Founders of Sea, Haidilao among 54 Singaporeans in Forbes’ latest billionaire list

[SINGAPORE] Forbes released the 40th edition of its annual World’s Billionaires list on Tuesday (Mar 10), featuring 3428 billionaires, the most since the list’s inception in 1987.The combined net worth of the world’s wealthiest people reached US$20.1 trillion, up US$16.1 trillion from 2025. A record 20 people were reported to have 12-figure fortunes. Elon Musk topped the list for the second year in a row. His net worth of an estimated US$839 billion – a half trillion dollar leap from last year – makes him the richest person ever recorded. He is the first person to breach the US$800 billion mark.His skyrocketed net worth was due to the rise in value of automotive and energy company Tesla and aerospace company SpaceX, which is aiming to go public in 2026. Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Bin clinched the second and third spot on the list with their US$257 billion and US$237 billion net worths. Amazon’s Jeff Bezos holds fourth place with his US$224 billion net worth, followed by Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg in fifth place with a net worth of US$222 billion. US President Donald Trump was ranked 645th world wide, his fortune increasing by 27 per cent to an estimated US$6.5 billion on account of cryptocurrency dealings and his US$500 million New York fraud penalty being thrown out. The Singapore billionaires54 Singaporean billionaires joined the 2026 list, up from 49 from last year. Chairman of Taiwan-based Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Jason Chang climbed to the top spot among Singapore’s billionaires, his net worth increasing more than two-fold from US$6.6 billion in 2025 to US$14.2 billion this year. He is ranked 204th on the list. Chang is followed by Li Xiting, co-founder and president of China’s largest medical equipment manufacturer Mindray, with a net worth of US$11.2 billion. The sale of ventilators by Mindray worldwide during the coronavirus outbreak in 2020 was a source of his exponential wealth.Brothers Phillip and Robert Ng, who control Far East Organisation, Singapore’s largest private landlord and property developer, came in third and fourth amongst Singapore’s billionaires with a fortune of US$7.2 billion and US$7.1 billion respectively. The property developer company sells a portfolio of residential, commercial and industrial properties in Singapore. Forrest Li, founder of Singapore-based consumer internet company Sea, came in fifth with a net worth of US$6.8 billion. He was the second richest billionaire in Singapore last year. Sea operates three core businesses, e-commerce site Shopee, digital entertainment company Garena and digital financial service provider SeaMoney. Chairman of Sichuan hotpot chain Haidilao, Zhang Yong, ranked sixth with his net worth of US$6.7 billion. The chain operates more than 1300 stores in 14 countries worldwide, a majority of which are in China. Yong is followed by Jason Jiang, founder and chief executive officer of Focus Media, a Shanghai-based outdoor advertising company that specialises in elevator media in offices, commercial and residential buildings. His reported net worth was US$4.7 billion.The eighth richest Singaporean is Ji Qi, who has served as Chinese hotel operator H World Limited’s executive chairman since 2009, with a net worth of US$4.2 billion.Kuok Koon Hong, founder of palm oil producer Wilmar , came in ninth with a fortune of US$4.1 billion. The company reported increased earnings in FY2025, which was supported by growth in food product volumes, stable pricing conditions, and continued product mix optimisationApril Goh, granddaughter of late paint tycoon Goh Cheng Liang, became Singapore’s 10th wealthiest person after inheriting US$3.4 billion after her grandfather’s death. She has a net worth of US$4 billion and ranks 1074th in the overall list.