Vietnam's Pham Nhat Vuong Leads Southeast Asia's Richest Billionaires

Southeast Asia's five richest billionaires collectively hold a net worth of approximately $110.7 billion, with Vietnam's Pham Nhat Vuong, chairman of Vingroup, leading the pack. Vuong's wealth accounts for nearly a third of the combined fortune of the region's top five. According to Forbes' real-time billionaire rankings, Vuong, 58, possesses a net worth of $36.5 billion, placing him 60th among the world's wealthiest individuals. His fortune has surged sharply, mirroring the rise in Vingroup shares. On August 27, Vuong added as much as $2.3 billion to his wealth in a single day, the fourth-largest gain globally that day, surpassing even Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Only Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Oracle chief technology officer Larry Ellison, and Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell recorded larger gains that day, while Vuong’s increase surpassed that of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Vingroup shares climbed to a record VND236,000 ($9.05) that day and were up 38% since the beginning of the year. On the same day, Vuong's wife, Pham Thu Huong, became Vietnam's second-richest person with a fortune of around $4.1 billion, sharing the position with Vietjet Air chairwoman Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao. Philippine ports tycoon Enrique Razon Jr. ranks second in Southeast Asia with an estimated net worth of $20 billion. Razon, 66, became the Philippines’ richest person this year for the first time since making his debut on the country’s rich list in 2007. He chairs International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI), the Philippines’ largest port operator by revenue. The company operates terminals across Asia-Pacific, Eastern Europe, Africa and the Americas. Razon’s fortune had increased over $10 billion year-on-year as ICTSI shares more than doubled amid the company’s international expansion as of early August. Indonesia's Low Tuck Kwong is third in Southeast Asia with a fortune of approximately $19.3 billion. The Singapore-born coal tycoon saw his wealth surge by about $4 billion during August as shares of his flagship company Bayan Resources gained 27%. Low, 78, and his daughter hold a combined stake of around 62% in the coal miner. He is reportedly in talks over a potential sale of a majority stake, with a consortium led by Indonesian tycoon Andi Syamsuddin Arsyad, better known as Haji Isam, among the prospective buyers, according to Bloomberg. The two remaining places among Southeast Asia’s five richest billionaires are held by Thai tycoons. Dhanin Chearavanont, 87, has a net worth of about $17.6 billion. He is senior chairman of Charoen Pokphand Group, one of Thailand’s largest conglomerates, with businesses spanning agriculture, food production, retail, telecommunications, real estate, finance and e-commerce in more than 20 countries. The group has been reshaping and expanding some of its major businesses this year. In March, the Chearavanont family and CP Group moved to divest a 10% stake in True Corp., Thailand’s second-largest mobile carrier, in a deal involving shares worth about THB50 billion ($1.6 billion). CP Axtra, the group’s retail arm, has meanwhile earmarked about THB18 billion this year to expand across Southeast Asia, with plans for 110 new outlets in Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines. CP Group has also announced plans to invest an additional $600 million in Vietnam to expand poultry and pork processing, including new and expanded facilities. Thai energy tycoon Sarath Ratanavadi rounds out the top five with some $17.3 billion. The 61-year-old founder and CEO of Gulf Development was Thailand’s biggest billionaire wealth gainer in Forbes’ latest annual ranking, adding $5.6 billion to his fortune from a year earlier. His wealth has risen as Gulf transforms from a conventional power producer into a broader infrastructure conglomerate spanning electricity, telecommunications, banking and AI data centers. Sarath plans to invest up to THB140 billion through Gulf over the next five years to expand data centers and other infrastructure supporting the artificial intelligence boom. Gulf Development was formed in 2025 through the merger of Gulf Energy Development and InTouch Holdings, creating a group with major interests in energy and telecommunications. Source: VnExpress International