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Vietnamese billionaires fortune beyond Forbes’ estimation
Cam Anh 13:25, 2017/11/24
Many Vietnamese businessmen are getting rich quickly and their position on the world rankings rises dramatically. However, many of those in the list is now far exceeding what Forbes announced.
Big numbers
In recent weeks, Forbes magazine has made major adjustments to the wealth of the richest people in Vietnam. Billionaire Pham Nhat Vuong and Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao "earn" hundreds of millions of dollars a day, among the richest people in the world, with total assets of more than USD 7 billion.
CEO Pham Nhat Vuong of Vingroup
CEO Pham Nhat Vuong of Vingroup

Mr. Pham Nhat Vuong's assets have continuously increased in recent 2 weeks. According to Forbes, Pham Nhat Vuong, president of Vingroup (VIC) has just earned USD 100 million. By November 18, 2017, he had total assets of USD 3.9 billion. Thus, only in November, he earns additional USD 100 million every two days. As Forbes calculations, his wealth is growing faster than ever. Compared to the March figure, Vuong's assets have increased by USD 1.5 billion.
According to the latest figures on the stock market, Pham Nhat Vuong is directly and indirectly holding shares up to USD 5 billion.
According to the management report for the first 6 months of this year, Pham Nhat Vuong has nearly 724 million Vingroup - VIC shares (equivalent to 27.5% of capital). Vietnam Investment Group JSC holds over 880 million VIC shares, equivalent to 33.4% ownership. Meanwhile, Vuong owns 92.88% of Vietnam Investment Group JSC.
Accordingly, he is directly and indirectly holding more than 60% of shares in Vingroup, equivalent to more than 1.54 billion VIC shares.
In the past 6 months, VIC shares have increased about 50% to a record high: nearly 70,000 dong / share. And at this price, the VIC share amount held by Pham Nhat Vuong is about VND 108 trillion (US $ 4.73 billion). If the shares holded by his wife is included, their asset is amounted to USD 5.1 billion.
The real bigger numbers
According to Forbes, up to November 18, 2017, Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao has total assets of USD 2 billion, an increase of USD 200 million compared with the previous few days. Though not ranked by Forbes, Trinh Van Quyet, chairman of FLC and Faros (ROS), also own stocks rising sharply in 2017 and amounted to 59 trillion dong (equivalent to USD 2.6 billion).
CEO Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao (Vietjet)
CEO Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao (Vietjet)
Mr. Bui Thanh Nhon and his wife directly and indirectly hold more than 65% of Novaland shares. This stock is listed in the last few days in 2016 and is currently priced at over 60,000 dong / share. Their total value of shares is over USD 1 billion.
Among the world’s ranking
Vietnamese billionaires have recently increased their assets mainly thanks to good business results and bright business prospects and the resilience of the stock market with the VN Index has reached the highest level in 10 years and a series of key stocks hit record highs.
VIC's share of Pham Nhat Vuong has increased by nearly 80% in the past six months, from VND 40,000 / share to historic high of VND 71,400 / share at the end of the week.
Vietjet Airlines' share price (VJC) of  Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao is also at an unprecedented level: 120,500 VND / share. VJC has increased nearly 40% in just 3 months.
A series of stocks of Vietnamese enterprises in the stock market also hit record highs such as: Mobile World Co, LTD of  Nguyen Duc Tai (MWG), Phu Nhuan Jewelry (PNJ) of  Cao Thi Ngoc Dung, Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV), Vinamilk (VNM), Vietcombank (VCB), Khang Dien House (KDH), ...
As such, Thao became the only female billionaire in Vietnam and in Southeast Asia. Meanwhile,  Pham Nhat Vuong has surpassed Hoang Kieu (USD 2.8 billion) to become the richest Vietnamese in the world and is even ranked higher than US President Donald Trump according to the Forbes. The two billionaires hold about USD 7 billion. Vietnamese businessmen are getting rich very quickly in the context of the increasingly open economy, the stock market creates great opportunities for business growth.
The young billionaires are recorded in Vietnam
Vietjet of Mrs. Thao has just been in operation for 5 years, but thanks to foreign capital and good business plan, it now occupies more than 40% market share.
This is considered a miracle growth. Vietjet Air has signed a contract to buy 100 Boeing aircraft valued at USD 11.3 billion. Last year, VJC also bought 100 aircraft with Airbus worth more than USD 9 billion.
Vingroup (VIC) of Pham Nhat Vuong has soared after announcing a series of breakthrough information in the business strategy with many new fields such as automobile production. Particularly, the introduction of Vincom Retail shares (VRE) - the only enterprise managing retail floors in Vietnam – to be listed results to significantly increase in VIC shares.
The active stock market with foreign cash flow is also an important factor for the Vietnamese billionaire to witness the rapid increase in assets. In the past week, Jardine Cycle & Carriage (JC & C) of Jardine Matheson Group (Hong Kong) paid additionaly USD 400 million to buy Vinamilk (VNM) share. With a bid to buy a 3.33% stake on November 10, Jardine Matheson spent more than USD 1 billion (8.9%) on VNM.
Since the beginning of this year, foreigners invested billions of dollars in Vietnam, raising total capital in Vietnam stock market to nearly USD 30 billion. In the coming time, the list of Vietnamese billionaire may be extended, with some potential names such as Tran Ba Duong (Thaco), Le Viet Lam (Sungroup), Nguyen Thi Nga (BRG Group), Tran Thanh Quy (Tan Hiep Phat), Nguyen Xuan Truong, Vu Van Tien (Geleximco)...
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