Being a billionaire by global standards means that your assets amount to more than 1 billion USD. This is a huge success. Some became billionaires through inherited property, others built their wealth through their own efforts. LP-Life.com brings you an overview of the assets of the richest billionaires of today, that don't get mentioned as often, but their stories are very interesting. From the Forbes Billionaires ranking, we have chosen some notable names (data valid as of March 3, 2021).
Mukesh Ambani (64) - India - 1.8 trillion CZK
Forbes ranking: 11
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Mukesh AmbaniSource: Profimedia.cz
The Indian businessman is the chairman and majority shareholder of the 100 billion conglomerate Reliance Industries, which deals with energy, petrochemicals, oil and gas extraction and telecommunications. Ambani's assets have more than doubled in the last ten years. In 2019, his value grew despite the fact that the whole country was largely impoverished. Ambani also lives with his family in a 27-story skyscraper in Mumbai, which cost about 1 billion USD to build. He's friends with Hillary Clinton, who even attended his daughter's wedding.
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Zhong Shanshan (66) - China - 1.7 trillion CZK
Forbes ranking: 15
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Zhong ShanshanSource: Profimedia.cz
This 66-year-old billionaire is known as the "Lonely Wolf". Shanshan is not publicly involved in politics or in any business groups. He rarely appears even in the media. He said about himself at one point:
“I'm a lonely person and I don't care what my colleagues do and think.”
In the 1980s, he worked for a newspaper as a reporter. In 1996, he founded Nongfu Spring, which sells bottled water. His other company is Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy Enterprise, which manufactures vaccines and test kits for hepatitis.
Carlos Slim Helú (81) - Mexico - 1.3 trillion CZK
Forbes ranking: 17
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Carlos Slim HelúSource: Profimedia.cz
The name Carlos Slim Helú is known in the world especially in the field of telecommunications. It was in this field that Helú showed his business talent and outperformed the competition by leaps and bounds. One of the biggest steps was the privatization of the state-owned company Telmex, thanks to which he gained absolute dominance in the entire Mexican telecommunications market. In the area of landlines, his company has a share of about 90%. Helú is also successful in the field of mobile telecommunications. His company Telcel operates the most popular mobile network in Mexico. The well-known tycoon has more business activities in this sector, and América Móvil also belongs to the list of his companies.
Tadashi Yanai (72) - Japan - 1.1 trillion CZK
Forbes ranking: 25
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Tadashi YanaiSource: Profimedia.cz
Tadashi Yanai is the owner and founder of the largest fashion giant Fast Retailing, which also owns the popular clothing and sporting goods brand Uniqlo. Its goal is to compete with fashion brands such as Zara or H&M and gain market leadership. The brand's ambassador is Swiss tennis player Roger Federer. In addition, Uniqlo has sponsored Novak Djokovic in the past. In Japan, Tadashi has received great recognition for helping people affected by the earthquake.
Jack Ma (51) - China - 1.1 trillion CZK
Forbes ranking: 26
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Jack MaSource: Profimedia.cz
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The founder of the Chinese business giant Alibaba has an extremely motivating story. He was born into a poor family and was unable to find a job for a long time during his younger years. Although he tried it out with his CV in several places, he was even rejected as a cashier at KFC. So he decided to take matters into his own hands and today he owns an empire with 100,000 employees. The value of his assets has increased by an incredible 45 percent as online shopping has unprecedentedly boomed during the pandemic.
Li Ka-Shing (93) - Hong Kong - 741 billion CZK
Forbes ranking: 42
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Li Ka-shingSource: Profimedia.cz
Li Ka-Shing is one of the most influential men in Asia. He founded Cheung Kong Real Estate Company. When inventing the name of the company, he was inspired by the longest Chinese river, which has a number of tributaries; it was supposed to represent the diversity and variedness of his business. He trades in cosmetics, food, buys other companies, and dominates in the field of telecommunications.
The billionaire is known for his generous financial donations to universities. Thanks to his support, the Shantou University was established near his hometown. He also helped the victims of the disaster caused by the tsunami in the Indian Ocean, donating 3 million UDS (66 million CZK). He had a Buddhist monastery built in Hong Kong. It's intended to serve mainly the monks, but tourists were also considered during the construction. The monastery has a capacity of up to 400 seats for visitors, not forgetting the special guests, for whom there is a VIP section with bulletproof glass and other conveniences.
Yang Huiyan (39) - China - 672 billion CZK
Forbes ranking: 47
Yang Huiyan is a Cypriot-Chinese billionaire. She acquired Cypriot citizenship in 2018. Yang Huiyan owns Country Garden Holdings, which operates in the market for the development and operation of community housing, but is also involved in the construction of green and smart cities. Her father transferred the share to her in 2007. The company is headquartered in the Cayman Islands and sells real estate in China, Malaysia and Australia. During the pandemic, the company set up robotic food dispensing stations in Wuhan to provide food to Chinese medics.
Alexei Mordashov (56) - Russia - 633 billion CZK
Forbes ranking: 48
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Alexej MordashovSource: Profimedia.cz
Russian businessman Alexei Mordashov is the head of the Severstal mining and steel plant, the owner of the engineering company Power Machines and a co-owner of the international gold mining company Nord Gold. In his youth, Alexei was a responsible, humble and diligent student. He dreamed of becoming a CFO. After graduation, he held many positions, until eventually becoming the head of Severstal. His moral qualities then changed significantly, he ceased to be modest and polite and became a tough businessman, for whom work comes first. Alexei paints in his free time, he likes winter sports and poetry.
Gina Rinehart (67) - Australia - 517 billion CZK
Forbes ranking: 71
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Gina RinehartSource: Profimedia.cz
A billionaire that doesn't mince her words. She is the richest, but also the most hated woman in Australia. She became rich thanks to doing business in the field of iron ore mining. She rides in limousines with bulletproof glass and is guarded by former members of elite military units. Her former employees claim that she paid them very well, but she was also abnormally suspicious. In the evening, she allegedly walks around the company and checks to see if there is no unnecessary light turned on somewhere or the air conditioning isn't running. She also scolds her employees for the smallest things. She's even bothered by the way they express themselves, such as someone using the conditional "I would, if".
Rinehart's family life is the exact opposite of her business success. She's on good terms only with her youngest daughter Gini, who - because she is on her mother's side - has a career in the family business. However, her three older siblings were left empty-handed and are suing their mother for their share of the family fund.
Zhong Huijuan (60) - China - 466 billion CZK
Forbes ranking: 89
In 1995, she founded Hansoh Pharmaceutical, a manufacturer of oncological, psychoactive, antidiabetic and other drugs. Zhong started as a chemistry teacher. This energetic businesswoman didn't inherit her property from anyone. She's a prime example of how a woman can start and run a large company with huge profits all on her own. Together with her husband, founder and chairman of Jiangsu Hengrui Medicine, they're one of the richest families in the pharmaceutical business. Her wealth increased significantly during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
Dhanin Chearavanont is the chairman of the CP Group, one of the largest producers of animal feed. Other assets of CP include shares in the Chinese insurance company Ping An and the Hong Kong conglomerate CITIC. In 2020, Dhanin donated millions of dollars to combat the spread of Covid-19 in Thailand.
Jorge Paulo Lemann (82) - Brazil - 371 billion CZK
Forbes ranking: 118
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Jorge Paulo LemannSource: Profimedia.cz
The Brazilian billionaire controls the world's largest brewing group, Anheuser-Busch InBev, although he doesn't drink beer himself and prefers mineral water. In 2016, AB InBev bought rival SABMiller for nearly 100 billion USD, acquiring big names including Pilsner Urquell and Foster's Lager. Lemann also owns a 3G investment company, which owns a stake in the fast-food chain Burger King. He's only tasted his first hamburger when he acquired the company, complaining that it was too big.
Most billionaires weren't significantly affected by the coronavirus pandemic. The net worth of Indian billionaires increased by 14% year-on-year. The Chinese super-rich earned a record 32 trillion CZK in 2020, which is more than in the previous five years combined. The boom in online shopping and computer games helped them during the pandemic, since people spend more time at home. Even American billionaires continued to get rich during the pandemic, together they moved up by 12 trillion CZK.
