South Korea’s Lee family, which controls the Samsung conglomerate, topped an inaugural list of Asia’s 50 richest families published yesterday by Forbes Asia.
The family had a net worth of US$26.6 billion as of late last month, with second and third-generation members now running more than 50 businesses, Forbes Asia said.
The Samsung empire, founded in 1938 by Lee Byung-chull, has diversified interests ranging from mobile phones to construction and shipbuilding.
Forbes Asia said Samsung, the biggest of the chaebol (family-run conglomerates) dominating South Korea’s economy, accounted for 22 percent of the country’s GDP last year.
“Nearly half of the richest families in Asia are of Chinese descent, yet none of the inaugural 50 is based in the mainland, where conglomerates are young, run by the first generation,” it said in a report.
The second-richest is the Hong Kong Chinese family, also surnamed Lee, which controls Henderson Land Development Co (恆基地產) and boasts a fortune of US$24.1 billion.
Rounding out the top five is the Kwok family, which controls Hong Kong’s Sun Hung Kai (新鴻基) property empire, with a combined net wealth of US$19.5 billion.
Only families with business involvement extending to at least three generations were included in the survey, the magazine said, which ruled out the family of Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing (李嘉誠), who has a current net worth of US$25 billion based on a Forbes global list.
The estimates of family fortunes were based on stock prices and exchange rates at the close of markets on Sept. 25.
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