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New Malaysian Billionaires Join Forbes’ List During Pandemic

New Malaysian Billionaires Join Forbes’ List During Pandemic

Mr DIY went public just last year and they’re already billionaires.

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According to Forbes’ 2021 Billionaires list, Malaysia now has 16 billionaires. Four are new to the list, namely Tan Yu Yeh at #1,750 (Mr D.I.Y, US$1.8 billion), Tan Sri G. Gnanalingam at #1,833 (Westport, US$1.7 billion), Tan Eng Kee at #2,524 (Greatech, US$1.1 billion), and Tan Yu Wei at #2,524 (Mr D.I.Y, US$1.1 billion).

Two of these new billionaires hail from Mr D.I.Y, our own local home improvement retailer, which raised an unprecedented RM1.5 billion when they went on the public stock market in 2020.

There’s gold in every hill, pandemic or not

Every Malaysian billionaire save one saw an increase in their net worth this year when compared to 2020.

(Credit: Forbes)

In fact, even though the world is going through a health crisis, almost every billionaire globally increased their net worth. 86% of all billionaires worldwide are richer than they were a year ago.

A whopping 660 new billionaires joined the ranks since last year, an unprecedented amount ever. Now, the number of billionaires in the world total at 2,755. Altogether these billionaires are worth $13.1 trillion, up from $8 trillion in 2020.

Malaysia’s richest men

These 16 Malayisan billionaires own a total of US$50.8 billion in combined net worth, or around 13% of the entire country’s GDP in 2020.

Although “Sugar King” Robert Kuok is technically Malaysia’s richest man with a net worth of US$12.6 billion, Forbes lists him in Hong Kong as he is currently based there.

Officially, Malaysia’s richest billionaire is Tan Sri Quek Leng Chan of Hong Leong Group. His net worth is valued at US$9.7 billion (RM40 billion) compared to US$9.2 billion (RM39.9 billion) last year. Despite the increase in his net worth, his ranking dropped drastically from being #147 globally to #243 this year.

This is why your parents always said banking makes good money.
(Credit: Tan Sri Quek Leng Chan/Facebook)

Our second richest billionaire is Tan Sri T. Ananda Krishnan, who owns Astro, at #476 richest. His net worth is US$5.8 billion.

Third is Tan Sri Teh Hong Piow at #486 who owns Public Bank Bhd with a net worth of US$5.7 billion. Fourth, Datuk Lee Yeow Chor and brother Lee Yeow Seng at #550, who own IOI Group with a net worth of US$5.1 billion.


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