Forbes unveiled its 2023 list of Singapore’s top 50 richest people on September 7, and Meta Platforms co-founder Eduardo Saverin leads the pack with his staggering net worth of USD 16 billion.
The Brazilian tycoon, who became a Singapore resident over a decade ago, is also the biggest gainer this year with an increase of $6.4 billion — thanks to a surge of almost 70 percent in Meta‘s shares. In 2022, he ranked fourth on the Singapore’s 50 Richest list.
2023 Forbes Singapore’s 50 Richest list: Apart from Eduardo Saverin, which other billionaires made the cut?
Saverin’s ascent to the top has unseated last year’s No. 1, Li Xiting, chairman of Shenzhen Mindray Bio-Medical Electronics, who is now in third place. The latter’s decline in wealth — from $15.6 billion to $14 billion — has been attributed to China’s implementation of anti-corruption measures against the pharma sector, which adversely affected healthcare stocks.
Coming in second are brothers Robert and Philip Ng of Far East Organization with $14.8 billion — a slight drop from their net worth of $15.2 billion last year. Ranking fourth is Nippon Paint billionaire Goh Cheng Liang (whose assets decreased from $13 billion to $12.3 billion), while real estate magnate Kwek Leng Beng rounds off the top five with a net worth of $11 billion — up 18 percent from $9.3 billion in 2022. Kwek’s listed City Developments is reportedly on the lookout for global acquisitions and recently purchased St Katharine Docks in central London for $500 million in March.
Tycoons’ total wealth climbs to USD 177 billion
According to Forbes, the combined fortune of the billionaires on its Singapore’s 50 Richest list now comes up to $177 billion, an increase of 8 percent from last year’s $164 billion. The net worth of more than half of the people on the list has grown this year, with six of them seeing a boost of more than $1 billion each.
Among this group are the Lee family (No. 11) of OCBC and the Lien family (No. 15), a stakeholder in United Overseas Bank. Both families have been identified as the biggest gainers in terms of percentage — the Lees’ net worth more than doubled to $5.1 billion from their previous $2.2 billion, and the Liens’ assets shot up to $2.8 billion from $1.55 billion.
New entries and exclusions on the Singapore’s 50 Richest list by Forbes
There are three newcomers on Forbes list of Singapore’s 50 Richest people for 2023, two of whom are China-born entrepreneurs. Liang Xinjun, the co-founder of Chinese multinational conglomerate Fosun International and head honcho of his family office XIN Family, joins the coveted ranks at No. 22 with $2.15 billion; while David Xueling Li, co-founder and chairman of Nasdaq-listed and Singapore-headquartered live streaming platform JOYY, stands at 47th place with $880 million. Singaporean Lim Kaling, an early investor in gaming firm Razer, debuts at No. 48 with a wealth of $875 million.
Three names have been left out on this year’s list. These include David Chen, co-founder of gaming and e-commerce company Sea, whose shares took a hit with unsatisfactory second-quarter results.
Singapore’s 50 richest on Forbes 2023 list
1) Eduardo Saverin — USD 16 billion
2) Robert & Philip Ng — USD 14.8 billion
3) Li Xiting — USD 14 billion
4) Goh Cheng Liang — USD 12.3 billion
5) Kwek Leng Beng — USD 11 billion
6) Zhang Yong & Shu Ping — USD 9.7 billion
7) Khoo family — USD 8.5 billion
8) Wee Cho Yaw — USD 7.1 billion
9) Leo Koguan — USD 6.5 billion
10) Kwee brothers — USD 6.3 billion
11) Lee family — USD 5.1 billion
12) Kuok Khoon Hong — USD 4 billion
13) Raj Kumar & Kishin RK — USD 3 billion
14) Richard Chandler — USD 2.9 billion
15) Lien family — USD 2.8 billion
16) Robert Friedland — USD 2.7 billion
17) Choo Chong Ngen — USD 2.6 billion
18) Forrest Li — USD 2.4 billion
19) Sam Goi — USD 2.35 billion
20) Arvind Tiku — USD 2.3 billion
21) Ho family — USD 2.2 billion
22) Liang Xinjun — USD 2.15 billion
23) Peter Lim — USD 2 billion
24) Oei Hong Leong — USD 1.9 billion
25) Gang Ye — USD 1.8 billion
26) Ong Beng Seng & Christina Ong — USD 1.7 billion
27) Asok Kumar Hiranandani — USD 1.65 billion
28) Koh Wee Meng — USD 1.6 billion
29) Ron Sim — USD 1.55 billion
30) Tay family — USD 1.5 billion
31) Binny Bansal — USD 1.45 billion
32) Tang Wee Kit — USD 1.4 billion
33) Chew Gek Khim — USD 1.35 billion
34) Lim Hock Chee — USD 1.33 billion
35) Wong brothers — USD 1.3 billion
36) Min-Liang Tan — USD 1.25 billion
37) Chua Thian Poh — USD 1.2 billion
38) Peter Fu Chong Cheng — USD 1.18 billion
39) Yao Hsiao Tung — USD 1.15 billion
40) Zhong Sheng Jian — USD 1.13 billion
41) Muhammed Aziz Khan — USD 1.12 billion
42) John Lim — USD 1.1 billion
43) Michael Kum — USD 1.05 billion
44) Loo Choon Yong — USD 1 billion
45) Lim Chap Huat — USD 995 million
46) Saurabh Mittal — USD 900 million
47) David Xueling Li — USD 880 million
48) Lim Kaling — USD 875 million
49) Gordon & Celine Tang — USD 790 million
50) Laurent Junique — USD 750 million
More details here
(Main image: Roslan Rahman/ AFP; Featured image: Eduardo Saverin/ Facebook)
