These Are the 20 Richest Families in Asia Right Now

Dhirubhai Ambani, the father of Mukesh and Anil, started building Reliance Industries’ precursor in the late 1950s. After Dhirubhai died in 2002 without leaving a will, his widow brokered a settlement between her sons over control of the family fortune. Mukesh is now at the helm of the Mumbai-based conglomerate, which owns the world’s largest oil-refining complex and has been expanding into tech, retail and green energy, with his children in charge of those different business units. He lives in a 27-story mansion that’s been called the world’s most-expensive private residence.

Oei Wie Gwan purchased a cigarette brand in 1950 and renamed it Djarum. The business grew into one of the largest cigarette makers in Indonesia and, after Oei died in 1963, his sons diversified by investing in Bank Central Asia. That stake now makes up most of the family’s fortune.

Kwok Tak-seng listed Sun Hung Kai Properties in 1972. The company has since become one of Hong Kong’s largest real estate developers and the basis of the Kwok family fortune. His sons, Walter, Thomas and Raymond, assumed control when he died in 1990, though Walter lost his chairmanship in 2008 after a feud with his brothers. Raymond now chairs the business.

The family business was founded in India in 1865, when Pallonji Mistry’s grandfather started a construction enterprise with an Englishman. Shapoorji Pallonji Group now spans various business areas, including engineering and construction. Most of the family fortune is illiquid, though: It’s held in Tata Sons, the main holding company behind Tata Group that controls Jaguar Land Rover. Following a family feud, Tata Sons changed its status to a private firm, restricting the Mistrys’ ability to sell its stake, and when Tata Sons offered to buy it out the two sides couldn’t agree on valuation. Pallonji died at age 93 in 2022, and his younger son, Cyrus, passed away months later in a car crash.

Chia Ek Chor fled his typhoon-ravaged village in southern China and started a new life in Thailand, selling vegetable seeds with his brother in 1921. A century later, Chia’s son, Dhanin Chearavanont, is senior chairman of Charoen Pokphand Group, a conglomerate with food, retail and telecom units.

Chaleo Yoovidhya established T.C. Pharmaceutical in 1956 to sell medication. He later diversified into consumer goods and in 1975 invented an energy drink he called Krating Daeng, Thai for “red bull.” After Austrian marketer Dietrich Mateschitz discovered the beverage on a business trip to Asia, he teamed up with Chaleo to modify the recipe and market Red Bull globally. The fortunes of the Yoovidhya and Mateschitz families can be largely attributed to the success of the energy drink.

The Cheng family fortune started with Chow Tai Fook Jewellery, a Hong Kong-based jeweler. Its stock symbol is 1929, the year it was founded. The Chengs also control New World Development, one of the city’s biggest real estate and infrastructure companies.

Pao Yue-kong started a shipping business when he bought his first vessel, the Golden Alpha, in 1955. By 1979, the company had more than 200 ships, making it the world’s largest independently owned bulk-shipping fleet at the time. Adapting to market conditions, Pao diversified into real estate, using proceeds from ship sales. When he died in 1991, his businesses were divided among his four daughters and their families. A sizable portion of the current family wealth is derived from Hong Kong property developer Wheelock, which was taken private in 2020.

The Tsai brothers founded Cathay Life Insurance in 1962. In 1979, the family decided to split up the business, with Tsai Wan-lin and Tsai Wan-tsai taking control of Cathay Life Insurance and Cathay Insurance, respectively. Cathay Insurance was later renamed Fubon Insurance. The family now owns stakes in two large financial-holding companies in Taiwan and has diversified into sectors including real estate and telecom.

Lee Byung-chull started Samsung in 1938 as a trading company exporting fruits, vegetables and fish. He got into the tech industry by setting up Samsung Electronics in 1969, which has become the world’s largest maker of memory chips and smartphones. When he passed away in 1987, his third son, Lee Kun-hee, took over the business. He died in October 2020 after years of hospitalization following a heart attack in 2014. Jay Y. Lee, who has cemented control over the conglomerate since, spent time in jail for bribery charges in a scandal that led to the impeachment of former President Park Geun-hye in 2017. He was released on parole in 2021 and pardoned the following year.

Lee Kum Sheung invented oyster sauce and founded Lee Kum Kee in 1888. When the original oyster sauce factory in Guangdong province burned down in 1902, the business was rebuilt in neighboring Macau, where it remained until it relocated to the more prosperous city of Hong Kong. Third-generation member Lee Man Tat consolidated his control of the company, buying out his uncles and brother. The family ventured into the health-supplements business in 1992 with LKK Health Products, a manufacturer and seller of herbal remedies. The clan also owns substantial real estate assets, including the Walkie Talkie tower in London. Lee Man Tat died in 2021 at the age of 91, and his son Sammy is now the group’s executive chairman.

Ng Teng Fong moved to Singapore from China in 1934. He worked at his parents’ soy sauce factory and as a bicycle repairman. Instead of carrying on the family business, he ventured into property development and set up Far East Organization in 1960. He also made inroads into Hong Kong and founded Far East’s sister outfit, Sino Group. Now, his elder son Robert is in charge of the Hong Kong operations, while his younger son Philip oversees the business in Singapore.

Kwek Hong Png and his three brothers founded Hong Leong Co. in Singapore in 1941. His eldest son, Kwek Leng Beng, runs operations in the city-state that range from property development to hospitality and finance. Nephew Quek Leng Chan was sent to Malaysia to lead that part of the family business, which has become one of the country’s largest conglomerates.

Henry Sy was born in China and immigrated to the Philippines when he was 12. He helped his father sell rice, sardines and soap before he opened his first shoe store in 1958. From a tiny shop in downtown Manila, the business has grown into a conglomerate with interests including retail, banking and property. Today, the group runs thousands of retail stores and banking branches.

The Aditya Birla Group is one of India’s oldest family-owned businesses, with interests in industries including metals, financial services and retail. It started as a cotton-trading company in the 19th century before Ghanshyam Das Birla, who financed Mahatma Gandhi’s fight for independence from British rule, created what has become one of the nation’s biggest aluminum makers. His great-grandson, Kumar Mangalam Birla, is now the business’s chairman.

Zhang Shiping started the predecessor of China Hongqiao in 1994. The veteran Communist Party member made full use of the market reforms ushered in by former leader Deng Xiaoping to turn his company into a major aluminum maker in China. After his passing, his son Zhang Bo became chairman of the aluminum business while his daughter Zhang Hongxia took charge of the textile enterprise, Weiqiao.

In the 1880s, Elly Kadoorie and his older brother Ellis arrived in Hong Kong to work for the Sassoons, a prominent family of the Baghdad Jewish diaspora. The brothers later set up a brokerage and amassed stakes in banking, real estate and power-generation facilities. Major investments include CLP Holdings, the electricity supplier to Kowloon and the New Territories, as well as Hongkong & Shanghai Hotels, the group that owns the Peninsula Hotel chain. Michael, Elly’s grandson, now chairs both businesses.

Om Prakash Jindal started a single-unit steel plant in 1952 and grew it into OP Jindal Group, a conglomerate that spans sectors from steel to energy, cement and sports. By the time he died in a helicopter crash in 2005, he had become power minister in the northern Indian state of Haryana. His widow, Savitri, took over as the group’s chairwoman, with four of their sons managing the businesses.

Parmanand Hinduja, originally from Shikarpur, now in Pakistan, traveled to Mumbai to establish a business in trade and banking in 1914. Five years later, he opened an office in Tehran, where the group’s headquarters remained until 1979. Parmanand died in 1971, and his sons Gopichand and Srichand left for London eight years later while Prakash moved to Geneva and Ashok remained in Mumbai. The Hinduja Group currently has businesses in industries such as energy, automotive, finance and health care. The family owns real estate in India and in cities including London, and was involved for years in a dispute over a letter dividing their fortune.

The Chirathivats control Central Group, which is now one of Thailand’s largest private commercial conglomerates with more than 50 subsidiaries. The clan of Chinese descent was originally headed by Tiang Chirathivat, who migrated from Hainan to set up a small family shop in Bangkok in 1947. His sons ran the empire for about half a century before his grandson Tos took over.