Asia Countries' Top 40 Richest

By end of 2007, the combined net worth of our Asia rich listers rose to $938 billion, up from 2006's $575 billion.

In Japan. the No. 1 richest is the retired and now largely low-profile Nintendo chairman, Hiroshi Yamauchi, while in mainland China, Daddy's girl Yang Huiyan, 26, received 58% stake in real estate developer Country Garden from its main founder, her father, is now Asia's richest woman and world's youngest female billionaire! (Top 40 Richest lists from Japan, Korea, China,India, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia attached below.)


Japan's Top 40 Richest:

Japan's 40 wealthiest businesspeople are worth $89.9 billion, up $10.7 billion from last year. An impressive gain but one that masks an uneven year for the country's tycoons. Twenty people are richer than last year, including eight of the top 10, helped by the yen's double-digit gain against the U.S. dollar. Six added more than $1 billion apiece to their fortunes.

The biggest gainer was the country's new No. 1, the retired and now largely low-profile Nintendo chairman, Hiroshi Yamauchi, whose net worth soared $3 billion in the past year and has tripled since 2006, thanks mostly to booming sales of the Wii gaming device. Close behind him is last year's richest member on the list, property developer Akira Mori, who gained $2.2 billion but not enough to stay on top.
Top 10 Richest Japanese:
1. Hiroshi Yamauchi
2. Akira Mori
3. Kunio Busujima
4. Nobutada Saji
5. Masayoshi Son
6. Tadashi Yanai
7. Eitaro Itoyama
8. Hiroshi Mikitani
9. Takemitsu Takizaki
10. Hiroko Takei


South Korea's Top 40 Richest:
South Korea has been caught up in all sorts of incriminations and recriminations lately. The general downbeat direction of its economy, as evidenced by tepid 5% growth and falling foreign investment for the third year in a row, led to the ousting of the ruling party in favor of the country's first businessman president, a former Hyundai Engineering & Construction chief.

But the most notable news by far has been the downfall of Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-Hee. For more than two decades, he ran the nation's largest chaebol (large family-controlled conglomerates) and oversaw its most admired company, Samsung Electronics. That all ended on April 22, when he announced he was stepping down from his post, days after he was charged with tax evasion and breach of trust. His son and wife, Jay Y. Lee and Hong Ra-Hee, both stepped down from their posts as well.
Top 10 Richest Koreans:
1. Chung Mong-Joon
2. Chung Mong-Koo
3. Lee Kun-Hee
4. Lee Myung-Hee
5. Shin Dong-Bin
6. Shin Dong-Joo
7. Jay Y. Lee
8. Koo Bon-Moo
9. Cha Yong-Keu
10. Huh Chang-Soo


Greater China's 40 Richest:
Investors seem to love all things Chinese these days, which is great news for the wealthiest people in neighboring Hong Kong and Taiwan. Whether they themselves have businesses in China, are making investments there or are simply feeling the halo effect from their proximity to the mainland, these tycoons are getting richer by association.

Li Ka-shing, who is again Greater China's richest man, saw his net worth rise more than $2 billion, thanks in part to his conglomerate's expansion in China. No. 2 Lee Shau Kee gained $5 billion, thanks in part to early investments in several of China's hottest initial offerings. Patrick Lee, whose Lee & Man provides packaging for China's exports, as well as for its own consumer goods, saw his net worth more than double.

Strong equity markets also helped propel these fortunes. Hong Kong's main index rose 34% in 2006. Taiwan's was up 20%. The combined net worth of Greater China's 40 Richest, which

includes Hong Kong and Taiwanese citizens outside of mainland China, is $154 billion, up from $126 billion last year. The minimum net worth rose to $1 billion, up from $630 million. Twenty-eight people saw their fortunes rise; only four returnees are worth less than last year.
Greater China's 10 Richest:
1. Li Ka-shing
2. Lee Shau Kee
3. Raymond, Thomas & Walter Kwok
4. Michael Kadoorie
5. Tsai Hong-tu
6. Stanley Ho
7. Cheng Yu-tung
8. Terry Gou
9. Y C Wang
10. Victor & William Fung


Mainland China's 40 Richest:
Money, and lots of it. We found 66 billionaires while researching our China Rich List this year, up from 15 last year. The total net worth of the 400 richest people in China is $288 billion, up from $116 billion a year ago. China's richest person, Yan Huiyan, is worth $16.2 billion, seven times the net worth of last year's No. 1, Wong Kwong Yu. Wong added $1.3 billion to his fortune in the past year, but in this get-rich-quick era, that was only good enough to land the tenth spot.
Top 10 Richest Mainland Chinese:
1. Yang Huiyan
2. Hui Wing Mau
3. Guo Guangchang
4. Zhang Li
5. Zhang Jindong
6. Peng, Xiaofeng
7. Zhang Xin
8. Lu Zhiqiang
9. Yung, Larry
10. Wong Kwong Yu

India's 40 Richest:
These are heady times for India's richest. Thanks to a roaring Bombay stock market whose benchmark index was up 53% in the past year, and a strong rupee that appreciated 12%, for the first time all India rich listers are billionaires. In aggregate, their wealth surged to $351 billion, a bit more than double last year's $170 billion, making India's 40 by far the wealthiest such group of all in Asia. The four richest Indians are worth an astonishing $180 billion. Together the foursome are worth more than the forty richest Chinese combined.
Top 10 Richest Indians:
1. Lakshmi Mittal
2. Mukesh Ambani
3. Anil Ambani
4. Kushal Pal Singh
5. Azim Premji
6. Sunil Mittal
7. Shashi & Ravi Ruia
8. Ramesh Chandra
9. Kumar Birla
10. Tulsi Tanti


Singapore's 40 Richest:
The city-state of Singapore has had a banner year. GDP was up 7.9% for 2006, the main stock index is up 19% year to date, and its 40 wealthiest citizens are worth a collective $32 billion, $4 billion more than last year. Fortunes centered on real estate, shipping and palm oil did particularly well.
Top 10 Richest Singaporeans:
1. Ng Teng Fong
2. Khoo family
3. Wee Cho Yaw & family
4. Zhong Sheng Jian
5. Kwek Leng Beng & family
6. Kuok Khoon Hong
7. Peter Lim
8. Lee Seng Wee
9. Denis Jen
10. Chew Hua Seng


Malaysia's 40 Richest:
The bar has been lowered. Malaysia's 40 Richest needed a net worth of only $100 million to make Forbes list this year, down from $127 million in 2007, despite the fact that the Malaysian ringgit gained 6% against the U.S. dollar, the currency in which their fortunes are measured.
Top 10 Richest Malaysians:
1. Robert Kuok
2. Ananda Krishnan
3. Lee Shin Cheng
4. Teh Hong Piow
5. Lee Kim Hua & family
6. Quek Leng Chan
7. Yeoh Tiong Lay & family
8. Syed Mokhtar AlBukhary
9. Vincent Tan
10. Tiong Hiew King


Indonesia's 40 Richest:
The 40 wealthiest Indonesians added $18 billion to their combined wealth, bringing it up to $40 billion.
Top 10 Richest Indonesians:
1. Aburizal Bakrie & family
2. Sukanto Tanoto
3. R. Budi Hartono
4. Michael Hartono
5. Eka Tjipta Widjaja & family
6. Putera Sampoerna & family
7. Martua Sitorus
8. Rachman Halim & family
9. Peter Sondakh
10. Eddy William Katuari & family

source for daily Asian news and offbeat stories.