Archive for March, 2010

New billionaires of 2010

Sunday, March 28th, 2010

Some new billionaires, who surely will make agents scramble to give them free insurance quotes.

Horst Paulmann & family, Chile, USD5 billion, runs retail conglomerates
Keiichiro Takahara, Japan, USD2 billion, chairman & founder of Unicharm, maker of consumer items
Isaac Perlmutter, 67, U.S., USD 1.6 billion, Marvel chief
Li Shufu, China, USD 1.8 billion, chief of Chinese car maker Geely
Kelcy Warren, 54, U.S., USD1.5 billion, co-founder of natural-gas pipeline company Energy Transfer
Yoshikazu Tanaka, 33, Japan, USD1.4 billion, runs social networking site Gree
Low Tuck Kwong, 61, Indonesia, USD1.2 billion, coal mining
Shahid Balwa, 36, India, USD1 billion, real estate development
Mian Muhammad Mansha, 62, Pakistan, USD1 billion, banking & textiles
Wei Ing-Chou, 57, Taiwan, USD1 billion, chairman of Tingyi (beverage company & instant noodles)

The world’s greatest philanthropist

Friday, March 26th, 2010

Warren “Oracle of Omaha” Buffett (b. 1930), one of the world’s wealthiest persons and probably the most successful investor who ever lived has pledged to give away 85% of his immense fortune to the Gates Foundation.

He has been quoted to have said that he “doesn’t believe in dynastic wealth”, and that those who inherited their fortune are merely “members of the lucky sperm club”. He has made sure that his children do not inherit a big portion of his wealth: “I want to give my kids just enough so that they would feel that they could do anything, but not so much that they would feel like doing nothing”. In other words, he does not go around doing pop displays of money.

In June 2006, he gave away an equivalent of USD30.7 billion (more than RM100 billion) in shares to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the largest charity donation in all of history.

Malaysia has the most billionaires in South East Asia

Wednesday, March 24th, 2010

According to Forbes, for 2010, Malaysia has the greatest number of billionaires in the ASEAN region, with 9, led by Tan Sri Robert Kuok, 86, at USD14.5 billion (RM48 billion) the world’s 33rd richest person, equal to Steve Ballmer of Microsoft. He’s also Asia’s 7th richest.

With that amount of dosh and his advanced age, personal grooming companies are sure to scramble in setting up appointments to see him regarding hair loss treatment reviews.

Indonesia, SEA’s most populous nation has only 7 billionaires, followed by Singapore at 4, Thailand at 3, and the Philippines at 2.

Truly, Malaysia is a land of opportunity!

Internet billionaires worth at least USD5 billion

Wednesday, March 24th, 2010

At the top of heap is of course Google’s twin terrors Larry Page & Serge Brin, worth USD17.5 billion each. At 3rd place is Amazon.com’s founder Jeff Bezos at USD12.3 billion.

Another person from Google, its CEO Eric Schmidt is 4th with USD6.3 billion.

Next is Masayoshi Son, who controls internet and telecommunications company SoftBank with USD5.9 billion.

Rounding up the elite list is eBay’s Pierre Omidyar with USD5.2 billion.

I can’t see any of these guys having weight issues, but should they need it, surely they have no problems getting the best weight loss supplement available.

Way to go guys!

The world’s first billion-dollar home

Wednesday, March 24th, 2010

Indian billoinaire Mukesh Ambani, CEO of Reliance Industries, and one of the world’s richest persons, owns the world’s first home worth USD1 billion dollars or more, dubbed Antilia, after the mythical island.

Specs:
- 27 floors; now if members of his family can’t sleep, they can simply move to another floor, better than any sleeping aid!
- 173m tall
- location: Altamount Road, Cumballa Hill, Mumbai, India
- built-up area: 400,000 square feet
- plot area: 48.780 square feet
- architect: Perkins & Will (Chicago)
- cost: USD2 billion
- inspiration: Hanging Gardens of Babylon

First Malay problogger

Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010

In its May 2009 edition, Malaysia’s Majalah IM (Internet Marketing Magazine) mentioned that Rohaizad Jumat, 29 is Malaysia’s first Malay problogger, i.e. someone who earns a living by blogging full time.

He reputedly earns 5 figures monthly.

He has been blogging since 2004 and runs “Smart Blogging” seminars.

He has dozens of blogs in various niches (including one about testosterone boosters perhaps?!) and the number keeps increasing; according to him, the more blogs one has, the more money-making opportunities there are.

Yoshikazu Tanaka: Asia’s top internet billionaire

Wednesday, March 17th, 2010

Yoshikazu Tanaka, 33 is the world’s second youngest self-made billionaire after Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, and Asia’s richest person who made his/her fortune via the internet.

According to Forbes, he’s worth USD1.6 billion.

He is one of only 3 billionaires in Asia under the age of 35, and among the 3, the only one self-made.

He founded Japan’s second-biggest social networking site, gree.jp, in 2004, of which he owns 51%. It has about 15 million users (up from 8 million a year ago) and was listed in December 2008.

Japan’s top social networking site is Kenji Kasahara’s Mixi (18 million users), yet Gree is the bigger earning site. Kasahara is worth USD720 million.

His site concentrates on “fun, easy mobile games,” all developed inhouse. New members to his site get “a big-eyed manga-style avatar in underwear.” Then they can go shop for clothes and accessories for it (fancy hats, hairdos, fishing rods, food, even perhaps custom usb drives), then use those in games like virtual fishing, virtual gardening and virtual pet grooming.

Each virtual item cost about USD2: 80% of the site’s income come from sales of these things.

He also forges alliances with telecom companies, eg, KDDI owns 7% of gree, and allows users to access Gree’s website from the home page of KDDI’s mobile phones. 90% of Gree subscribers play games on their mobile phones, and many of them play to pass time while telecommuting.

SALUTE!

96% of Malaysian youths want to be millionaires before they are 35

Monday, March 15th, 2010

The Star reported on 14th March 2010 that their online survey, which polled 1,678 people under 30 from all over Malaysia revealed that:

- 96% of them want to become millionaires
- 75% believe they can do it by age 35
- They also said this goal is “the most important goal in their lives.”
- only half said becoming millionaires would make them happier
- 25% are willing to give up ethics to achieve their goal
- at the same time, they are not willing to sacrifice family or social obligations
- 47% said chance and opportunities are main reasons why one could be a millionaire, while only 24% said it is due to hard work and determination.
- 25% said they would marry someone if that would turn them into a millionaire

Well, I suppose they better brush up their resumes right now!

Financial planners had expected that only 60-70% of youths would want to become millionaires, so that almost 100% figure is unexpected.

2010: there are 234 Asian billionaires

Thursday, March 11th, 2010

According to Forbes in March 2010, there are 234 Asian billionaires, 62 of them first timers. That’s 23% of the world’s total of 1,011.

Their combined wealth is USD729 billion, a 100% increase, a much bigger increase than their European or American counterparts.

As expected, China has the most billionaires, at 64 (27 first timers). India has 49 while tiny Hong Kong proves to be a power puncher at 25.

Others:
Japan – 22
Taiwan – 18
Australia – 11
South Korea – 11
Malaysia – 8
Indonesia – 7
Kazakhstan – 5
Singapore – 4
New Zealand – 3
Thailand – 3
Philippines – 2
Pakistan – 1

The top 2 richest Asians are Indians: Mukesh Ambani (4th in world rankings), worth USD29 billion & Lakshmi Mittal, worth slightly less at USD 28.7 billion. 3rd is Li Ka-shing at USD21 billion. I wonder how well they pay for IT Jobs in their companies.

The same 3 also topped the Asian list last year.

2010: Mian Muhammad Mansha, Pakistan’s first ever billionaire

Thursday, March 11th, 2010

According to Forbes in March 2010, worth of USD 1 billion, Mian Muhammad Mansha, 63 is Pakistan’s first ever billionaire.

He is the owner of Nishal Group, the country’s largest exporter of cotton clothes and also largest private employer.

In stark contrast to some miserly billionaires, he knows how to enjoy his wealth: a reputation for preferring only the best tailor made suits (and presumably bow ties) from Savile Row, London, apart from those made by Gucci, Chanel and Harrods.

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