Brothers Daniel Tsai (蔡明忠) and Richard Tsai (蔡明興), who run Fubon Group (富邦集團), took the top spot in Forbes magazine’s list of Taiwan’s 50 richest people this year, despite an 8 percent fall in their net worth.
The two brothers were among 22 of the top 50 billionaires in Taiwan who saw their net worth shrink, but they still rose two spots from last year to reclaim the No. 1 position after a five-year gap, the magazine said.
The wealth of the Tsai brothers shrank to US$8.8 billion as Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控) took a hit from COVID-19 insurance claims, which pushed down the company’s earnings and share price last year, Forbes said.
Photo: Lisa Wang, Taipei Times
In addition to their financial empire, the Tsai family owns telecom Taiwan Mobile Co (台灣大哥大) and e-commerce platform momo.com Inc (富邦媒體).
After the Tsai brothers, the four Wei brothers — Wei Ing-chou (魏應州), Wei Ying-chiao (魏應交), Wei Ying-chun (魏應充) and Wei Ying-heng (魏應行) — who control food and beverage conglomerate Ting Hsin International Group (頂新集團), took second place with a net worth of US$8.3 billion, Forbes said.
Ting Hsin owns Master Kong, one of the largest instant noodle suppliers in China which reported record-high sales of US$11.4 billion last year, the magazine said.
Taking the No. 3 spot was Lin Shu-hong (林書鴻), cofounder of the petrochemical conglomerate Chang Chun Group (長春集團), who benefited from rising chemical prices and saw his wealth grow to US$7.9 billion.
Also affected by hefty COVID-19 insurance claims, the brothers Tsai Hong-tu (蔡宏圖) and Tsai Cheng-ta (蔡政達) of Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控) fell to No. 4 this year from No. 2 a year earlier with a net worth of US$7.7 billion, Forbes said.
Falling from the top spot last year, low-key and self-made footwear tycoon Zhang Congyuan (張聰淵) took fifth spot in the latest list as his wealth contracted in US dollar terms by US$4.5 billion to US$7.6 billion.
Zhang’s wealth shrank as shares of his Guangdong-based Huali Industrial Group (華利實業集團), which is listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, dropped due to decreased orders amid COVID-19 pandemic-induced disruptions.
Terry Gou (郭台銘), founder of the world’s largest contract electronics maker, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), came in sixth after his wealth rose to US$7.4 billion this year from US$6.8 billion.
Gou’s wealth largely comes from iPhone assembler Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn (富士康) globally, whose sales rose 11 percent from a year earlier to US$217 billion last year.
The Chang brothers — Jason Chang (張虔生) and Richard Chang (張洪本), who are chairman and vice chairman of chip packaging and testing services provider ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控) respectively, took seventh place with a net worth of US$6.3 billion, ahead of chairman of snack and beverage brand Want Want Group’s (旺旺集團) Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明), with US$6.1 billion in net worth.
Tsai was followed by Barry Lam (林百里), chairman of contract notebook computer maker Quanta Computer Inc (廣達電腦), with US$5.6 billion, and chairman of electronics component maker Yageo Corp (國巨) Pierre Chen (陳泰銘), with US$5.5 billion.
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