Four Malaysians Make Debut On Forbes Billionaires List

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Tan Sri G Gnanalingam of Westport Holdings was among the new inclusions in the Forbes world's billionaires list
KUALA LUMPUR: New Malaysian entrants to the Forbes world's billionaires list this year include the Tan brothers of MR DIY Group (M) Bhd, Westports Holdings Bhd's Tan Sri G Gnanalingam and Greatech Technology Bhd co-founder and CEO Tan Eng Kee.

In Forbes' 35th annual list of the world's billionaires, brothers Tan Yu Yeh and Tan Yu Wei made their debut with estimated net worths of US$1.8bil and US$1.1bil respectively.

The brothers have seen their fortunes soar following the initial public offering of MR DIY on Bursa Malaysia in October last year with a market capitalisation of RM10bil upon listingGnanalingam was included in the list with an estimated net worth of US$1.7bil while Tan Eng Kee became another of the world's US-dollar billionaires with an estimated net worth of US$1.1bil.

Meanwhile, Hong Leong Group's Quek Leng Chan continued to top the list of Malaysian billionaires with an estimated net worth of US$9.7bil.

Other Malaysian billionaires on the list included Ananda Krishnan with US$5.8bil net worth, Public Bank's Teh Hong Piow (US$5.7bil), Top Glove's Lim Wee Chai (US$3.5bil) and Genting's Lim Kok Thay (US$2.7bil).

Globally, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos remained the richest person in the world with US$177bil net worth.

This was followed by Tesla's Elon Musk (US$151bil), luxury retailer LVMH's Bernard Arnault and family (US$150bil) and Microsoft's Bill Gates (US$124bil).

Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, rounded out the Top 5 with US$97bil.

This was the first year that Warren Buffet had not been included in The Top 5, having slipped lower to sixth place.

There is a record-breaking 2,755 billionaires on the list, including 493 newcomers despite the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.

On the list, the number of female billionaires increased to 328, up from 241 in 2020.

“It was the first time that the combined net worth of the world’s billions crossed into double-digit trillions.

"The pace at which huge fortunes have been created is astonishing," said Kerry A Dolan, Forbes assistant managing editor of Wealth in a statement.

The Forbes billionaires have a combined net worth of US$13.1 trillion, up from US$8 trillion on the 2020 list. - Star

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