SINGAPORE: Paint tycoon Goh Cheng Liang is Singapore’s richest, according to Forbes’ 2025 list of billionaires worldwide released on April 1.
Ninety-seven-year-old Mr Goh, who controls a majority stake in Japan’s Nippon Paint Holdings, now has a net worth of US$13 billion (S$17.38 billion), overtaking medical devices company founder Li Xiting, who topped the list in 2024. Seventy-four-year-old Mr Li, co-founder of Shenzhen Mindray Bio-Medical Electronics, now holds second place with US$12.8 billion in net worth.
In third place is Singapore-based Sea CEO Forrest Li, 47 years old, whose net worth more than doubled from US$3.6 billion in 2024 to US$8.6 billion in 2025. According to The Straits Times, Sea’s strong performance, with record profits for a second consecutive year in 2024, was helped by its e-commerce arm, Shopee, and its fintech unit, SeaMoney. The company’s stock rose over 140% to US$132.46 on April 2.
In 2025, 49 Singaporeans made it to the list, up from 39 in 2024. Their combined net worth reached US$145.2 billion, compared to US$115.5 billion the previous year. Singapore’s billionaire list saw no dropouts in 2025. Newcomers to the list included 81-year-old Hong Leong Holdings managing director Quek Leng Chye, who ranked 2,790th globally with a net worth of US$1.1 billion, and 61-year-old gaming company Razer founding investor Lim Kaling with US$1.2 billion in net worth.
Other well-known names include the three sons of the late banking tycoon Wee Cho Yaw: 72-year-old UOB CEO Wee Ee Cheong, along with his brothers, 69-year-old Mr Wee Ee Chao and 63-year-old Mr Wee Ee Lim.
The three brothers’ combined fortune rose to US$6 billion in 2025, up from US$4.2 billion the year before.
Forty-three-year-old Brazilian national and Meta co-founder Eduardo Saverin, who’s a permanent resident in the city-state, ranked 51st globally with a net worth of US$34.5 billion.
The Forbes World’s Billionaires List 2025 features 3,028 billionaires, 247 more than last year. Their collective net worth this year rose to nearly US$2 trillion, hitting a record US$16.1 trillion.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who has been embroiled in US politics, gained this year’s top spot with a net worth of US$342 billion, a 75% increase from the previous year.
The 53-year-old Tesla CEO is the first person to cross the US$300 billion mark and the first billionaire to have a US$126 billion lead over the second on the list—40-year-old Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
61-year-old Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and 80-year-old Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison ranked third and fourth, respectively. LVMH’s Bernard Arnault and family dropped to fifth place.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump ranked 700th, with US$5.1 billion in net worth, more than double the previous year’s total.
The US remains the country with the most billionaires (902), followed by China (516) and India (205). /TISG
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