liiacheng.jpg (Photo : wallstreetcn.com)
Asia's richest people reside in Hong Kong and Macau.
Hong Kong businessman Li Ka-shing remains the richest person in Asia, a position he has held for a number of years, with an estimated net worth of US$ 32 billion. Li, incidentally also ranks as the eighth richest person in the world.
Li's closest rival for the crown is Macau's Lui Che-woo. Lui, who heads casino operator Galaxy Entertainment, saw his personal net worth rise by US$ 11.5 billion over the last year for a total of US$ 21 billion. Originally from Mainland China, Lui arrived in Hong Kong in 1934 where as a young man he started a construction equipment and materials company.
According to the company's website, at one point almost 25% of Hong Kong buildings were built by or had used material from his company. Later on he invested heavily in real estate, hotels and casinos. In 2002, he entered the Macao casino market when his company was granted one of six licenses to operate casinos there.
From a business standpoint, however, Lui comes out on top. Last year, Lui's Galaxy Entertainment market value was estimated to be US$ 38 billion which is six billion more than Li's Cheung Kong Holdings which ranked second, according to foreign media sources.
China's richest individuals were also well represented on the list. Media, entertainment, and Internet holding company Tencent founder Ma Huateng beat out web services giant Baidu founder Robin Li as the richest person in China. Ma's personal fortune was valued at US$ 13 billion while Li's was US$ 11 billion. Interestingly, only a month ago, Li was considered the richest man in China but recent evaluations of Tencent shares after news of an upcoming acquisition pushed Ma's personal networth higher.
Dalian Wanda Group's Wang Jianlin and beverage maker Wahaha's Zong Qinghou round out the top four richest people in China.
