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The group consists of the holding company Genting, wholly owned subsidiary Genting Energy and three listed units, namely Genting Malaysia, Genting Singapore, and Genting Plantations.
Its leisure and tourism division operates 11 Resorts World properties, including major flagship resorts in Malaysia, Singapore, and Las Vegas, along with cruise lines under the same brand.
The leisure and hospitality segment remains its key business, accounting for over 80% of revenues and earnings. Plantations contribute around 10% while the rest comes from energy and other businesses, the Business Times reported, citing the group’s 2024 annual report.
A rag-to-riches story
The multibillion-dollar empire began with one man’s vision atop the misty highlands of Pahang.
Lim Goh Tong, the group’s founder, was born in 1918 in China’s southern Fujian province. As the second son of a vegetable-seed trader, a 16-year-old Lim quit school and took over the family business, selling his goods along rural roads.
In 1941, as war swept through the country, he bid goodbye to his mother and boarded a boat to British Malaya at age 23 — a move that would change his life, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Though barely educated at the time, Lim picked up the local language and tapped into the construction boom at the end of World War II, trading secondhand heavy machinery and equipment for the construction and mining industries.
The idea for a hilltop retreat came to him in 1963 while working on a hydroelectric project in the cool mountain air of Cameron Highlands, also in Pahang. Inspired, he set up Genting Highlands Berhad in 1965 and poured his savings into building Malaysia’s first casino resort.
"The Genting project fitted my idea of an ideal business: Nobody else was interested in it, which meant no competition," Lim said in his autobiography.
Completed in 1971, the remote resort laid the foundation for the Genting empire. Over the next three decades, Lim would expand it far beyond just a hotel with basic tourist facilities.
He handed the reins to his second son, Lim Kok Thay, who took on the role of chairman in 2003. The elder Lim passed away at age 89 in 2007.
One of his final triumphs came just a year before his passing, when the First World Hotel, situated at the base of his resort, was named by Guinness World Records as the world’s largest hotel with 6,118 rooms.
The second generation
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Malaysian rags-to-riches tycoon Lim Goh Tong (R) smiles as he sits next to his second son, Kok Thay, at their office in Kuala Lumpur on December 31, 2003. Photo by Reuters |
Under Kok Thay’s leadership, Genting transformed into an international powerhouse. The group pushed beyond Malaysia’s borders, establishing landmark integrated resorts in Singapore, the U.S., the U.K. and other markets, while branching into plantations, energy and biotechnology.
The group’s biggest international move came in 2010 with the opening of Resorts World Sentosa in Singapore, one of just two integrated resorts with a casino license in the city-state.
It is also the focus of the firm’s latest push—a S$6.8 billion (US$5.1 billion) expansion to add 700 rooms across two new hotels at the site, Forbes reported in April.
The group used to include Genting Hong Kong, operator of the Dream and Star Cruises, though the business collapsed in 2022 amid pandemic-related headwinds.
Kok Thay was ranked 14th on Forbes’ 2025 list of Malaysia’s 50 richest with an estimated net worth of US$1.8 billion.
In a 2017 interview with The Peak, he credited his father’s principles for shaping the company: "I think our founder left behind a very good culture in terms of the company and its people. Honesty is important; to deal fairly with your partners and also treat our employees correctly. That’s the core value that a lot of us in the company has adopted."
Navigating family feud and succession
In that same interview, Kok Thay stressed the importance of having "a clear-cut structure" in both business and family matters.
But around that time, the structure of the clan’s ownership of the group drew public scrutiny as several family members took their disputes over the Genting empire's fortune and ownership to court, making headlines.
Three children of the founder’s late eldest son Lim Tee Keong sued their uncles, Kok Thay and Lim Chee Wah, over a family trust created by their grandfather. Additional suits challenged Tee Keong’s will and the rightful ownership of a portion of Genting stock.
The years-long family feud was eventually resolved, with court documents seen by The Edge Malaysia in 2019 confirming that the main factions involved in the dispute had reached a global settlement on all claims and counterclaims.
With the long-drawn dispute ended, Kok Thay is moving forward with his succession plans at the family empire. In February, he stepped down as CEO of Genting after two decades at the helm, handing the role to longtime president and COO Tan Kong Han, while remaining as executive chairman.
It marks the first time someone outside the Lim family has been appointed to lead the group—a significant shift for the decades-old conglomerate, as reported by The Star.
The transition, however, came at a difficult time. Genting’s 2024 net profit fell 11% to 2 billion ringgit (US$452 million), dragged by softer performance at its Singapore and U.S. casinos, even as revenues inched up to 27.7 billion ringgit.
The earnings pressure, surprise leadership changes and mounting capital needs have weakened investor sentiment, prompting sharp sell-offs across its listed arms. As of June 9, shares of the group’s four listed entities had dropped 8.4-18.2% since the start of the year.
Following Tan’s promotion, he will pass his previous role as CEO of Genting Plantations to a third-generation scion, Lim Keong Hui, Kok Thay’s eldest son.
Reflecting on his career, Kok Thay said his proudest moment was when his father entrusted him with the business at the age of 85, which he believes was also his father’s.
"It must have also been a great relief for him to shed that burden. Similarly, when I can reach that point, I can say that this would also be the proudest moment in my life."
