Former senator Manuel Villar continues to top the list of the Philippines’ richest, landing him 190th in the 2024 global list of billionaires by Forbes at a net worth of $11 billion.
Forbes (www.forbes.com/billionaires) said Villar’s riches went up by $39 million as of last count through his varied assets that include listed Vista Land and Lifescapes Inc., Golden MV Holdings (formerly Golden Bria), Vistamalls Inc., home improvement chain AllHome Inc., supermarket chain AllDay Marts Inc. and Premiere Island Power REIT.
Villar’s biggest asset is his stake in Golden MV Holdings (formerly Golden Bria), developer of mass housing projects and memorial parks.
Villar was followed by Enrique Razon ($10 billion), Ramon Ang ($3.5 billion), Hans Sy ($2.6 billion), his brothers Henry Sy, Jr. and Herbert Sy ($2.5 billion each) and Lucio Tan ($2.5 billion) – who make up the top five richest Filipinos to make it to the Forbes list.
The rest of the Filipinos included in the Forbes list are Harley Sy ($2.4 billion), Teresita Sy-Coson ($2.3 billion), Elizabeth Sy ($2.1 billion), Andrew Tan ($2 billion), Tony Tancaktiong ($1.4 billion), Lucio Co ($1.2 billion), Susan Co ($1.1 billion), Lance Gokongwei ($1.1 billion) and William Belo ($1 billion).
The Co couples – Lucio and Susan – are new addition to the list, together with Belo.
Of the 15, six are second generation successors to the wealth built by their families – the Sy siblings and Gokongwei.
Tan and Gokongwei found their wealth decline as of last count – Tan’s down by $39 million and Gokongwei’s by $49 million.
Topping the global list this year is Bernard Arnault of the French luxury empire of Louis Vuitton, Tiffany & Co. and Sephora worth at least $233 billion, $22 billion more than the previous year.
Arnault is $38 billion richer than Elon Musk, the world’s No. 2, worth $195 billion. At No. 3 is Amazon’s Jeff Bezos worth an $194 billion.
The richest woman on the Forbes list remains Franí§oise Bettencourt Meyers, heiress to the $99.5- billion L’Oréal fortune.
To calculate net worths, Forbes used stock prices and exchange rates from March 8, 2024.
