Forbes magazine has just announced the list of world USD billionaires in 2024, in which Vietnam still has 6 familiar faces including Mr. Pham Nhat Vuong (Chairman of Vingroup, CEO of VinFast) and 4 other tycoons and VietJet Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao had the second fastest growth in assets, adding 600 million USD to 2.8 billion USD, just behind Chairman of Hoa Phat Group (HPG) Tran Dinh Long and 6 times higher than the asset increase of Mr. Pham Nhat Vuong.

The rise of the tourism and aviation industries and positive signals from the real estate sector have helped Ms. Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao maintain her position as the richest businesswoman on the Vietnamese stock exchange and number 3 in Southeast Asia.

In Southeast Asia, Ms. Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao ranks behind female billionaire Dewi Kam (4.5 billion USD) of Indonesia and Somurai Jaruphnit (3.1 billion USD) of Thailand.

Dewi Kam's fortune has grown sharply thanks to her stake in mining company Bayan Resources. Meanwhile, billionaire Somurai Jaruphnit holds an 8.42% stake in the parent company of Charoen Pokphand (CP) Group, one of the world's largest producers of animal feed and livestock.

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Ms. Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao is calculated by Forbes to have 2.8 billion USD but is not ranked anywhere in the world.

One notable point is that according to the real-time ranking, Forbes did not determine Ms. Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao's position on the world ranking, instead only recorded Ms. Thao's total asset value for 2024 (announced on April 2) as 2.8 billion USD.

Meanwhile, in real time, female billionaire Dewi Kam has 4.3 billion USD (down 200 million USD according to the recently announced 2024 list) and ranks 742nd in the world. Meanwhile, female billionaire Somurai Jaruphnit has assets of 3 billion USD and ranks 1,124th.

In early March 2023, for about a week, Forbes stopped updating Ms. Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao's assets.

The incident took place in the context that in 2022, billionaire Phuong Thao's VietJet reported a loss of more than VND2,000 billion for the first time, despite a surge in revenue thanks to the recovery of domestic and international passenger transport after the pandemic.

In mid-March 2023, Forbes updated Ms. Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao's assets directly again. Sharing with VietNamNet at that time, Ms. Nguyen Lan Anh, Forbes Asia representative, said that the page directly updating Ms. Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao's assets was faulty.

Tourism, aviation recover; real estate warms up

Ms. Thao's Sovico Group is a multi-industry private economic group, operating in the fields of finance - banking (HDBank, HD Saison), aviation (Vietjet), real estate (Phu Long), resort real estate, energy...

Vietjet Aviation Joint Stock Company (VJC), chaired by Ms. Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao, announced its 2023 audited report in early April with information about strong growth in its international flight network and good profits from air transport.

In 2023, Vietjet recorded a profit after tax of more than VND 231 billion, compared to a loss of nearly VND 2,262 billion in 2022. Consolidated revenue reached VND 58.3 trillion, up 45% compared to 2022.

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VJC records increased revenue and profit in 2023.

Vietjet continues to maintain and develop its domestic flight network and focus resources on expanding international flights. In total, there are 33 new international and domestic routes, bringing the total number of routes to 125, including 80 international routes and 45 domestic routes.

At Ho Chi Minh City Development Joint Stock Commercial Bank - HDBank (where Ms. Thao is vice president), the operating situation is also quite good, with pre-tax profit in 2023 reaching more than 13 trillion VND, an increase of nearly 27%. Bad debt is quite low, at 1.5%.

Sovico Group recorded pre-tax profit of VND1,485 billion in 2023. Sovico Group's total assets reached more than VND187 trillion. Sovico's asset size increased sharply from the end of 2022 after consolidating business, finance, insurance, aviation, and urban development activities.

In 2023, the tourism and aviation industries recovered. Ms. Thao’s Vietjet benefited from the increase in air travel for people and goods. Geopolitical tensions in some regions caused a sharp increase in demand for air freight.

The increase in airfares has also contributed to the increase in revenue of airlines. This situation is likely to repeat itself, especially during the upcoming summer peak season, when the aviation industry is facing a serious shortage of aircraft.

Bamboo Airways recently restructured and reduced the size of its fleet. Pacific Airlines has paid off all its aircraft to clear its debt and has no more aircraft to operate. In addition, engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney has recalled engines for in-depth inspection and repair since the beginning of the year, leaving Vietnam Airlines and Vietjet short of more than 40 A321 NEO aircraft.

Forbes updates billionaire Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao's assets Forbes has updated billionaire Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao's assets after the website crashed. Billionaire Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao has assets of 2.3 billion USD, ranking 1284th on the list of world billionaires.