Vietnamese billionaires lose assets, one leaves Forbes USD billionaire list

The stock market has been quite positive in the first 2 weeks of the new year and is expected to have a "smooth start", a good start for the whole year. In the first 10 days of 2024, the VN-Index increased by 24 points with the main driving force from the banking group of stocks.

Liquidity across the market is also quite high, increasing to 20,000 billion VND/session.

However, the positive developments were uneven, mostly concentrated in the banking group, while many other pillar stocks were still under downward pressure. Even within the banking group, there was differentiation.

This has led to a decline in the wealth of the richest billionaires on the stock market over the past two weeks. All six billionaires on Forbes' list have seen their fortunes decline by about $100 million each.

As of January 15, according to Forbes, the assets of Vietnam's richest businessman - Mr. Pham Nhat Vuong were 4.5 billion USD, down from 4.6 billion USD recorded in the first session of the new year on January 3. Compared to March 2022, the assets of the Chairman of Vingroup Corporation (VIC) decreased by 1.7 billion USD.

Mr. Nguyen Dang Quang once again left the Forbes list of USD billionaires.

Previously, on January 3, the chairman of Masan Group (MSN) returned to Forbes' list of USD billionaires with assets reaching 1 billion USD.

Over the past few years, Mr. Nguyen Dang Quang has been constantly in and out of the Forbes list, with his assets fluctuating between 1-1.9 billion USD.

Masan (MSN) shares are under pressure to decrease at the beginning of the new year. In the first 10 trading sessions of 2024, MSN recorded 6 sessions of price decrease. MSN is currently at 65,600 VND/share, a sharp decrease compared to the level of over 100,000 VND/share a year ago.

According to statistics, Mr. Nguyen Dang Quang currently holds only 15 MSN shares of Masan. However, Mr. Nguyen Dang Quang indirectly holds a large amount of MSN shares through Masan JSC and Hoa Huong Duong, equivalent to nearly 45% of Masan shares. Mr. Quang also holds more than 9.4 million Techcombank (TCB) shares.

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Besides Mr. Vuong and Mr. Quang, other USD billionaires also recorded a decline in assets.

Compared to January 3, the assets of Chairwoman of VietJet Air (VJC) Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao decreased by 100 million USD to 2.3 billion USD on January 15.

The assets of Hoa Phat Group (HPG) Chairman Tran Dinh Long also decreased by a similar amount to 2.2 billion USD. The assets of the family of Thaco Chairman Tran Ba ​​Duong (Thaco) decreased by 100 million USD to 1.4 billion USD.

Techcombank (TCB) Chairman Ho Hung Anh recorded assets from TCB shares on January 15 at 1.3 billion USD, compared to 1.4 billion USD on January 3. Mr. Ho Hung Anh is the only case where assets decreased while shares increased. TCB code increased from 32,600 VND/share (on January 3) to 34,300 VND/share (on January 15).

Another notable case of fluctuating assets is Mr. Pham Nhat Vuong. According to Forbes, Mr. Vuong's assets on January 15 were at 4.5 billion USD, but according to Bloomberg Billionaire Index, the assets of the richest businessman on the Vietnamese stock market reached 8.49 billion USD, ranking 277th in the world.

Mr. Vuong was ranked back in the top 500 USD billionaires by Bloomberg on January 3 after Bloomberg calculated the assets of Vietnam's richest billionaire, which were formed from the VinFast car company.

By the end of 2023, the top 10 richest people in the stock market include 6 of the above businessmen. In addition, there are Mr. Bui Thanh Nhon (once on Forbes' list of USD billionaires), Ms. Vu Thi Hien (Mr. Long's wife), Mr. Truong Gia Binh (FPT), Mr. Nguyen Van Dat (PDR).

In 2023, Vietnamese entrepreneurs will face many difficulties as the economy recovers slowly. The total assets of the top 10 richest people will decrease slightly even though the stock market increased by more than 12%.