Category: Billionaires

Despite all the worry over Australian home prices, it didn’t take Mike Cannon-Brookes long to spend a pile on the Fairwater estate in Sydney’s Point Piper. The home was recently vacated by Mary Fairfax, who died a little over a year ago. The home has been in the Fairfax family for more than 100 years, and now it looks like Mike Cannon-Brookes will be raising his family in the 11,000+ square-meter property.

The actual sales price for Fairwater hasn’t been disclosed, but it is thought to have sold for more than $100 million USD. That would make it the highest price paid for a home in Australia by a wide margin.

The previous record was set when the house next door to Fairwater sold to the other Atlassian co-founder, Scott Farquhar, last year. Mr. Farquhar paid $71 million USD for the property, called “Elaine,” which had also been the property of the Fairfax family.

Unlike Elaine, Fairwater has sat unoccupied for the last 25 years or so and was seldom used by Lady Fairfax. Despite the remodeling that is sure to begin soon, Mike Cannon-Brookes is happy to have made the purchase. In a statement, he said that:

“We are delighted with the purchase of Fairwater for our young family and look forward to continuing the legacy of this beautiful Sydney home… We love the idea of raising our four young children in this historic property.”

Big Money in Sydney

Atlassian has been a massive success for Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar. The pair met while attending the University of New South Wales. In 2002 they used $10,000 in credit card debt to found Atlassian. The company has grown into a global presence, and in 2017 Atlassian created revenues in excess of $600 million USD.

Their most popular product is Jira, which was introduced in 2002. Jira started life as a bug tracking software that is still used by software developers all over the world. According to Atlassian, more than 75,000 companies in 122 countries use Jira. It has evolved into a project management tool that has expanded beyond software development.

Given the taste in real estate the founders have, Atlassian will have to keep doing well. The property taxes on a $100 million dollar property have to be eye-watering. The two co-founders have made off like bandits in the wake of Atlassian’s IPO in late 2015.

Like many companies in the tech space, equity investors can’t seem to get enough of Atlassian shares. Even after the shares fell sharply earlier this week on a revenue disappointment, they are still up by more than 100% over the last 12 months at the time of writing. They saw their adjusted quarterly earnings rise by more than 50% YOY, which may help to justify their current valuation.

Investors Love Atlassian

Last year Atlassian lost around 50 cents a share, which makes paying nearly 20 billion dollars for their platform a little rough. Despite the increasing competition from other project management platforms, most notably Slack, there are many in the investment world that see Mike Cannon-Brookes’ company as a herald of things to come.

Tim Garratt is a partner at Bailie Gifford, a Scottish fund that owns hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Atlassian’s equity. He told the Sydney Morning Herald that:

“Mike Cannon-Brookes has a focus on the next coming decades rather than the next quarter or two. He’s prepared to invest for the long term and we are strongly supportive of that approach… We see the long-term potential for Atlassian to service a hundred million users across the world […]So it is still early days for this exciting business and we’re looking forward to seeing how it develops over the next decade and beyond.”

Despite the optimism that Mike Cannon-Brookes has generated from investors who are already riding high on triple digits yearly gains, his company has something of a spotty record when it comes to gender issues.

A few years ago, one of Atlassian’s employees decided to compare a new piece of software to a complaining girlfriend, which did nothing to sure up the image of an industry that is constantly being accused of a latent gender bias. While Mike Cannon-Brookes scolded the employee after the presentation went viral, he actually gave the offending presentation himself at a conference!

The gaffe clearly hasn’t dented investor confidence in the company, and Atlassian remains one of the biggest software development tools out there today. If Mike Cannon-Brookes’ luck holds up, he may be able to hold on to his brand new house on the water in Sydney.

Featured image by TEDx Sydney. 

The world’s richest people are renowned for taking to the seas to enjoy their wealth. Now, many millionaires are developing a heightened environmental conscience and becoming custodians of our oceans as well.

They’re creating foundations, donating money, and even their precious ships, to help protect the blue playgrounds they love.

The Monaco Yacht Show

As well as showcasing million-dollar mega yachts and every accessory imaginable, the Monaco Yacht Show is a beacon of hope for marine conservation projects.

This year’s show in late September opened with the 2^nd Monte-Carlo Gala for the Global Ocean. The gala is a charity event organized by the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation and Milutin Gatsby the Global Fundraising Chairman.

It’s backed by the show’s organizers and this year’s event chairs included Madonna, Orlando Bloom, Gerard Butler, Pierce Brosnan, Robert F Kennedy Jr., and many more.

Prince Albert II of Monaco has made oceans the priority of his foundation saying:

“The oceans are the lungs of our planet. Our standard of living, our economy and even our health depend on it. But they are seriously threatened by the consequences of climate change and marine pollution. I believe that all is not lost if we work hand in hand.”

The $27 million proceeds from this year’s event will be used to fight plastic pollution and ocean acidification, protect corals and endangered species and develop marine protected areas.

The Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation

Leonardo DiCaprio, net worth $245 million, was awarded the “Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation Prize” for his philanthropical work towards protecting the planet.

DiCaprio’s foundation donated at least $11 million to ocean conservation in 2014, $7 million at the “Our Oceans” conference and $3 million to Oceana.

In 2017 the foundation donated $15 million, and then a further $20 million, in grants to organizations with impactful environmental projects. Di Caprio said at the time:

“We have a responsibility to innovate a future where the habitability of our planet does not come at the expense of those who inhabit it.”

The actor’s foundation also partners with National Geographic Pristine Seas and has, since 2010, funded 70 high-impact projects across 40 countries with a “total direct financial impact” of over $80 million since 2008.

The Bertarelli Foundation

Ernesto Bertarelli, a Swiss pharmaceutical billionaire and wife Kirsty, created the Bertarelli Foundation which has funded marine reserves in Belize and the Indian Ocean.

The Pew Bertarelli Ocean Legacy Project, formed in 2017, aims to create 15 large marine reserves by 2022. The legacy project was created with the goal of establishing these ecologically significant, protected areas, the first generation of “great marine parks.”

11th Hour Racing

The wife of former Google chairman Eric Schmidt, Wendy, an avid sailor, formed 11^th Hour Racing as part of the Schmidt family foundation. The organization and racing team works with the sailing community and related industries to improve operating practices in order to restore the health of the oceans.

It supports many ocean-focused causes including those involved in monitoring and addressing the ocean waste and plastic problem. In 11^th Hour Racing’s latest report, citing them as the most sustainable team to compete in the Volvo Ocean Race, says:

“We managed to significantly reduce our footprint, educated thousands of fans on renewable energy and plastic pollution, and most importantly we were able to leave a lasting legacy.”

The International Seakeepers Society

This society gives million-dollar yacht owners another way to help the oceans, by lending their yachts to scientists. The non-profit matches yacht owners with scientists who often spend massive amounts of their funding and research budgets on chartering vessels to do their ocean-based research.

Seakeeper’s yacht specialist Tony Gilbert says:

“Ninety percent of a scientist’s small budget will go towards chartering an expedition vessel. We’re allowing them to save all that money and put it to a better use, such as paying lab assistants and the actual research itself.”

Billionaire mathematician and hedge fund manager James Simons is worth around $15.5 billion. His $100 million-dollar yacht was used by scientists for a shark research expedition near to Antigua.

OceanX

Ray Dalio, another hedge fund magnate, and worth around $18 billion, created OceanX. The organization has designed a purpose-built, and one of the most advanced exploration yachts complete with its own laboratories, submarines, helicopters, and media production center.

The Alucia2 was the first to explore the deep ocean around Antarctica taking one of its submarines below 1,000 meters deep. The ship was used extensively in the ocean protection inspiring “Blue Planet II” series.

 

It will take concerted and combined government, industry, and people-led efforts to truly protect our oceans and our planet. But, it’s enlightening to see some of the world’s richest people not only giving back to the earth and environment but also spending their time to influence and educate others to protect the oceans.

Featured image by Shutterstock.

Dutch billionaires run businesses with operations around the globe, from Europe to Australia and North America. Many of them have inherited their wealth from their forefathers, but there’s a handful of self-made billionaires on this list. And a few sordid details as well. Check out the top 10 richest people in the Netherlands. How many have you heard of before?

1. Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken

Bucking the overwhelming trend of men at the top, the first place on the richest people in the Netherlands list goes to a woman. Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken has a net worth estimated at $13.6 billion, placing her among the wealthiest women worldwide.

Charlene’s fortune comes from the family business. Her late father, Freddy Heineken, left her a 25% stake in Heineken International, allowing her pretty much full control. She’s also an executive director.

Charlene had little interest in the family business, though, as she told Fortune, in 2014. After her father’s kidnapping in 1983, she decided to keep a low profile and stay away from the media.

Before his death, she didn’t own anything of note but a single $32 share in Heineken, living on her husband’s salary, in London. Now she controls the second largest brewer in the world–Heineken’s portfolio includes about 170 beer brands.

2. Frits Goldschmeding

You may not know a lot about Frits Goldschmeding, but you almost certainly know about Randstad Holding, the world’s second largest staffing agency, with branches in 39 countries and over 30,000 employees.

Frits Goldschmeding is the founder of the company and owns a 35% stake. His net worth is estimated at $4.2 billion, despite his company losing some $2.7 billion in market value after the Brexit vote.

Randstad Holding has made some bold movements to reach its current status. The company took over competitor Vedior for $5.1 billion in 2007 and also bought out the US job site Monster for $429 million in 2016.

The 85-year old billionaire retired from the company’s board in 2011, but he’s still the second richest Dutch citizen today.

3. Hans Melchers

Hans Melchers made most of his $2.7 billion fortune from HAL Trust, an international investment company based in Monaco. The 80-year old Dutch billionaire is not as clean as he would like people to see him. In fact, of the richest people in the Netherlands, he’s also one of the dirtiest.

Back in the ‘80s, he was the owner of Melchemie Holland BV, a chemical manufacturing company, which supplied chemicals to Iraq. There were plenty of accusations that Melchers was, in fact, a chemical weapons supplier after being fined for a shipment of banned chemicals.

He brushed the incident off as a “one-time mistake,” but people continue to doubt the ethics behind one of the wealthiest Dutch citizens.

4. Ralph Sonnenberg

Ralph Sonnenberg is the Executive Chairman of Hunter Douglas Group, a company that makes window coverings and architectural products. His net worth is estimated at $2.5 billion.

Sonnenberg inherited the business from his father, who started the company in 1919. Now, he owns 90% of the Hunter Douglas Group’s stock. When it comes to skeletons in the closet?

His name appeared in the Swiss leaks investigation in which journalists from 45 countries revealed the secret bank accounts of celebrities, entrepreneurs, and politicians.

5. John de Mol

Unlike many of the richest people in the Netherlands, John de Mol made his name in reality TV, being the creator of some of the world’s favorite formats, such as Big Brother, Deal or No Deal, The Voice, and Fear Factor.

John de Mol sold his first media company, Endemol, in 2000, to Telefonica of Spain for $5.3 billion. He then continued to produce popular TV shows through his second media company, Talpa Media. In 2016, the billionaire sold this company to the British company ITV for £355 million ($440 million).

Being the fifth richest man in the Netherlands isn’t as simple as it looks, though. The Independent revealed that de Mol’s decision of selling his company came after a long series of life threats and extortion attempts. e Mol’s fortune is estimated at $1.9 billion.

6. Kommer Damen

Kommer Damen is the owner of Damen Shipyards, the Netherlands’ biggest shipbuilder and one of the largest in Europe. The family-owned company generated sales of $2.5 billion in 2017, making Kommer Damen one of the richest people in the Netherlands, with a net worth of $1.8 billion.

The wealth wasn’t just handed to him, though. Damen bough the shipyard from his father and uncle in 1969, and turned the small company into a global player by using the modular shipbuilding concept to bring construction of small boats up to date.

Kimmer Damen’s reputation is far from spotless. His company was embroiled in several financial and legal issues and, in 2016, the World Bank debarred the shipbuilder for 18 months due to fraudulent practices. Moreover, in January 2017, Damen Shipyards was also involved in a criminal investigation for bribing government officials.

7. Lesley Bamberger

Lesley Bamberger has a net worth of $1.7 billion and is the owner and managing director of Kroonenberg Groep, a Dutch privately-held real estate company he inherited from his grandfather.

The Kroonenberg Groep has a diversified property portfolio that includes residential, industrial, and commercial buildings in the Netherlands, Canada, and the US. Most of the company’s properties are office buildings in Amsterdam and shopping centers in the Netherlands.

8. Robert Defares

Robert Defares is the co-founder and CEO of the tech-trading firm IMC, a company with offices in Amsterdam, Zug (Switzerland), New York, Chicago, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Sydney. He owns a 62.35% stake in IMC, and his wealth is estimated at $1.5 billion.

This Dutch company has a reputation for being a bad employer. Former employees describe IMC as a low trust environment, where they had to deal with a backstabbing culture, awful management, and dirty politics.

Back in the Netherlands, the billionaire likes to stay in the shadows and is almost never mentioned in the media except for the occasional accusation of trying to look poor to avoid taxes.

9. Wim van der Leegte

Wim van der Leegte has a net worth of $1.5 billion. He inherited the family business VDL Groep from his father. The company today is one of the largest family-run European car and bus manufacturers. It has 98 plants in 20 countries and over 17,000 employees.

van der Leegte retired in 2016, after 50 years of working in the company. His three children are all involved in the family business. His son, Willem is the new president, while siblings, Pieter and Jennifer, are members of the executive board.

10. Wijnand Pon

How did Wijan Pon make almost $1.5 billion? Cars, dairy, and investments. And no, just like most of the richest people in the Netherlands, he didn’t start from scratch either.

Wijnand Pon and his brother Ben inherited the family business from their father. The two brothers founded a chain of car dealerships named Pon’s Automobielhandel and, pretty soon, the company became the leading car importer for famous brands including Porsche and Volkswagen.

In 2016, Pon’s company was part of one of the biggest corruption scandals in the Netherlands, regarding a sale of 3,000 cars to the Dutch Defense Ministry and police force. The prosecutors settled the bribery case for 12 million euros ($13 million).

Besides the auto industry, Wijnand Pon also founded Koepon, a top player in the global dairy industry. The company operates dairy farms in Netherlands, Canada, Germany, Poland, and Scotland.

The Richest People in the Netherlands

The Netherlands ranks fairly low on the global corruption list. But that doesn’t stop its billionaires from getting their names mixed up in fraud scandals and criminal investigations. Unlike the richest people in India and the richest people in Indonesia, it’s refreshing to see both a woman and a brewery on the top of the list.

Featured image from Shutterstock.

Rumors are rife that Saudi crown prince billionaire Mohammad Bin Salman is looking to buy the English football giants Manchester United. The current owners have claimed that the club is not for sale, but when you’re heart-stoppingly rich like the crown prince, that kind of cash can change things in a millisecond.

When your vast family fortune mounts up to around $1.1 trillion, you can pretty much do as you like. Although “no” means “no,” Saudi princes are used to getting what they want.

Will Billionaire Mohammad Bin Salman Get His Way?

Mohammad Bin Salman is used to getting what he wants and obtaining Manchester United might not be much different. Manchester United is not just a football club. It’s an institution and a brand. Football fans’ emotions are intrinsically linked to their clubs and Man Utd’s fanatical followers are just the same.

The world-famous football club has amassed 13 English Premier League titles and two UEFA Champions League titles in the past 30 years while becoming one of highest-earning sports/football clubs in the world.

Arabian billionaire Mohammad Bin Salman has reportedly shown his interest in buying the club and is ready to make a bid that’s backed by cash from the oil-rich Kingdom.

The Glazer family are the club’s current owners and have stated since the reports emerged that they are not interested in selling the club. The family have been in charge of Manchester United since 2005 and have been reported to have taken over $1 billion out of the club during their tenure, which didn’t go down so well with fans.

Although the Glazers’ have told the press they do not intend to sell the club, money talks, and with the size of Bin Salman’s bank balance, it doesn’t just talk, it shouts loud enough to crumble a mountain. If the Glazers did decide to sell the club, it could cost the billionaire Saudi crown price up to $4 billion to buy it outright.

When you have Saudi prince cash, every possibility is available. It will be interesting to follow the developments of this story to see if Mohammad Bin Salman can pull off one of the largest purchases the world has ever seen.

Featured image from Wikipedia.

Internet sensation Zhang Zetian who gained the popular name “Milk Tea Sister” in 2009 after a picture of her with a milk tea drink went viral, has been named China’s youngest female billionaire. Zhang went on to appear in promotional videos including one supporting the 2014 Youth Olympics in China. She’s also a well-known investor and businesswoman.

Zhang Zetian Early Life

The 24-year-old beauty and her husband were ranked in the Chinese business Magazine, New Fortune among the top 500 wealthiest people in China. That makes her China’s youngest female billionaire. Her husband, Richard Liu Qiangdong is said to be worth around UDS$11.6 billion and ranked 18th on Forbes’ China Rich List. The magazine also ranked him the 174th wealthiest billionaire in the world.

In 2011, she was admitted to a highly-ranked Chinese University, Tsinghua University, and spent a year in New York, at Barnard College as an exchange student, which was where she met Liu.

After dating for close to three years, Zhang married Richard Liu Qiangdong, the founder and CEO of Chinese online retailer JD.com. They got married in a Beijing courthouse and welcomed their first child together in 2016.

Not long after the birth of their daughter, the couple invested in an Australian-owned baby formula company, Bubs Australia, buying a 17.3% stake in the company. The couple also invested in six more companies—including Uber China—as part of a family fund portfolio.

Growing JD.com

There are reports in the media that credit Zhang Zetian for the immense growth witnessed by JD.com, as she contributes to the promotion of the company’s fashion and luxury goods business site. In May 2015, LVMH-owned cosmetics retailer Sephora and luxury eyewear brand Luxottica launched official merchant stores. JD.com also partnered with Milan Fashion Week organizers, which led to the creation of the “Italian Fashion Mall” on the site.

Zhang has also carved a niche for herself among the couture clients. As part of her efforts to promote JD.com’s luxury portfolio, she embarked on the company’s public welfare projects through networking events and threw a lavish private party in late April in New York. The event was attended by fashion icon Iris Apfel, and also executives from fashion and luxury brands like Tiffany & Co.

Her visit with Apfel in New York raised speculations that Zhang is planning to get a more significant position in JD’s new dive into luxury e-commerce after a signed deal to acquire about $400 million stakes in British luxury e-commerce site Farfetch.

The aim of the partnership is to leverage JD’s logistical and social media strength while taking advantage of Farfetch’s international influence as a leading player in luxury e-tail.

International Expansion

JD.com, which is one of the largest e-commerce companies in the world, sitting behind Amazon and Alibaba has been growing rapidly with a gross merchandise volume (GMV) of nearly $200 billion over the last 12 months, which nearly doubled the previous GMV reported in 2016.

The company, whose presence is quite strong in China but weak in international markets, has signaled its intention to expand into new markets. Earlier this year, the company offered Alphabet, the parent company of Google, $27.1 million “freshly issued shares” worth $550 million, in a move that would help the online retailer compete in the international markets.

According to the young billionaire’s Instagram feed, this summer, her travels have taken her to exotic locations such as Bordeaux, Cannes, California, Geneva, Milan, Cambridge, and Venice.

At the launch of JD’s public goods fundraising platform in March, Zhang met with Microsoft co-founder, Bill Gates and other government officials and celebrities such as Canadian Governor General David Johnston and British soccer star David Beckham.

Just last month, she made an appearance at the Paris Haute Couture Week, sitting in the front row with executives from Dior, Chanel and Chinese homegrown couturier Guo Pei, which stirred up a media frenzy.

In the same month, her husband Liu was also arrested on rape allegations in Minnesota, US. He was taken into custody and released 16 hours later without charges or bail and was allowed to return to China.

Since the release of New Fortune’s list, Zhang’s new rank has been a subject of criticism on the Chinese social media site Weibo. With the online community throwing furious comments, claiming that unlike the other women who made the magazine’s list, like Lens Technology founder Zhou Qunfei (the wealthiest Chinese woman, according to the ranking), Zhang doesn’t fit into the category of a self-made billionaire.

Also, four women rank higher than Zhang Zetian on the 2017 list. After Zhou Qunfei, then comes Yang Huiyan, Country Garden Holdings heiress, next to her is Zhang Xiaojuan, the Vice President of YTO Express Group, and wife to the group’s CEO Chen Lihua. Zhang Zetian remains the youngest in the list.

Most of us associate Indonesia with its sandy beaches, turquoise waters, steamy volcanoes, and dense jungle. If you dig a little deeper, you might conjure up images of lofty temples, sprawling cities, and floating markets. But home to 261 million people, some 11% of them live below the poverty line, with a further 40% teetering just above it. So, it may be surprising to learn that Indonesia also has 32 billionaires. Check out the top 10 richest people in Indonesia here and how they made their money.

1. Robert Budi & Michael Hartono

Topping the list of the richest people in Indonesia are brothers Robert Budi Hartono and Michael Hartono with a net worth of $32.3 billion combined. With a heritage of wealthy predecessors, these Chinee Indonesian brothers are well-known as tobacco crop billionaires, inheriting the cigarette making company Djarum from their father.

Today, however, Robert Budi and Michael Hartono are diversifying their assets, and the brothers make most of their money from their investments in Bank Central Asia. Some of their most notable holdings include prime real estate in the capital city Jakarta and the popular electronics brand Polytron.

Scratch the surface a little and you’ll soon start to see implications of corruption rearing their ugly head. Primarily, in the development of land owned by PT Hotel Indonesia Natour (HIN), one of Robert’s companies. You’ll also see their names top the list of the Panama Papers.

2. Eka Tjipta Widjaja

Second of the richest people in Indonesia is Eka Tjipta Widjaja with a net worth of $9.1 billion, up from $5.3 billion in 2016. Immigrating from China as a teenager, Widjaja started his entrepreneurial endeavors as a teen selling biscuits.

Today his company, the Sinar Mas group, is best known for its palm oil production and is one of the largest in the country. Although, since palm oil production is one of the most controversial commodities out there, needing swathes of rain forests the size of small countries to produce, Sinar Mas now has interests in areas as diverse as telecom and real estate.

Widjaja is also no stranger to offshore accounting, reportedly part of a group holding some 140 companies offshore back in 2013. He’s also personally named as a key culprit for destroying Indonesia’s rainforests. And, he’s on the Panama Papers list too.

3. Susilo Wonowidjojo

Wonowidjojo’s name is also embossed in the Panama Papers. It seems that the richest people in Indonesia are especially adept at concealing their wealth. Another tobacco billionaire, the Gudang Garam company that produces some 70 billion cigarettes a year is this billionaire’s main source of wealth.

Just like Widjaja, Wonowidjojo is known for his offshore companies, although unlike the palm oil tycoon, he doesn’t appear to be a main player in the climate crisis. Neither does he look to be diversifying his wealth, his entire income hailing from the tobacco business with a net worth of $8.8 billion.

4. Anthoni Salim

Panama Papers? Check. Corruption charges? Check. Anthoni Salim is another self-respecting billionaire who’s clawed his way to get to the top. Heading up the Salim Group and with a net worth of $6.9 billion, his family-run business today holds a variety of interests from food and banking to telecommunications.

However, during the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis, the company almost went under. With father Liem Sioe Liong’s (now deceased) close ties to ex Indonesian President Suharto, the company name was stained with corruption. In fact, they lost control of the Bank Central Asia to the Hartonos, now in first place on the Indonesian rich list.

Learning not to place all your eggs in one basket, the Salim group now has a diverse portfolio and a 44% stake in First Pacific, the Hong Kong investment firm with $17.2 billion of assets in six countries.

5. Sri Prakash Lohia

Currently, in fifth place with a net worth of $6.8 billion, Lohia isn’t a native of Indonesia. As a poor Indian immigrant, Lohia is a slightly rare bird on the richest people in Indonesia list, going from rags to riches and making his fortune in plastics–specifically, making a basic component that’s used to make plastic bottles.

Originally setting up a yarn spinning business with his father (no, not telling stories, but making wool) Indorama is now a petrochemicals powerhouse. Not only is Lohia not originally from Indonesia, but he now lives in London leaving the running the business to his son Amit. With expansions planned into Nigeria and teaming up with a fertilizer company, Lohia has a pretty large carbon footprint. And, yeah, he’s on the Papers list as well.

6. Boenjamin Setiawan

With a net worth of $3.7 billion, Setiawan is unlike his counterparts on the list. He has a full formal education, studying a doctorate in pharmacology and founded his firm Kalbe Farma in a garage in the 60s. He now presides over Indonesia’s largest pharmaceutical company, as well as controlling the Mitra Keluarga, which operates 12 hospitals.

There don’t seem to be many skeletons in Setiawan’s closet. In fact, he’s regarded as a humble and intelligent man who’s learned how to grow a company from the ground up. He also values family and along with his six siblings, originally failed twice when starting the company before creating the money-maker it is today. In case you were wondering? Yeah, he’s on there as well.

7. Chairul Tanjung

Coming in seventh place with a $3.9 billion net worth, Tanjung’s CT Corp is today best known for operating hypermarkets, issuing credit cards, and managing television stations. However, not all’s what meets the eye when it comes to Tanjung. He’s got plenty of interests outside these areas and one of his main ones is palm oil.

That means that beyond his company being linked with names like AccorHotels of France, and Wendy’s franchise, he also turns a blind eye while rainforests are hacked to the ground. He’s also listed in the Panama Papers.

8. Tahir

Having a net worth of $3.8 billion pretty much allows you to do anything. And that includes not using a last name or fixing your teeth. “Tahir” founded the Mayapada Group, which has interests in real estate, banking, and also a hospital chain. He owns Singapore’s new landmark Strait Trading Building and also the Goodway Hotel in Batam.

Tahir, it seems, is a pretty decent dude, having donated several millions to promote education in his home country and also towards the global refugee crisis. But, guess what? That doesn’t make him exempt from the Central American fiscal paradise list. He’s on there as well.

9. Mochtar Riady

Not only does Riady make the richest people in Indonesia list with a net worth of $2.7 billion, but he also knows what it’s like to be slapped in the face with corruption charges–and fines. Residing in the US, Indonesian billionaire has been long accused of illegal contributions to the Clinton campaign (Bill) and was finally fined a recording-breaking $8.6 million this year, on the count of conspiracy to defraud the United States. Ouch.

Beyond paying off politicians, Riady had a successful career as a banker and holds interests in real estate, retail, healthcare, education, and even media. His two sons run Singapore company OUE, the group that owns Los Angeles’ iconic US Bank Tower. Panama Papers? You bet. He wouldn’t have become one of the richest people in Indonesia if he wasn’t astute at a little tax evasion.

10. Jogi Hendra Atmadja

Making the 10th place on the list, Atmadja is the only one of the richest people in Indonesia not to be named and shamed in the Panama Papers. That deserves a prize in itself. There also appear to be no scandals or corruption charges surrounding the 72-year-old billionaire with a net worth of $2.7 billion.

As head of the Mayora Group, Atmadja spends most of his time making everything from cereal and candy to coffee. And his company is active in more than 90 countries. In the biscuit business since 1970, Atmadja’s brothers and cousins also own a large stake.

Richest People in Indonesia

So there you go, your complete list of the top 10 richest people in Indonesia. From US court fines to shameful rainforest burning, there’s plenty of shadows hanging over most of these billionaires’ heads–as well as a fat dossier of Panama Papers.

 

Featured image from Shutterstock.

Are you one of those braggadocios rich people who have bags of cash and wants everyone to know it? Chinese billionaire movie star Chow Yun Fat is reported to be worth a bank-busting $715 million, which converts to HK$5.6 billion, yet he lives a thrifty lifestyle with a spending budget of just over $100 per month.

Whilst many billionaires drive Lamborghini and Bugatti super-cars while getting pedicures and lavish spa treatments, Chow Yun Fat is living on less in a month than a security guard at a gated community.

When the vast majority of the public scramble to buy the latest iPhone X for $1,000 upwards, the Chinese billionaire movie star has kept the same mobile phone for 17-years. The man has the spending restraint of an ordained Buddhist monk. Or is he just a tight so and so?

Chow Yun Fat Takes Frugal to the Next Level

Chow Yun Fat is a critically acclaimed actor who starred in the classic “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” epic that bought Kung-Fu audiences into modern times. In a recent news report from the Oriental Times, the 63-year-old renowned actor talked about how he lives a very modest lifestyle despite being a billionaire.

The Hong Kong megastar has rejected material goods and still views himself as your everyday ‘Average Joe’. Yun Fat’s wife, Jasmine Tan, detailed how her frugal hubby loves eating at inexpensive street-side food vendors in his native Hong Kong and pointed out he will only upgrade his 17-year old mobile phone when it stops working.

In a world of high-tech gadgetry, especially in Hong Kong, the actor is unfazed and unimpressed by technological advancements.

It’s a normal sight for Hong Kong inhabitants to see the aging movie star taking public transport. He’s also known for wearing very simple clothing.

He actually addressed his lack of fashion ambitions in another article where he said he preferred clothes that were comfortable. The closest he would have gotten to a crocodile on his shirt would have been in the “Hidden Dragon” movie.

The Chinese billionaire actor might be a household name across his homeland, but what can impress a man who has close to a billion dollars, rides public transport and eats at roadside stalls? Not much apparently. Unless you have some comfortable sports pants of course.

Featured image by Sliceof.