According to Forbes, the top 40 wealthiest people combined fortunes soar by  US$28 billion (RM98 billion) in the past year on the wings of rising stock markets.  Their combined net worth: US$154 billion.
Of the 40:
24 spots were from Hong Kong while
16 were from Taiwan.
There were no mainland Chinese on the list, which appears in the January 29 issue of Forbes Asia.
In Hong Kong, we see :

• The first in rank is 78-year-old tycoon Li Ka-shing in pole position with US$22 billion. He is chairman of Cheung Kong Holdings and Hutchison Whampoa, which control the world’s biggest container port operation and have extensive holdings in property, telecoms, retail and energy;
• Second is  Lee Shau Kee with a net worth of US$16.5 billion.Lee Shau Kee is the founder of property heavyweight Henderson Land;
• In third place were the brothers Raymond, Thomas and Walter Kwok with net worth of US$14billion, who run Sun Hung Kai Properties.
• 3 women were in the top 40, including Hong Kong heiress Nina Wang, who last year won a long legal battle with her father-in-law over the fortune of her late husband. She’s at No.11 with a fortune of US$4.2 billion.

In Taiwan:

• The first Taiwanese on the list is Tsai Hong-tu at No.5 with US$7.1 billion and
• Terry Gou and Y.C. Wang, from Taiwan, took the eighth and ninth spots respectively.

(Hong Kong’s main share gauge the Hang Seng Index gained 34% in 2006, while the Taiwan benchmark rose 19.5% in the same period.)
(Forbes,18/1/07)

If you found this post useful, keep updated with future posts by subscribing to FMAccounting (for free) through RSS or email.

Related Entries

• Singapore Cuts Corporate Tax And Increase GST to 7%
• MAAKL Mutual To Launch Its First REIT Fund
• Champion REIT (Hong Kong)
• Asia Reits- A Brief History
• 351 Chinese Mainland Companies Listed On HKEx