Ideas & Opportunities

This year is turning out to be a banner year for the country’s top ten richest people as their net worth increased with the strength of the stock market according to Forbes.com.

"Overall the number of billionaires has more than doubled  this year to 11—a record haul," says the Forbes.com report ranking the 40 richest people in the country. It attributed the Philippine’s robust stock market for making this possible with the stock exchange’s composite index increasing by 27 percent compared to last year’s figures.

The first ten people on the list is a roll call of the country’s top business icons. Taking the number one spot is mall tycoon Henry Sy with a net worth of P313 billion (US$7.2 billion). At second place is tobacco magnate Lucio Tan with P122 billion (US$2.8 billion). They are followed by John Gokongwei Jr. with P104 billion (US$2.4 billion), Andrew Tan with P87 billion (US$2 billion), David Consunji with P81.7 billion (US$1.9 billion), Jaime Zobel de Ayala  with P73.1 billion (US$1.7 billion), Enrique Razon Jr. with P69 billion (US$1.6 billion), Eduardo Cojuangco Jr. with about P60 billion (US$1.4 billion), Roberto Ongpin with P56 billion (US$1.3 billion) , and George Ty with about P48 billion (US$1.1 billion), rounding up the ten richest people in the Philippines.

The top 40 list also included the debut of its youngest billionaire yet at 34 years old, Edgar Sia, of the Mang Inasal fame. (Read the complete story here)