Malaysia’s Top 10 Richest Men 2016
Forbes recently released its 2016’s edition of Malaysia’s 50 richest. This year’s list saw the number of Malaysian billionaires decline from 16 to 12 from 2015, according to the Forbes Malaysia Rich List.
Robert Kuok occupies the top spot of the Forbes Malaysia Rich List for the 11th year in a row with a net worth of US$10 billion (RM42 billion).
The 92-year-old founder of the Kuok Group remains Malaysia’s richest man despite the pummelling fortunes of some of the nation’s wealthiest over the past year. However, even the Sugar King was not spared by the global economic slow down, as his net worth dropped from US$11.3 billion last year to US$10 billion this year.
Likewise, telecoms mogul Ananda Krishna, maintained his second position but saw a drop in wealth from US$9.7 billion (RM39.9 billion) to US$7.4 billion (RM30.4 billion).
There have been some changes in net worth and placements in the list, with two new faces in the top 10 list: Sabah-based tycoon Lao Cho Kun’s wealth jumped from US$1.08 billion (RM4.44 billion) to US$1.55 billion (RM6.38 billion) to secure the 8th spot. Meanwhile, telecommunications magnate Surin Upatkoon found himself in the 10th spot this year, despite his fortune sliding from US$1.3 billion (RM5.35 billion) to US$1.5 billion (RM6.17 billion) from 2015.
The slowdown in China, plunging oil prices, and unending political showdown in the capital has continued to hurt businesses.
The result is that the cut-off for making the top 50 this year was US$195 million (RM822 million) – the lowest since 2014. In 2015, it was US$240 million (RM1 billion).
One of the hardest hit on this year’s list was tech tycoon Goh Peng Ooi, who dropped out of the billionaire ranks when his wealth fell by 53% from US$1.55 billion (RM6.38 billion) to US$725 million (RM3 billion) from last year.
Long-time billionaire Vincent Tan and his brother, Danny Tan Chee Sing joined Goh in losing the billionaire status. Their fortunes fell from US$1.2 billion (RM4.94 billion) to US$900 million (RM3.7 billion), and US$1.25 billion (RM5.14 billion) to US$975 million (RM4 billion) respectively.
Likewise, brothers Lee Oi Hian and Lee Hau Hian also dropped out of the billionaire list when their wealth dropped from US$1.5 billon (RM6.17 billion) to US$915 million (RM3.76 billion) over the past year.
