Manny Villar is richest of 17 Filipino billionaires on Forbes list

Former Senate President Manny Villar (Photo from his Facebook account)

MANILA, Philippines–Seventeen tycoons from the Philippines led by property tycoon Manuel Villar Jr. landed on Forbes Magazine’s 2019 list of the wealthiest people on the planet.

Villar topped the list of billionaires from the Philippines for the first time.

Following the recent demise of SM group founder Henry Sy Sr., Forbes started counting the net worth of the second generation members of the Sy family individually.

All six Sy siblings made it to the list www.forbes.com/billionaires by virtue of their respective share in the family fortune.

Forbes’ 33rd annual ranking of the world’s billionaires counted 2,153 billionaires globally this year, down from 2,208 in 2018.

In the Philippines, Villar — also called the “brown taipan” — emerged as the front-runner for the first time, ranking 317th globally with an estimated net worth of $5.5 billion.

Read: With $5.5B, ‘brown taipan’ Villar is PH richest man

Following are the other Filipinos on the list, with their estimated net worth:

• No. 343: industrialist John Gokongwei Jr. – $5.1 billion
• No. 379: international port operator and integrated gaming resort operator Enrique Razon Jr. – $4.8 billion
• No. 436: tobacco magnate Lucio Tan – $4.4 billion
• No. 529: Jollibee founder Tony Tan Caktiong and family – $3.9 billion
• No. 775: San Miguel Corp. president and Eagle Cement chair Ramon Ang – $2.9 billion
• No. 838: Megaworld founder Andrew Tan – $2.7 billion

The late tycoon Henry Sy’s sons Hans Sy and Herbert Sy tied for 962nd place globally with an estimated fortune of $2.4 billion. Their siblings Harley Sy, Henry Sy Jr. and Teresita Sy-Coson all ranked 1,057th globally with an estimated wealth of $2.2 billion each. Their sister Elizabeth Sy was valued at $1.9 billion.

Completing the Philippine representation on the list are San Miguel chair Eduardo Cojuangco ($1.4 billion), insurance magnate Robert Coyiuto ($1.4 billion), Century Pacific founder Ricardo Po ($1.2 billion), and property developer Roberto Ongpin ($1.1 billion).

Regionally, Asia-Pacific had the most billionaires at 767 with a total net worth of $2.5 trillion. China has the highest number of newcomers this year at 44 as well as the most drop-offs at 102.

Globally, the top three richest people are Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and family, Microsoft founder Bill Gates and legendary investor Warren Buffet, with a respective fortune of $131 billion, $96.5 billion and $82.5 billion as estimated by Forbes.

US President Donald Trump’s net worth was unchanged from a year ago at $3.1 billion, but he climbed in the ranks to No. 715 from No. 766 in 2018.

The youngest billionaire in the list is Kylie Jenner, at 21 years old. She made it to the 2019 Forbes Billionaires list for the first time with an estimated fortune of $1 billion. Cited as the youngest self-made billionaire of all time, Jenner owns 100 percent of Kylie Cosmetics, the three-year-old beauty business that did an estimated $360 million in sales last year.

The Forbes World’s Billionaires list is a snapshot of wealth using stock prices and exchange rates from February 8, 2019. An estimated net worth of $1 billion per person is needed to make the cut. /atm