SINGAPORE: A total of 22 Singaporeans were among those named the "richest people in the world" by business magazine Forbes on Tuesday (Mar 5).

The 2019 list of Singaporean billionaires included hotpot chain Haidilao's chairman Zhang Yong, who was described as "China's richest restaurateur" with a net worth of US$6.8 billion. He placed 224th in the list.



Zhang, 48, was on China's Rich List last year. He is said to have obtained seed money from three friends, but was the one to run Haidilao, which went public last September.

The chain has US$10.4 billion in sales from more than 300 restaurants located in China, the US, Japan, South Korea, as well as Singapore.

Also on the list were property siblings Robert and Philip Ng, who made the 112th spot with a net worth of US$12 billion and paint tycoon Goh Cheng Liang at 203rd with US$7.2 billion.

READ: Bezos, Gates and Buffett still top the world's ultra-rich: Forbes





United Overseas Bank chairman emeritus Wee Cho Yaw placed 267th with US$6.1 billion, the Kwee brothers at 311th with US$5.6 billion and Valencia football club owner Peter Lim with US$2.5 billion.



ASIA-PACIFIC HAS MOST BILLIONAIRES

According to Forbes, Asia-Pacific is the region with the most billionaires, accounting for 767 of the total with a net worth of US$2.5 trillion.

The richest man in Asia is India's Mukesh Ambani, ranked 13th with a net worth of US$50 billion. Tencent CEO Ma Huateng from China placed 20th.

China saw the highest number of newcomers this year, but also the most drop-offs. The richest self-made woman is also from China: real estate mogul Wu Yajun, who is worth an estimated US$9.4 billion.

A total of 2,153 billionaires made the list this year, down from 2,208 in 2018 - the first decrease since 2016, said Forbes. They have a collective net worth of US$8.7 trillion, down from US$9.1 trillion in 2018.

For the second year running, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos remained in the top spot with a net worth of US$131 billion, followed by Bill Gates with US$96.5 billion.



Meanwhile, 21-year-old Kylie Jenner made the list for the first time, becoming the youngest billionaire in the world as well as the youngest self-made billionaire of all time.



Notable newcomers include Oracle CEO Safra Catz, Spotify co-founder and CEO Daniel Ek, and CEO of Canada Goose Dani Reiss.

