Lee of Samsung Slips to No. 2 in Asia’s Rich Family List, wih Four Indonesians Included in Top 50

Seoul, MINA – The family that owns South Korea’s No. 1 conglomerate Samsung Group fell a notch in the list of Asia’s richest families, Yonhap reported, citing Forbes data Monday.

According to the list compiled by U.S.-based business magazine Forbes, the Lee family held assets estimated at US$40.8 billion this year, which puts them below India’s Ambani family, who posted $44.8 billion.

It is the first time the South Korean family has surrendered the top spot since Forbes started compiling the data in 2015. The study was conducted on Asia-based business groups that have been managed by one family for at least three generations, Forbes said.

The Ambani family controls Reliance Group, which holds affiliates in various industrial segments, from chemicals to telecommunications.

In Forbes’ list of Asia’s 50 richest families, India accounted for 18 families, followed by Hong Kong with nine and Singapore with five. South Korea and Indonesia had four each.

According to timesofindia.indiatimes.com, the wealth of 101 Indian billionaires equals 13% of GDP.

It is interesting to compare the worth of dollar billionaires with the GDP of the countries in which they live.

In such a comparison, Russia, US and India are shown to be among the most skewed countries among the trillion dollar-plus economies while Japan, Indonesia and South Korea fare among the best. (T/RS5/RS1)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)