Find out who and how old are the youngest billionaires in Asia, according to Forbes’ World’s Billionaires List 2021
Following the release of Hong Kong’s Richest 2021, Forbes has just unveiled the 2021 edition of the World’s Billionaires List. Despite the global pandemic, the rich are getting richer and some even amassing fortune well very early on in their life.
Over the years, a handful of billionaires have debuted on the list while still a teenager. German heir Kevin David Lehmann is currently the youngest billionaire in the world at 18 but there’s no shortage of young billionaires in Asia. The youngest this year, Wang Zelong is only 24 years old, four years younger than last year’s youngest Jonathan Kwok who was 28 years old.
Want to know who are the youngest billionaires in Asia? Read on for the youngest Asian scions and self-made entrepreneurs to know.
1/10Wang Zelong
Wang Zelong makes his debut as the second-youngest in the overall Forbes World’s Billionaires List, and the youngest in all of Asia, at 24 years old. The billionaire’s fortune arises from the stakes in CNNC Hua Yuan Titanium Dioxide Co., a chemical company that trades on the Shenzhen stock exchange. He also has stakes in Lomon Billions Group, another company that produces titanium dioxide in China.
Age: 24
Location: China
Net worth: US$1.5 billion
Industry: Chemicals
2/10Sam Bankman-Fried
Sam Bankman-Fried is an MIT graduate and former Wall Street trader. The 29-year-old built his massive crypto fortune quickly, managing billionaires through his cryptocurrency trading firm, Alameda Research which he founded in 2017. Two years later, Bankman-Fried launched FTX, a crypto derivatives trading platform that helped increase his fortune. In his debut ranking, Bankman-Fried is the wealthiest billionaire who is aged under 30.
Age: 29
Location: Hong Kong
Net worth: US$8.7 billion
Industry: Cryptocurrency
3/10Jonathan Kwok
The youngest billionaire in Asia on last year’s list, Jonathan Kwok is the younger son of late property tycoon Walter Kwok. The 29-year-old inherited a portion of his stake from his late father’s Sun Hung Kai Properties (SHKP), the largest property developer in Hong Kong. After his father’s death, Jonathan and his brother, Geoffrey took over Empire Group Holdings which Walter started before leaving SHKP. Jonathan is also named beneficiary of one-third of five large family trusts held by their grandmother, Kwong Siu-hing in SHKP.
Age: 29
Location: Hong Kong
Net worth: US$2.4 billion
Industry: Real estate
4/10Xu Yi
Xu Yi is the founder and president of Bilibili, one of China’s largest media businesses. It hosts videos on various themes including animation, music, dance, science and technology, movies, drama, fashion and video games. Xu Yi created the prototype for the website in just three days, after graduating college. In 2010, he relaunched the website with the company’s current name. He then founded a start-up, Hangzhou Huandian Technology in 2011 to manage the development and operation of Bilibili.
Age: 31
Location: China
Net worth: US$3.4 billion
Industry: Internet
5/10Wen Yilong
Wen Yilong is the co-founder and director of RLX Technology, a supplier of vaping devices in China and one of the leading e-vapour companies in the country. Prior to co-founding RLX, the 32-year-old billionaire worked at Didi Chuxing, a Chinese vehicle-for-hire company and Uber.
Age: 32
Location: China
Net worth: US$1.5 billion
Industry: E-cigarettes
6/10Timur Turlov
Thanks to his experience in international investment, Timur Turlov amassed a fortune as CEO and founder of Freedom Holding, a Kazakhstan-based retail brokerage that operates in Central Asia, Europe and the US. The company specialises in IPOs and gives post-Soviet citizens access to US, Russian and European stock exchanges. The 33-year-old billionaire started the company in 2008, even before finishing college with just US$100,000 pooled with his co-founders.
Age: 33
Location: Kazakhstan
Net worth: US$2.1 billion
Industry: Stock brokerage
7/10Wang Han
In 2015, Wang Han was the youngest billionaire on the Forbes China Rich List. The 33-year-old billionaire’s wealth comes from his shares in Shanghai-based Juneyao Air which he inherited from his father, Wang Junyao who is also the founder of the company. Wang Han also has a stake in the department store, Wuxi Commercial Mansion Grand Orient.
Age: 33
Location: China
Net worth: US$1.1 billion
Industry: Airline
8/10Wang Ning
Wang Ning founded Pop Mart in 2010 and owns about 46% of the company’s shares. Currently its CEO, the toy company sells small figurines in blind boxes that don’t show the exact toy inside. The toy company is the largest toy enterprise in China and is available across 21 countries with more than 200 stores and over 1,000 vending machines.
Age: 34
Location: China
Net worth: US$6.3 billion
Industry: Toys
9/10Geoffrey Kwok
Geoffrey Kwok is the older son of the late Walter Kwok, former chairman of Sun Hung Kai Properties (SHKP). Together with his brother Jonathan, who also made this list, they took over Empire Group Holdings. In 2018, Geoffrey joined the SHKP board and is managing its hotel and serviced apartments in Hong Kong and China. The 35-year-old billionaire previously worked as an investment banker in Morgan Stanley in New York and Hong Kong.
Age: 35
Location: Hong Kong
Net worth: US$3 billion
Industry: Real estate
10/10Christopher Kwok
Another member of the Kwok family makes it to the list. Christopher Kwok is the younger son of Raymond Kwok, property tycoon and chairman of Sun Hung Kai Properties (SHKP). He has served as an executive director at SHKP since 2016, managing its sales, project management and the leasing of major projects.
Age: 35
Location: Hong Kong
Net worth: US$1.9 billion
Industry: Real estate
Article and Photo originally posted by Asia Tatler Hk last April 8, 2021 and written by Jianne Soriano.
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