Southeast Asia’s billionaire rankings rarely stay still, but 2026 has been an unusually volatile year. According to Forbes Real-Time Billionaires data as of August 2026, the region’s five richest people held a combined fortune of about $110.7 billion. The lineup has also shifted significantly from the start of the year, with one tycoon who once led the ranking falling out of the top five.
Here are the five richest people in Southeast Asia and the businesses behind their fortunes.
1. Pham Nhat Vuong
With an estimated fortune of $36.5 billion, Pham Nhat Vuong is currently the richest person in Southeast Asia. Most of his wealth comes from Vingroup, Viet Nam’s largest private conglomerate, with businesses spanning property, retail, healthcare and automobiles. The group generated 332 trillion dong, or about $12.6 billion, in revenue in 2025.
Vuong began his business career in Ukraine in the 1990s, where he built an instant-noodle business after studying in Russia. He returned to Viet Nam and founded Vingroup in 1995.
His biggest bet is now VinFast, the electric vehicle maker he founded in 2017 and took public on Nasdaq in 2023. Vuong has invested more than $4 billion of his own money into the company, including another $2.5 billion in May 2026 as VinFast continued to face heavy losses and challenges expanding in the U.S. market.
That same month, he appointed his eldest son, Pham Nhat Quan Anh, as chairman of VinFast.
2. Enrique Razon Jr.
Enrique “Ricky” Razon Jr. built his fortune through International Container Terminal Services Inc., or ICTSI, one of the world’s largest independent container-terminal operators.
Razon started his career working as a stevedore for his family’s business before building ICTSI into a global port operator. The company now operates 33 terminals across 19 countries on six continents, with further expansion in 2026 including an acquisition in Africa.
ICTSI’s financial performance has been the biggest driver of Razon’s rising fortune. In 2025, the company’s net income rose 23% to $1.1 billion, while revenue increased 18% to $3.2 billion. Its shares more than doubled over the following year, making ICTSI the most valuable listed company in the Philippines.
Razon’s fortune increased by about $10.3 billion in a year, reaching $21.8 billion in early August 2026, according to Forbes.
His business interests also include infrastructure, mining through Apex Mining and casinos through Bloomberry Resorts.
3. Low Tuck Kwong
Low Tuck Kwong was born in Singapore and moved to Indonesia in 1972. He built his fortune through Bayan Resources, a major Indonesian coal producer, earning him the nickname “King of Coal.”
His fortune stood at about $19.3 billion in August 2026, making him the richest person in Indonesia and the third-richest person in Southeast Asia.
Low’s rise also highlights the continued importance of commodities to Southeast Asia’s billionaire class. Despite growing pressure on coal from the global energy transition, the value of his mining assets has continued to support his position among the region’s wealthiest people.
4. Dhanin Chearavanont
Dhanin Chearavanont helped transform his family’s small seed business into Charoen Pokphand Group, one of Thailand’s largest private conglomerates.
He joined the family business in 1964 and became president in 1970 before taking over as chairman in 1989. Under his leadership, CP Group expanded from agriculture and animal feed into food, retail through 7-Eleven and telecommunications.
Dhanin now serves as senior chairman of CP Group. His personal fortune stood at about $17.6 billion in August 2026.
The wider family fortune is considerably larger. Bloomberg estimated the Chearavanont family’s combined wealth at $42.6 billion in 2025, making it the second-richest family in Asia after India’s Ambani family.
5. Sarath Ratanavadi
Sarath Ratanavadi built his fortune through Gulf Energy Development, one of Thailand’s largest power producers, before expanding into telecommunications and infrastructure.
Gulf now operates more than 30 energy projects across Asia with combined capacity of more than 12,000 megawatts. The company went public in Thailand in 2017 through an IPO worth about 24 billion baht, or $733 million at the time.
In 2024, Gulf Energy announced a merger with InTouch Holdings, the parent company of telecommunications giant Advanced Info Service, or AIS. The deal created a combined company valued at about 1.037 trillion baht, or roughly $30 billion.
Ratanavadi’s personal fortune reached about $17.3 billion in August 2026, placing him fifth among Southeast Asia’s richest people.
The Name That Fell Out of the Top Five
The biggest change in Southeast Asia’s billionaire rankings came from Prajogo Pangestu. The Indonesian tycoon behind Barito Pacific started 2026 as the region’s richest person, with an estimated fortune of $38.1 billion.
His wealth fell sharply during the first half of the year, influenced by several factors including MSCI’s delayed adjustment to the weighting of Indonesian stocks.
Pangestu briefly returned to the top of Indonesia’s wealth ranking on Aug. 13 after purchasing another 51.7 million shares of PT Petrindo Jaya Kreasi, or CUAN. His fortune was then estimated at about $17.5 billion, ahead of Low Tuck Kwong at $16.8 billion and Robert Budi Hartono at $15.9 billion.
The lead did not last. Within weeks, Low’s fortune moved ahead again, pushing Pangestu out of Southeast Asia’s top five in the early-September calculation.
Robert Budi Hartono, the Djarum and Bank Central Asia billionaire who had remained near the top of Indonesia’s wealth rankings for more than a decade alongside his late brother Michael Hartono, also did not make the region’s top five.
The rapid changes show just how quickly Southeast Asia’s wealth rankings can move. For billionaires whose fortunes are largely tied to listed-company holdings, a change in share prices can shift their position by billions of dollars within weeks.
