from 415 last year.
Amazing year
Steve Forbes, the magazine’s editor in chief, said the past year “was an amazing one around the world in terms of the global economy and it’s reflected on this list.”
He said the number of billionaires had almost doubled in the past four years.
“The reason for this explosion in wealth is that we’re in the midst of a phenomenal global gloom,” he added.
The average age of those on the list fell by one year to 61, helped by an influx of younger Russians and Chinese, 50 of them under 40, while the number of women grew to 99, up from 87 last year, but only 10 percent of them were self-made.
“Most countries outside of the US have benefited from the currency fluctuations,” said Forbes’ senior editor Luisa Kroll. “It’s definitely helped boost the numbers outside of the US.”
Good news for gold-diggers
The fortunes were assessed as a snapshot on Feb. 11, meaning that places on the list had likely changed since then, owing to fluctuations on the foreign exchange and stock markets.
There was also good news for gold-diggers. “There are 110 single men on the list,” said Forbes. “Forty-seven women are also unhitched right now.”
Asians accounted for 211 people on the list, up from 160 last year, with India counting 53, up from 36 in 2007, and China, which had just 20 billionaires last year, now boasting 42.
Hong Kong saw five more entrepreneurs make the grade, giving it a total of 26 and meaning that China and Hong Kong, which has a special administrative status under Beijing, lead the Asian list if grouped together.
Fortune from Internet
Japan, although still the second-largest economy in the world, saw its number of billionaires trailing at 24 -- overtaken by Turkey, which this year saw its number of tycoons on the list jump from 22 in 2007 to 35.
“We have a handful of Internet folks for the first time,” said Forbes’ senior editor Luisa Kroll.
“A lot of the fortunes in China and Asia in general are in real estate and infrastructure development as the booming economies basically build up to handle all of the growth,” she said.
India placed third in the world for the number of billionaires, trailing the United States and Russia (87 billionaires).
Inheritance from dad
Four Indians figured in the top 10, with steel giant Lakshmi Mittal placed fourth with $45 billion, followed by petrochemicals tycoon Mukesh Ambani with $43 billion and his estranged brother Anil Ambani on $42 billion.
Property magnate K.P. Singh came in eighth on the list, with a fortune estimated at $30 billion.
Hong Kong businessman Li Ka-shing was the top-placed billionaire from eastern Asia, with a fortune of $26.5 billion, while China’s Yang Huiyan was the top placed figure in China.
Twenty-six-year-old Yang inherited her $7.4-billion wealth when her father transferred his shares in the Country Garden Holdings property company he founded into his daughter’s name.
School dropout
Gautam Adani, an Indian college dropout who made his money building Mundra Port, a private sector port on India’s west coast, was the richest newcomer in Asia with a personal fortune of $9.3 billion.
Elsewhere, Australia counted the most billionaires in the Asia-Pacific region with 14, followed by South Korea with 12 and Malaysia with eight.
Taiwan had seven, Indonesia and Singapore both counted five, while Thailand had three and the Philippines two.
Youngest ever
“He is the youngest billionaire in the world right now and we also believe he is the youngest self-made billionaire in history,” Forbes associate editor Matthew Miller said of former Harvard student Zuckerberg.
The magazine said Zuckerberg’s personal wealth of $1.5 billion was based on a conservative valuation of $5 billion for Facebook and Zuckerberg’s estimated 30-percent stake.
It played down speculation that the site could be worth as much as $15 billion, which was based on Microsoft paying $240 million for a 1.6-percent stake in the company last year.
“Would it really fetch that much today? Some analysts -- and a few Facebook investors -- doubt it,” the magazine said. It said it based its valuation on Facebook’s estimated annual sales of $150 million.
Agence France-Presse
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