Mall tycoon Henry Sy has cemented his position as the Philippines' richest man after he landed on Bloomberg Markets magazine's ranking of the world's wealthiest men and women -- the only Filipino to make it to the list.
In its December issue, Bloomberg Markets magazine said Sy -- whose empire spans the retail business, banking, property and resort development -- landed on the 72nd spot with a net worth of $13.3 billion, ahead of the likes of Australian media mogul Rupert Murdoch, who ranked 86th, and South Korea's Lee Kun Hee of tech giant Samsung, who placed 99th.
Topping the list of the world's billionaires is Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who has a net worth of $72.9 billion, followed by Mexican telecom czar Carlos Slim ($65.5 billion), Amancio Ortega of Spanish retailer Inditex ($61.9 billion) and legendary investor Warren Buffet ($58.2 billion).
By nationality, Americans still comprised the biggest group of billionaires at 37, followed by the Russians at 11; Germans, 6; Indians, 5; and Hong Kong Chinese and French, at 4 each.
North America harbored the most number of billionaires (40), followed by Europe (35) and Asia (18). In Asean, only the Philippines and Malaysia had citizens who made it to the list at one each.
In computing a billionaire's net worth, Bloomberg said it used the closing prices of publicly traded companies he or she owned as of September 30 and converted into US dollars. In the case of privately-held firms, the magazine used estimates based on the value of comparable publicly traded companies provided they were of the same industry, size and located in the same country.
Bloomberg also assumed that family members held a portion of the assets of a billionaire on the list. "We operate under the rule that all billionaire fortunes are inherently family fortunes," said Bloomberg's Pamela Roux.
Sy also topped Forbes magazine's list of the Philippines' billionaires. He founded SM, the country's largest chain of shopping malls, and the biggest bank, Banco De Oro. Recently, the Sy familly consolidated their property businesses under SM Prime Holdings Inc, the company responsible for building and operating the malls.
source: interaksyon.com
