Tran Ba Duong, Chairman of Truong Hai Auto Corporation (THACO) and Tran Dinh Long, Chairman of Hoa Phat Group, with total net assets of US$1.8 billion and US$1.3 billion respectively, are among the 259 debutants on a list of the world’s wealthiest people in 2018, published by Forbes on March 6.
Vietnam now has four billionaires on the American business magazine’s list. In addition to the two new additions, Vietnamese billionaires Pham Nhat Vuong and Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao remain on the list, and have made great advances in the rankings.
Duong, 57, founded THACO - the leading automotive manufacturer, assembler, and distributor in Vietnam in 1997, and now ranks 1339th on the list with a net worth of US$1.8 billion. Meanwhile, Long, 57, who founded the steel corporation Hoa Phat in 1992, is listed as the world's 1756th richest person with a net worth of US$1.3 billion. Hoa Phat claims the largest market share for steel in the country and achieved impressive business results in 2017, earning a profit of VND8 trillion, the highest level in its history.
For Vuong, 49, the owner of real estate conglomerate Vingroup was honoured with a place on the Forbes World’s Billionaire list for the sixth consecutive year. With a net worth of US$4.3 billion, he is currently the world's 499th richest person, climbing 368 places from last year, making his first appearance among the 500 richest people in the world.
Thao, 47, Chairwoman of Sovico Holdings cum CEO of budget carrier VietJet Air, also made a second consecutive appearance on the list after being honoured as the first female self-made billionaire in Vietnam last year. Thao’s total net worth reached US$3.1 billion, to give the Vietnamese billionaire’s a place among the 1,000 richest people in the world. She is ranked 766th on this year’s list, a dramatic increase compared to 1,678th place in 2017.
Stats on the four Vietnamese billionaires on Forbes’s list.
This year saw a continued increase in the number of billionaires around the world and set a new record with a total of 2,208, with total assets of approximately US$9.1 trillion.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, 54, topped the Forbes list for the first time this year with a net worth of $112 billion, making him the world's first centi-billionaire. Microsoft's co-founder and last year's richest person Bill Gates dropped to second place with a net worth of US$90 billion, followed by Warren Buffet, CEO of multinational conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway, with a net worth of US$84 billion.
