Southeast Asia’s richest man Pham Nhat Vuong has become the 64th wealthiest person globally for the first time, surpassing some big names including the ex-wives of Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates.
Hie net worth hit US$34.9 billion Friday morning, up around 23% from the end of last year, according to U.S. magazine Forbes.
The chairman of conglomerate Vingroup is now richer than MacKenzie Scott, the divorced wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who is worth $32.2 billion, Melinda French Gates, ex-wife of Microsoft founder Bill Gates, $30 billion, and Peter Thiel, PayPal co-founder, $28.9 billion.
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Vingroup chairman Pham Nhat Vuong. Photo courtesy of Vingroup |
In December Vuong had surpassed Chinese tech billionaire Jack Ma, and earlier this month he took the title of the richest man in Southeast Asia from Indonesian tycoon Prajogo Pangestu.
Vingroup’s share repeatedly reached new peaks this week. It now trades at around VND220,000, up 30% from the beginning of the year after having surged more than 700% last year.
Vuong first entered Forbes’ list of billionaires in 2013 in 974th place, when his net worth stood at $1.5 billion.
He and his family own a 65% stake in Vingroup, Vietnam’s largest conglomerate with interests in property, electric vehicles, healthcare, and railways, among others.
This year Vingroup eyes revenues of VND485 trillion, up nearly 46% from 2025, and a tripling of net profit to VND35 trillion.
