Asia’s wealth landscape is always in the spotlight, with several notable individuals making it onto Forbes’ list of billionaires. Have you ever wondered who tops the list of Asia’s richest people?
It comes as no surprise that Mukesh Ambani, with a staggering net worth of $110.4 billion, is Asia’s richest person as of May 2024. But there are more wealthy people across boundaries. This article summarizes the wealthiest people in Asia for 2024, according to Forbes.
1. Mukesh Ambani
Country: India
Age: 66
Mukesh Ambani, the richest person in Asia, owns Reliance Industries. He entered the Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2008 as the owner of the Mumbai Indians. His telecom and broadband business, Jio, already has about 470.29 million subscribers. Jio Financial Services launched in August, demonstrating the company’s growth. Furthermore, in July 2023, BlackRock and Jio Financial Services merged to form Jio BlackRock, which provides fresh and smart investing alternatives for Indians.
2. Gautam Adani
Country: India
Age: 61
Gautam Adani is in head of the Adani Group, which is worth $81 billion. They manage a variety of projects, including ports, airports, energy projects, and environmental efforts. He started with a small trading company in 1988 and has since become one of Asia’s wealthiest individuals. He is well-known for managing airports in India and overseeing the massive Mundra Port in Gujarat. Furthermore, in 2022, he acquired some of Holcim’s assets in India, making him one of the country’s largest cement producers.
3. Zhong Shanshan
Country: China
Age: 68
Zhong Shanshan founded Nongfu Spring, which distributes bottled water. He is Asia’s third richest man and China’s richest individual. He didn’t start with water, though; he worked in construction and journalism before becoming an entrepreneur. Aside from water, he controls Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy, a company that produces rapid Covid-19 tests. He is China’s richest individual, with a fortune worth $67.3 billion.
4. Prajogo Pangestu
Country: Indonesia
Age: 79
Prajogo Pangestu, an energy and petrochemicals magnate, is Indonesia’s wealthiest man. He started with timber, but today his company, PT Barito Pacific, is a prominent participant in Indonesia’s plastics, mining, and energy industries. His wealth increased significantly in 2023 when two of his firms, Petrindo Jaya Kreasi and Barito Renewables Energy, became public, which means they began selling shares to the public.
5. Colin Zheng Huang
Country: China
Age: 43
Colin Huang founded Pinduoduo, a well-known Chinese online shopping company, which changed its name to PDD Holdings in February 2023. Even though he stepped down as chairman a few years ago, Huang still owns approximately 28% of the company. He also founded an online game company, Xinyoudi, and an online shopping website, Ouku.com.
6. Zhang Yiming
Country: China
Age: 39
Zhang Yiming is the founder of ByteDance, a major Chinese technology company best known for developing the TikTok app. TikTok is incredibly popular, with over 1 billion users worldwide. As of March 2023, Zhang still owned 2% of ByteDance. However, there is still ambiguity because the US government could prohibit TikTok. Recently, the US Congress passed a new law providing them the authority to try to stop TikTok. Besides TikTok, ByteDance is active in a variety of other activities such as news, education, and gaming.
7. Ma Huateng
Country: China
Age: 52
Ma Huateng, popularly known as Pony Ma, is the CEO of Tencent Holdings, a major online corporation in China. He’s in charge of WeChat, a popular messaging service with 1.3 billion users. As a result, he ranks among Asia’s wealthiest individuals. Tencent also owns a significant portion of Epic Games, a key participant in global gaming, and is a prominent video game developer itself. Ma’s company, Tencent, has also invested in Tesla and Spotify. Ma recently revealed intentions for Tencent to develop new artificial intelligence (AI) technologies that might benefit many people.
8. Li Ka-shing
Country: Hong Kong
Age: 95
Li Ka-Shing began his career at the age of 21 by founding Cheung Kong Plastics, named after a river, with $6,500 in savings and borrowed from relatives in 1950. His Li Ka Shing Foundation has been extremely philanthropic, contributing more than $3.8 billion to various organizations, particularly in Greater China. Recently, CK Hutchison Holdings, controlled by Li Ka-shing, and the Vodafone Group decided to merge their British telecoms companies to form the country’s largest mobile phone provider.
9. Tadashi Yanai and Family
Country: Japan
Age: 75
Tadashi Yanai is the brains of Fast Retailing, a major clothing firm headquartered in Tokyo that owns Uniqlo locations. Fast Retailing also owns additional brands, including Theory, Helmut Lang, J Brand, and Gu. The flagship brand, Uniqlo, has over 2,400 stores in 25 countries, making Tadashi one of Asia’s top ten wealthiest persons. Uniqlo aspires to be the top brand in India, despite competition from both domestic and foreign competitors.
10. Savitri Jindal and Family
Country: India
Age: 74
Savitri Jindal, the wife of founder Om Prakash Jindal, now heads the Jindal Group, which operates in steel, power, cement, and infrastructure. After Om Prakash Jindal died, their sons divided the group’s businesses, and they now run their respective parts individually. Sajjan Jindal, her son, is headquartered in Mumbai and handles the group’s most valuable assets. Savitri Jindal is not only one of Asia’s richest persons, but also India’s wealthiest lady. She carries on her late husband’s habit of giving back to society by promoting education and healthcare.