18 Malaysians in Forbes 2023 billionaire list
(FMT) – A total of 18 Malaysians have made it to the Forbes World’s Billionaire List for this year.
Their cumulative wealth is US$54.7 billion (RM240.38 billion).
Robert Kuok retains his position as the richest man in Malaysia. His US$11.8 billion (RM51.88 billion) portfolio puts him at number 146 on the global list.
He owns Kuok group which has interests in hotels, real estate and commodities.
He is followed by Quek Leng Chan (US$10.1 billion, RM44.40 billion) at 179th and Ananda Krishnan (US$5.2 billion, RM22.86 billion) at 511th.
Quek made his fortune through the Hong Leong Group, which owns a share in Hong Leong Bank, Malaysia’s fourth largest banking group by market capital.
Quek’s cousin, Kwek Leng Beng, is also a billionaire. He is the chairman of Hong Leong Group in Singapore.
Ananda is known for his multimedia empire which includes Astro and Maxis Communications.
At fourth place locally is Koon Poh Keong, who founded Press Metal Aluminium in 1986 with his four brothers. Today, Press Metal has operations in Europe, the UK, Australia and New Zealand as well as China and the Americas.
A notable absence is Teh Hong Piow, who was among the 10 richest persons in Malaysia with a net worth of US$5.7 billion (RM25.06 billion) on Forbes 2022 list. He died in December last year.
Surviving him are his children and new entrants to the list William Teh Lee Pang, Lillian Teh Li Ming, Lillyn Teh Li Hua and Diana Teh Li Shing. His daughters’ entry makes them the first Malaysian women to make it to the billionaire list.
Others included two billionaires from the gaming industry – Lim Kok Thay, chairman of the Genting Group, and Dr Chen Lip Keong of the Naga Group, who holds a casino licence in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Notably Chen, who has a medical degree from Universiti Malaya, had a stint as a general practitioner before beginning his business journey.
Another duo on the list are Lee Yeow Chor and Lee Yeow Seng, who helm the palm oil and property conglomerate, IOI Group. The brothers inherited IOI from their father, Lee Shin Cheng, who died in 2019.
Among the other bigwigs are Syed Mokhtar Albukhary, with a net worth of US$1.6 billion (RM7.03 billion), the bulk of which is from his interests in DRB-Hicom and MMC Corp.
Tan Yu Yeh, the man behind MR DIY, a retail chain carrying home products, and Jeffrey Cheah, founder and chairman of Sunway Group, are also on the list.
Some of them may have lost a few million here and there, but they remain firmly on the list of 2,540 billionaires.
