While most of the city-state’s top five billionaires grew richer in the past year, their combined net worth fell roughly 7% to $90.6 billion as of Aug. 14 due to a large drop in the fortune of the richest man, according to Forbes’ annual Singapore rich list.
Eduardo Saverin – Technology
Eduardo Saverin, co-founder of Facebook and B Capital. Photo from B Capital’s website
The Facebook co-founder took a whopping $10.1 billion hit to his net worth as shares of Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook, declined by 25% over the past year.
Meta’s net profit fell 14% in the second quarter even as revenue climbed 28%, with rising spending on AI infrastructure contributing to the earnings decline.
Eduardo Saverin draws the majority of his now $32.9 billion fortune from his small stake in the firm, which he initially co-founded as a social media platform with Mark Zuckerberg and two other classmates while at Harvard University in Massachusetts.
Saverin was eventually forced out of the company. He later co-founded venture capital firm B Capital and currently serves as its co-CEO.
The 44-year-old, who hails from a wealthy Brazilian family, has been a Singapore permanent resident and has ranked as the city-state’s richest man since 2023.
Kwek Leng Beng and family – Real estate
Kwek Leng Beng, executive chairman of City Developments Limited. Photo from the company’s annual report
Kwek, 85, held on to the second spot with a net worth of $16.1 billion shared with his family, up $1.8 billion from a year ago. That put the gap between the family and Saverin at $16.8 billion, down from $28.7 billion last year.
City Developments Limited, the family’s flagship and one of Singapore’s biggest property developers, has been selling non-core assets as it focuses on its residential and hospitality businesses.
The firm last month posted a 230.7% year-on-year surge in net profit to S$301.6 million (US$237.5 million) for the first half as revenue climbed 61.1% to S$2.72 billion.
The strong results, coupled with news that CDL had completed a closely watched strategic review and plans to announce the outcome later this month, have lifted the company’s shares and prompted a positive outlook among analysts, according to The Business Times.
Philip and Robert Ng – Real estate
Robert Ng (left) and Philip Ng. Photo by Imaginechina via AFP, Alpha Singapore
Brothers Philip Ng, 67, and Robert Ng, 74, control Far East Organization, one of Singapore’s largest private landlords and property developers.
Their late father, Ng Teng Fong, founded the company after moving from China to Singapore in 1934 and later became known as “The King of Orchard Road.”
Philip oversees the group’s Singapore operations while Robert’s son Daryl chairs its Hong Kong business, Sino Group.
Far East Orchard, the Singapore-listed property arm, unveiled plans last November to build an integrated global network by 2030 spanning hotels and student accommodation while also overseeing funds investing in new properties.
The brothers’ combined fortune rose about 1.4% to $14.3 billion.
Lee family – Banking
Lee Tih Shih, non-executive and non-independent director at OCBC and a member of the Lee family. Photo from OCBC’s website
The Lee family of Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation fame saw the largest wealth gain in both absolute and percentage terms on the ranking this year.
Their fortune, mostly tied to their stake in the lender, jumped 78% to $13.8 billion, propelling them to fourth place.
Shares of OCBC, Southeast Asia’s second-largest bank by assets, almost doubled over the past year amid strong growth in its wealth management business, which is set to complete its acquisition of HSBC’s Indonesian retail banking and wealth management operations in 2027.
The lender last month reported S$2.22 billion in earnings for the quarter ended June 30, up from S$1.82 billion a year earlier and well above analysts’ estimates. Its shares also hit a record high, surpassing S$30 for the first time on Aug. 7, The Straits Times reported.
Goh family – Paint manufacturing
Goh Cheng Liang, founder of Nippon Paint South East Asia (Nipsea). Photo from Nippon Paint Malaysia’s Facebook
The Goh family’s fortune is largely derived from its majority stake in Japan’s Nippon Paint Holdings, one of the world’s biggest paint manufacturers by revenue.
The family’s late patriarch, Goh Cheng Liang, began his career selling fishing nets before building a paint business in Singapore that eventually developed into a long-standing partnership with Nippon.
Goh passed away last August at the age of 98. Bloomberg reported that his fortune was passed on to six grandchildren under a rare inheritance arrangement that made each of them a billionaire.
The family’s combined net worth climbed 3% from a year earlier to $13.5 billion, but they fell one spot to fifth.
