Two Vietnamese in Forbes’ billionaires list

HÀ NỘI — Two Vietnamese - Vingroup chairman Phạm Nhật Vượng and Sovico Holdings chairwoman Nguyễn Thị Phương Thảo - have featured in the Forbes’s 2017 world’s billionaires list.

With his total assets rising by US$640 million in 2016 to touch $2.4 billion, Vượng has moved up 144 grades to rank 867th on the list, which was released on Monday. This is the fifth consecutive year that Vượng has made it to this Forbes list.

Vingroup, one of the largest groups in Việt Nam, earns most of its revenue from property businesses, but now it is expanding rapidly into retail, agriculture, education, healthcare and logistics.

Thảo, who took her budget carrier Vietjet public in February, has featured on the list for the first time ever. She is also the first self-made woman billionaire in Việt Nam, according to Forbes. With total assets of $1.2 billion, Thảo ranks 1,678th on the list.

Thảo launched Vietjet in 2011. The airline now has around 300 flights a day. She also has investments in HD Bank and real estate, including three beach resorts.

Microsoft’s Bill Gates remained at the No 1 position for the fourth year in a row and the richest person in the world for 18 of the past 23 years, with a fortune of $86 billion, up from $75 billion last year.

Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, who ranks third, seems to have had the best year among everyone on the list, with his fortune jumping by $27.6 billion in 2016 to $72.8 billion.

There are 2,043 billionaires on the Forbes’ list this year, up 13 per cent compared to the number of billionaires last year. Their net worth totals a record $7.67 trillion, an 18 per cent rise from last year’s list. — VNS