The Forbes Rich List reveal the world’s rich are and how they achieved billionaire status.
Forbes, the American business magazine, is known for their annual rich list. The rankings list the top billionaires from across the world. For this year, Forbes recorded at 13 percent increase in the number of billionaires stating the biggest hike in their 31 year history of the Rich List.
Unsurprisingly Bill Gates, the man behind technology giant Microsoft, tops the charts. Holding this position for the fourth consecutive year, Gates’ total wealth is estimated to be at USD 86 billion. Not far behind Gates is Warren Buffet with USD 75.6 billion.
Home turf billionaires.
Despite the rich list being dominated by Americans with 565 billionaires, Vietnam has two billionaires who made the ranking. A true testament to the strength of the economy.
Pham Nhat Vuong came in at position 867 with a net worth income of USD 2.4 billion. Pham is the founder of Vingroup. Not only is it known for its leading real estate arm, the conglomerate is also involved in logistics, retail, education, healthcare and agriculture. The expanse of the company is huge and includes 31 shopping malls, over 1,000 supermarkets and five-star hotels. The richest man in Vietnam, Pham moved back to the country in 2001 after studying in Moscow and founding Technocom that produces instant noodles in Ukraine. Vingroup continues to go from strength-to-strength, and it is reported that Pham owns approximately 65 percent of the firm.
Vietnam’s second billionaire is Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao. Nguyen is also Vietnam’s first female self-made millionaire. She has a wealth of USD 1.2 billion thanks to her role in founding Sovico Holdings. In 2011 Nguyen launched no frills airline VietJet Air. It made a real impact with her advertising technique of flight attendants wearing bikinis. Operating 40 percent of the country’s flights, VietJet was made public in February of this year. Additionally Nguyen is involved in investments in HD Bank and some real estate.
Other big names in the top ten are Jeff Bezos, the founder of online retailer Amazon, Mark Zuckerberg, the brains behind Facebook, and Larry Ellison, the co-founder of Oracle. The list is not to rosy for President Donald Trump who moved down 200 places this year. The slowdown of his Manhattan property portfolio cited as a potential reason for this.