40 richest Thais have combined $20 billion​
Bangkok Post

Thailand's 40 richest business figures have a combined net worth of US$20 billion, evenly split between old and new wealth, according to Forbes magazine.

Thailand's 40 Richest list, to be published in the July 24 edition of Forbes Asia, shows that at least a third of the country's super-rich are self-made entrepreneurs who built fortunes from scratch.

The list was compiled at a turbulent time for the country and its tycoons. Billionaire politician Thaksin Shinawatra, who ranks fourth, has faced unrelenting pressure for months over his family's sale of their 49.6% stake in Shin Corp tax-free to Singaporean investors.

Another mogul, Thai Beverage founder Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, who topped the list at $3.2 billion in net worth, took his company public in Singapore after protesters objected to an alcohol company listing on the Stock Exchange of Thailand.

The second richest person on the list, Chaleo Yoovidhya created the formula for the popular energy drink Red Bull. With $2.7 billion, he owns a 49% share of the company. Mr Chaleo also owns TC Pharmaceuticals, the maker of Krating Daeng energy drinks for the Thai market, and holds a stake in Piyavate Hospital.

About half of Thailand's top 40 inherited their fortunes and often share them with extended families. Wanchai Chirathivat, the fifth richest at $1.2 billion, is one example. He chairs the Central Group, with interests in retailing, real estate, hotels and resorts. Its main business is the Central Retail Corp, with sales of $1.7 billion, being the country's largest retailer. Many family members work at Central and as many as 45 relatives share in the fortune.

Sixth on the list at $860 million, the Vongkusolkit family is seeing sweet returns as the Mitr Phol Sugar Corp celebrates its 50th anniversary. The country's largest producer and exporter of sugar is diversifying into biomass power and plans to operate two bioethanol fuel plants.

Media magnate Vichai Maleenont, the chairman of the BEC World media group, also has several family members operating the Maleenont group of companies. He oversees a collection of TV, radio, Internet and video-rental interests that have earned the family an estimated $475 million.

Somporn Jungrungreangkit is the only woman in the top 10. Ranked 10th with a net worth of $420 million, Ms Somporn took over the reins of Thai Summit, one of the country's largest auto-parts groups, after her husband's death in 2002. She now oversees more than a dozen companies as the group president. Her brother-in-law, Suriya Jungrungreangkit, is the acting deputy prime minister.

To compile the list, Forbes Asia looked at family shareholdings in public as well as private companies. Publicly traded fortunes were calculated using recent share prices and exchange rates. For private fortunes, it estimated what the firms and assets would be worth if they were public.



If I had that much money i would give it all away.........ok well maybe some of it.........ok well maybe $1 million. If I was feeling generous.

This is the reason why Thailand is so poor!! The rich always seem very rich!!

Thailand isn't poor. But they are good at making you dupes think so.

This is a very interesting comment, I would like you to explain to me how you can say this. I assume your not refering to the tens of thousands in poverty? Why is there no money for education?

It's a long story & I have neither the time nor the inclination to educate you. BUT - short version. When the Chins fled Mao in 49 they were dispersed all across Asia. Within 15 years they were running the show everywhere from Indonesia Singapore Malaysia Phillipines Islands Vietnam Thailand. They lent money to the lazy idle slothful locals who were sitting inder coconut trees bemoaning their "poverty". Once enslaved by money lending it was easy to separate the dolts from their land.

But you liberals all know that Poverty is just a state of mind. This year you say anyone earning less than 10,000 pounds PA is "poor". Next year you raise it to 11,000. This is known as "rasing the bar."

MOST Thai's can not save 2 stang. Rice farming. Borrow money from "The Man" to buy seed & fertilizer. Once the harvest is in pay the "Man" back. Borrowing money is the Issan lifestyle.

Why don't they have socialized free school just like pommieland? I guess because they don't want to.

What you should do is start your own NGO & provide free schools to them & then they can build gigantic monuments to the king with the governments money. Like poor the world over. If you are too poor to raise your own kids ask the UN to do it for you. Those godamn swedes & swiss & dutch & germans are filthy rich.

In my country people don't get out of poverty by sitting under a coconut tree hoping some dumbass falang will buy them a pint of Sang Som.

Want to know the real truth behind why the poor are so poor? It is a cultural issue. In Issan, where most are Lao ethnicities, they are kept poor to keep them from taking power. There are 25 million of them who barely have enough to eat yet, they have one of the riches people in the world. Look at the protests by the PAD in yellow. They are against the 1 man 1 vote because they don't think the poor are smart enough to make any decisions. It is not democracy when the rich and wealthy make the decisions.
This is just one example of how they are able to keep the poor from ever getting anything. Issan was taken over by the Thai's 200 years ago by the French who supposedly sold Issan to Thailand. The people there refuse to speak Thai and therefore are denied access to all social and economic programs. If the military has it's way it will include 'taxation without representation' for the people living in Issan.

I always thought it was the other way round. Thailand (Siam back then) owned what is now Laos and a lot of Cambodia and the French took it off them using the Mekhong River as the new boundary. This happened in 1893 and is known as the Pak Nam incident.

I live in Isaan and yes, the culture here is totally different to that in Bangkok which, less face it, is basically Chinese in origin. The food is different and certainly at home the people will probably speak Isaan rather than Bangkok Thai. But they certainly can speak Thai and don't refuse to do so. They also tend to have darker skins which makes them seem lower class to the Chinese who see a white face as being high class (unless it belongs to a farang that is! ).

Isaan is a poor region, although there are rich people here too, but the impoverished rice farmer is not a myth. They buy the seed rice from the Chinese , sorry the Sino-Thai broker using the future crop as collateral. They work hard and finally harvest it and the rice millers (yes, you've guessed it Sino-Thais) offer to buy it at a price below the government minimum price usually saying the rice on offer has too high a moisture content. The money the farmer does get pays off his debts but doesn't allow him to get in front at all so it starts again. And a bad harvest or an unexpected storm damaging a crop can and does lead to suicide.

So the poor Isaan farmer is a victim of a semi-feudal system and couldn't get rich between now and Kingdom come.

I guess that all Americans are rich because Bill Gates is a Billionair?? I am a lot richer than my employees. but they are a lot richer than somone without a job.. In Thailand someone without a job that has a rich boyfriend is richer than another with a thai boyfriend. Hell even the sister of the girl that has a rich boyfriend is richer than the brother of girl with no boyfriend..

I don't know if that makes sense but I think it did,, Maybe??

Thailand is certainly not a poor country!!!! If you were to look at the GDP you'd be impressed.
Fact is the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
Having stated the obvious, the other thing that shows the wealth is the fact that there are so many new or near new cars
driven in all parts of Thailand....and guess what??? They're not driven by Farangs alone......the majority are driven by Thai's,
including Bar Girls, the average stall seller (Have seen their cars filled with the merchandise they sell).
Sure, the average monthly wage for a Thai girl working respectably is in the order of 3,000-10,000 Bht /month plus bonuses.
But that's far from the real average wage.
And social reforms are occuring and Government handouts are there for the needy, as long as they are informed.
I love Thailand , it's people. They still see Falangs and tourists as walking ATM's.....but is it any different anywhere else in age of Consumerism?
I dont think so. At the moment my Aussie letterbox is filled with Junk mail...buy,buy buy...or spend spend spend.
I'm happier to spend in Thailand and help their economy get stronger.....which it will.
Keep smiling, the world's a great place. )

I think that doctor that treats all those sick buffalo must be making a fortune. I have'nt fuond
1 girl whose family did'nt need money to pay that guy!

What this article tells me, that there is a "thai dream" out there, and that there are plenty who started with scratch and end up becoming mega rich, because they know how to work within the system, creative thinking and adapting to new situations is how money shifts owner.

obviously there are many causes why there is such a big difference between rich and poor. we can attempt to list a few, and i dont buy into this "it's cultural" talk, when people are lazy it is because they are insecure and dont have a plan. they dont have a plan because they werent taught how to make plans.

- governments are there to carry water for the rich, who obviously yield a lot of influence, as money does.

result is no decent social system, good education is for the rich, families end up selling their houses to pay for hospital bills, another result is tax loopholes, eg. Thaksin shamelessly did not pay tax on the deal that saw shin corp fall into Singaporean hands, i bet you there are tons of tax evasion constructions limiting tax revenue, therefor limiting the wealth for distribution of opportunities

It is difficult for a government to go against the mega rich, before you know it lunatics take over your airports, and it is necessary to kick against some shins when creating "equal opportunity" (ofcourse there never is true equal opportunity)

in any case it is good to see that there are those who are self made, so it is possible, and could serve well as something to look up to

Correction: Thirty million in poverty.