Money – the thing that keeps the world going and forces us out of bed to keep our paycheck rolling. Fortunately (or unfortunately) for some Malaysians, money isn’t an issue as they have lots to spend and spare.
Last Tuesday (March 30), Forbes published its 2021 World Billionaires list, ranking all 2,755 billionaires on earth according to their net worth. This year, 14 Malaysian billionaires made it to the list.
“Sugar King of Asia”, Robert Kuok
Robert Kuok, 97, remains the wealthiest person in Malaysia and ranks 171 globally with a net worth of 12.6bil USD. Despite being known as the “Sugar King of Asia”, his business now mainly revolves around palm oil, shipping and property, which is based in Hong Kong.
Quek Leng Chan, CEO of Hong Leong Bank
The second wealthiest Malaysian is Quek Leng Chan, co-founder and CEO of Hong Leong Group and was ranked 234 on the list with a net worth of 9.7bil USD.
Ananda Krishnan, Founder of Astro and Maxis Communication
Founder of Maxis Communication, Astro and Usaha Tegas Ananda Krishnan, is the third wealthiest Malaysian and ranks 476 on the list with a net worth of 5.8bil USD.
Other familiar names on the list include Top Glove Corporation founder Lim Wee Chai, who amassed much wealth due to the pandemic and is now ranked 859 on the list with a net worth of 3.5bil USD.
On the contrary, Lim Kok Thay, the chairman of Genting Group who has a net worth of 2.7bil USD, suffered a slight drop in the rankings after his business took a hit thanks to lower global demand during the pandemic.
You can check out other Malaysian billionaires who made it to the list here: https://www.forbes.com/billionaires/
Topping the list is Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos with a net worth of 177bil USD, while trailing behind is Elon Musk, the brains behind Tesla and SpaceX, with a net worth of 151bil USD.
Bill Gates (124bil USD), Mark Zuckerberg (97bil USD), and Warren Buffett (96bil USD) took the 4th, 5th, and 6th spot respectively.
China also had two of its own making into the top 15, with Zhong Shanshan, chairman of Nongfu Spring at the 13th spot (68.9bil USD), and Tencent Holding chairman Ma Hua Teng at the 15th spot (65.8bil USD).
Prominent Chinese E-Commerce giant Jack Ma ranked 26 on the list with 58.4bil USD.
Cover image via Money Compass, Forbes
Sources: Forbes, Sinchew Daily
Editor: Raymond Chen
Proofreader: Sarah Yeoh
