Southeast Asia’s five richest billionaires hold more than $135B

From L: Michael Hartono, Pham Nhat Vuong, Prajogo Pangestu, Low Tuck Kwong and Robert Budi Hartono. Photos compiled by VnExpress/Dat Nguyen

1. Prajogo Pangestu

Indonesian energy tycoon Prajogo Pangestu, 81, is the richest person in Southeast Asia with a net worth of $38 billion, up almost double from March when Forbes compiled its 2025 list of the world’s top billionaires this year. He ranks 55th globally in wealth.

The company’s share has surged 265% last year, outperforming the Jakarta Composite Index’s growth of 21%, amid surging optimism around the group’s petrochemical and energy expansion.

Pangestu built the Barito Pacific Group from a small timber operation into one of Southeast Asia’s leading petrochemical and energy conglomerates.

His wealth derives mainly from controlling stakes in listed units spanning petrochemicals, geothermal and renewable energy, coal and other resources.

He founded timber-focused Barito Pacific in 1979. From the 2000s he diversified Barito into capital-intensive industries such as petrochemical producer, synthetic rubber and infrastructure.

Today his core assets include a controlling stake of about 71% in Barito Pacific and majority control of Petrindo Jaya Kreasi in coal and resources.

2. Pham Nhat Vuong

The chairman of Vietnam’s biggest company Vingroup, Pham Nhat Vuong, ranks second in wealth at $30.5 billion, a 370% jump from March last year. He is now that 71st richest individual on earth.

Share of Vingroup shot up last year amid high hopes that its associated companies would win bids to build major infrastructure projects, including high-speed rails.

VinFast led the auto market last year with 170,000 units sold. It also completed factories in India and Indonesia.

Vuong, 57, started his career with an instant noodle business in the Ukraine in the 1990s.

He then returned to Vietnam and founded Vingroup, turning it into a conglomerate with interests in real estate, retail, healthcare, electric car production, and infrastructure, among others.

3. Low Tuck Kwong

Low Tuck Kwong, 77, ranks third in the region with a net worth of $24.5 billion.

The second richest Indonesian saw his wealth falling 18% last year. He is now the 93rd richest person globally.

Shares of his coal mining company Bayan Resources plunged 22% last year as earnings growth stalled while coal prices and market sentiment toward the sector have weakened.

Kwong worked in his father’s construction business in Singapore before moving to Indonesia in 1972 in search of better opportunities, according to Bloomberg.

He first set up construction contractor Jaya Sumpiles Indonesia in 1973, then moved into coal by acquiring his first mining concession in Kalimantan in the 1990s.

To consolidate these interests, he established Bayan Resources Tbk in 2004, building an integrated model covering mining, processing and logistics that later rode the global coal boom.

Bayan Resources since then has grown into a major exporter, producing about 56.9 million tons of coal in 2024 and generating revenue of roughly $3.3 billion.

4&5. Robert Budi and Michael Hartono

Robert Budi Hartono, 85, is Southeast Asia’s fourth richest individual, with a net worth of US$21.7 billion after a 4% decline last year, largely due to an 18% drop in shares of Bank Central Asia, which he controls.

His brother Michael is the 5th richest man in Southeast Asia with a wealth of $20.8 billion.

Together they control one of the country’s most diversified business empires spanning tobacco, banking, electronics, digital businesses and prime real estate.

Budi and Michael inherited the cigarette maker Djarum after his father’s death, at a time when the factory had just suffered a major fire and was in distress.

The brothers rebuilt and modernized the business, launching successful brands and turning Djarum into one of the world’s largest clove cigarette producers.

In the 1970s and 1980s, the family diversified into electronics, and later took control of lender Bank Central Asia, which now accounts for the majority of their fortune.