From extravagant houses to grand weddings, and so much more. These crazy rich Asians know how to overcome life’s hurdles and increase their wealth according to Bloomberg. So, let’s take a look at the 8 richest Wealthiest families in Asia:
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Ambani Family – Net worth – $44.8 B Company– Reliance group citizenship – India
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RIL (Reliance Industries Limited) is a multinational corporation based in Mumbai, India. Reliance Commercial Corporation was co-founded by Dhirubhai Ambani and Champaklal Damani in the 1960s. The partnership terminated in 1965, and Dhirubhai took over the firm’s polyester business. Reliance Textiles Engineers Pvt. Ltd. was founded in Maharashtra in 1966. In the same year, it opened a synthetic textile mill in Naroda, Gujarat. On May 8, 1973, it was renamed Reliance Industries Limited. The company expanded into textiles in 1975, with “Vimal” later becoming its best known brand. In 1977, the company launched its initial public offering (IPO). Reliance Textiles Industries Ltd, was named Reliance Industries Ltd. in 1985. RIL’s diverse businesses include energy, petrochemicals, natural gas, retail, telecommunications, mass media, and textiles. Before launching the famed Vimal textile business in India, Dhirubhai Ambani worked at a Yemen petrol station and traded spices and yarn. Reliance is one of India’s most successful enterprises, as well as the country’s largest publicly traded company by market capitalization and revenue, after recently surpassing the government-owned Indian Oil Corporation.
Dhirubhai Ambani’s sons took over the family business and fortune after his death in 2002, but they had a falling out, and the firm has been divided ever since. Mukesh Ambani now owns the largest oil-refining complex in the world. Antilia, the 27-story mansion of Asia’s wealthiest family, is one of the world’s most expensive residences. Isha, Akash, and Anant, the billionaire’s three children, have all joined the family business throughout the years. Famous musicians like as Beyoncé and Chris Martin of Coldplay have performed at Isha and Akash’s wedding festivities, which are known for their grandeur.
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Lee {Byung – Chull} Family – Net worth – $40.8 B – Company – Samsung-Citizenship – South Korea
On March 1, 1938, Byung-chull created a transport company in Daegu called Samsung Trading Co., which was the predecessor to Samsung. The earliest company logos were based on the word “Samsung,” which means “Three Stars.”
Samsung was moving commodities across Korea and to neighbouring countries by 1945. By 1947, the company had relocated to Seoul. When the Korean War broke out in 1950, it was one of the top ten “trade businesses.” When the North Korean army conquered Seoul, Lee was compelled to shift his business to Busan. Over the following year and a half of the war, the tremendous flood of US troops and weapons into Busan proved to be extremely helpful to Lee’s trade enterprise.
Lee was in Japan when Park Chung-hee seized power in the May 16 coup, and he did not return to South Korea for a long time. After a settlement was reached, Lee returned, but Samsung had to relinquish control of the banks it had acquired and follow Park’s economic dictates. Lee Kun-hee, Lee’s third son, took over the firm after his father died in 1987. Lee Kun-hee, on the other hand, died in October 2020 after years in the hospital owing to a heart attack in 2014. In 2016, Kun-eldest Hee’s son, Lee Jae-yong, took over as CEO, but in 2017, Lee Jae-yong was charged with bribing an adviser to former South Korean President Park Geun-hye and sentenced to prison. Despite being released in 2018, he was retried and sentenced to two and a half years in jail earlier this year on the same allegations. During the 1990s, the conglomerate was divided into four separate companies: Samsung, CJ, Shinsegae, and Hansol. The firms, which are now run by second and third generation Lees, generate more than $300 billion in yearly sales across a variety of industries, including electronics, retail, food, entertainment, and paper. It has had a three-CEO structure since 2018. Kim Ki-nam, Kim Hyun-suk, and Koh Dong-jin are the three co-CEOs of Samsung Electronics at the moment.
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Kwok Family – Net worth – $40.4 B – Company – Sun Hung Kai and Co Citizenship – Hong Kong
Sun Hung Kai Properties Limited is a publicly listed company and Hong Kong’s largest property developer as of 2019. In 1963, Kwok formed Sun Hung Kai Enterprises alongside Fung King-hey and Lee Shau-kee, the forerunner of Sun Hung Kai Properties. Sun Hung Kai Properties went public in Hong Kong in 1972 and quickly rose to the top of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange’s market capitalization rankings. In 1990, the patriarch passed away, leaving his company in the hands of his three sons, Walter, Thomas, and Raymond. The business has long been marred by controversies, which have been fuelled by family feuds. Kwok’s eldest son, Walter, was kidnapped in 1997, while the other two brothers were suspected of bribing a government official in 2012. While Raymond was acquitted of all charges, the latter was sentenced to five years in prison. Walter, on the other hand, was fired from the family business in 2008 and now manages his own real estate company.
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Chearavanont family – Net worth – $36.6 B- Company – Charoen Pokphand (CP) Group Citizenship – Thailand
The Chearavanont family is a Sino-Thai business family with ancestral roots in Shantou, China. They are based in Bangkok, Thailand. The family is well-known for its commercial acumen, making them one of the world’s wealthiest ethnic Chinese families. The family owns the CP Group, a conglomerate with 14 corporate divisions covering retail and distribution, media and telecommunications, property development, banking and investment, food and medicines, to name a few.
Chia Ek Chor left his village in southern China in 1921 to start a new life in Thailand. He started out selling vegetables with his brothers. The Charoen Pokphand Group became the chosen partner for worldwide companies such as Honda, Walmart, and Tesco as China opened up to Western firms in the 1980s. Dhanin, Chia Ek Chor’s son, is the group’s senior
chairman, and he and his three siblings and other family share the fortune. In January 2017, Dhanin Chearavanont turned over the reins to his eldest son, Soopakij, 53, and youngest son, Supachai, 50, after 48 years as chairman and CEO.
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R. Budi and Michael Hartono – Net worth – $32 B Company – Djarum, Bank Central Asia – Citizenship – Indonesia
Oei Wie Gwan purchased the Djarum clove gramophon, a small enterprise in the field. In 1951, he changed the name to Djarum. Oei began marketing cigarettes under the “Djarum” brand, which proved to be a commercial success. After his death, his sons, Michael Bambang Hartono, and Robert Budi Hartono, both 22 years old, inherited the company. The company, Djarum, is the third largest maker of clove cigarettes. The Hartono’s purchased a stake in BCA when another affluent family, the Salims, lost control of the bank during the 1997–1998 Asian economic crisis. This investment accounts for more than 80% of their fortune. They are the wealthiest people in Indonesia, and their family is one of the wealthiest in Asia. The duo also controls the Polytron electronics company, as well as Razer, a gaming start-up, and prime real estate in Jakarta.
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Lee {Shau Kee} Family – Net worth – $29 B – Company – Henderson Development – Citizenship – Hong Kong
Lee Shau-Kee GBM is a business magnate, investor, and philanthropist from Hong Kong. Henderson Land Development, a real estate conglomerate with stakes in real estate, hotels, restaurants, and internet services, is his primary ownership. Shau Kee arrived in Hong Kong in 1948 from Guangdong Province, China, and began trading precious metals and currencies. Sun Hung Kai Securities took the company public in 1981, after it was founded by the current executive director Li Shau-Kee. The shares were introduced at HK$4 using an innovative, geared method: a one-time down payment of HK$1 per share was required when subscribing to the offer, with six-month cash calls of another HK$1. The final HK$2 instalment is due at the end of the year. Lee stepped aside as chairman and managing director of the company in 2019, at the age of 91, in favour of two of his sons, Peter and Martin Lee.
As vice chairman of the family’s real estate conglomerate Henderson Land, his son Martin is in charge. Son Peter, who is also a vice chair, is in charge of operations in China, while daughter Margaret works for the company as an executive. The third generation is on the verge of joining the executive ranks, and Kristine Li, the eldest grandchild, is now in charge of the mall company.
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Kwek/ Quek Family – Net worth – $23.3 B – Company – Hong Leong Group – Citizenship – Malaysia
The Hong Leong Group was founded in 1941 by Kwek Hong Png as a trading company that sold basic construction materials and rubber. Kwek arrived in Singapore in 1928 from Fujian, where he was born in 1913 in the Tung Ann area of Fujian to a miserly farmer. He began his career as a shop assistant at his brother-in-hardware law’s store. His monthly wage was only $5, and he was said to sleep on the store’s floors. Kwek made his fortune trading construction materials during WWII. He also traded with Japanese merchants and participated in smuggling basic commodities. Kwek invited his three brothers to join Hong Leong because he wanted to work as a team. Hong Leong Group, a conglomerate with interests ranging from finance to real estate, is currently controlled by over 15 family members. Kwek became chairman of the company in 1956 and retired in 1984, with a net worth of S$3 billion according to Forbes at the time. He was also ranked one of the world’s wealthiest men by Forbes magazine. Kwek Leng Beng took over as chairperson from his father, Kwek Hong Png, and would be succeeded by Sherman Kwek.
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Henry Cheng and Family – Net worth – $22.5 B – Company – Chow Tai Fook – Citizenship – Hong Kong
The Chow Tai Fook group originated with Chow Chi-Chow yuen’s Tai Fook jewellery store in Guangzhou, China, in 1929. After the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War in the 1930s and the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, the store relocated to Portuguese Macau in 1940 (some say 1931) and subsequently to British Hong Kong. Following the market liberalisation of the 1980s, the group returned to Mainland China, notably as New World Department Store China and erstwhile listed business New World China Land.
Cheng Yu-Tung founded New World Development in 1970 and grew it into a multi-billion-dollar conglomerate with interests in jewellery retailing, real estate, hotels, transportation, public utilities, and other industries. He was succeeded by his son, Henry Chang, who is the current chairman of Chow Tai Fook Jewellery and New World Development. At least nine members of Henry Cheng’s family, including his Harvard-educated children Adrian and Sonia, work in the company’s network of companies.
Sonia Cheng is the CEO of Rosewood Hotel Group, which was acquired by New World in 2011. Adrian Cheng is the vice chairman and CEO of New World Development, executive director of Chow Tai Fook, and founder of the K11 brand.
Henry Cheng and his father were both awarded Hong Kong’s Gold Bauhinia Star for their contributions to the welfare of the region.
Very informative. I loved it.
glad you liked it