Want Want Group chairman Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明) remained the richest person in Taiwan, according to this year’s list of the world’s billionaires released by Forbes magazine.
While Tsai continued to be the wealthiest person in Taiwan, his net worth fell to US$6 billion from US$8.9 billion last year.
Analysts said the decline of Tsai’s wealth reflected an economic slowdown in China, where many Taiwanese entrepreneurs, including Tsai, have invested heavily.
Tsai was ranked 201st on the latest global billionaire list, down from 147th a year earlier.
Forbes said Tsai transformed his father’s small trading firm I Lan Foods Industrial into the snack food giant Want Want China Times Group, which sells beverages and snacks ranging from rice crackers to spicy peanuts.
Tsai has also diversified his business into other industries, including the finance and media sectors.
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co founder and chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘) was ranked second-richest among the Taiwanese on the list, unchanged from a year earlier, though his net worth fell to US$5.6 billion from US$6.1 billion.
Gou ranked 228th on the Forbes list, up from 240th last year.
Hon Hai, known as Foxconn outside Taiwan, is the world’s largest contract electronics maker whose main client is Apple.
A total of 25 Taiwanese entrepreneurs made it onto Forbes’ list of 1,810 billionaires, down from 38 last year, according to Forbes.
The leading Taiwanese on the list after Tsai and Gou was Lin Yu-lin (林堉璘), head of property developer Hong Tai Group, with US$5 billion in net worth, ranking him 270th in the world.
Barry Lam (林百里), chairman of the world’s largest notebook computer contract maker, Quanta Computer, came in fourth among Taiwanese and 549th globally with a net worth totaling US$3.1 billion.
Cheng Shin Rubber Industry Co chairman Luo Jye (羅結) was ranked fifth among Taiwanese and 569th in the world on the Forbes billionaire list with a net worth of US$3 billion.
Taiwan is to commence mass production of the Tien Kung (天弓, “Sky Bow”) III, IV and V missiles by the second quarter of this year if the legislature approves the government’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.78 billion) special defense budget, an official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said that the advanced systems are expected to provide crucial capabilities against ballistic and cruise missiles for the proposed “T-Dome,” an advanced, multi-layered air defense network. The Tien Kung III is an air defense missile with a maximum interception altitude of 35km. The Tien Kung IV and V
The disruption of 941 flights in and out of Taiwan due to China’s large-scale military exercises was no accident, but rather the result of a “quasi-blockade” used to simulate creating the air and sea routes needed for an amphibious landing, a military expert said. The disruptions occurred on Tuesday and lasted about 10 hours as China conducted live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait. The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said the exercises affected 857 international flights and 84 domestic flights, affecting more than 100,000 travelers. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the government-sponsored Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the air
Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,
A strong continental cold air mass is to bring pollutants to Taiwan from tomorrow, the Ministry of Environment said today, as it issued an “orange” air quality alert for most of the country. All of Taiwan except for Hualien and Taitung counties is to be under an “orange” air quality alert tomorrow, indicating air quality that is unhealthy for sensitive groups. In China, areas from Shandong to Shanghai have been enveloped in haze since Saturday, the ministry said in a news release. Yesterday, hourly concentrations of PM2.5 in these areas ranged from 65 to 160 micrograms per cubic meter (mg/m³), and pollutants were
RSS