KUALA LUMPUR (April 5): NagaCorp chief executive officer (CEO) Tan Sri Chen Lip Keong, WTK Holdings Bhd director Wong Kie Chie and PMB Technology Bhd founder and CEO Koon Poh Ming have been included into Forbes’ billionaires club.

In Forbes’ 36th annual World’s Billionaires List, the magazine estimated Chen’s net worth to be US$2.6 billion, while Wong and Koon’s net worth were estimated at US$1.6 billion and US$1.3 billion respectively.

Meanwhile, Robert Kuok retained his position as the richest Malaysian on the list with a net worth of US$11.7 billion, down from US$12.6 billion a year ago, followed by Hong Leong Group’s Tan Sri Quek Leng Chan with an estimated net worth of US$10.6 billion, up from US$9.7 billion.

Other Malaysians on the Forbes 2022 billionaires list include Tan Sri Teh Hong Piow (US$5.9 billion), Ananda Krishnan (US$5.7 billion), Tan Sri Koon Poh Keong (US$5.2 billion), Datuk Lee Yeow Chor and brother Lee Yeow Seng (US$4.8 billion), and Datuk Seri Lau Cho Kun (US$2.1 billion).

The rubber glove tycoons — Hartalega Holdings Bhd chairman Kuan Kam Hon (US$2 billion) and Top Glove Corp Bhd’s Tan Sri Lim Wee Chai (US$1.6 billion) — also made the cut.

Genting Bhd’s Tan Sri Lim Kok Thay (US$2 billion), Westports Holdings Bhd’s Tan Sri G Gnanalingam (US$1.7 billion), Mr DIY Group (M) Bhd’s Tan Yu Yeh (US$1.6 billion), Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar AlBukhary (US$1.4 billion), and Sunway Group’s Tan Sri Jeffrey Cheah (US$1.3 billion) were also included in the list.

In total, the Forbes World Billionaire List included 2,668 billionaires from around the world, including 236 newcomers, fewer than the 493 newcomers seen in 2021.

Tesla Inc’s Elon Musk topped the ranking with an estimated net worth of US$219 billion, knocking Amazon’s Jeff Bezos into second place with a net worth of US$192.3 billion.

The total net worth of the world’s billionaires amounted to US$12.7 trillion, Forbes said, down from US$13.1 trillion a year ago.

In terms of number of billionaires, the total 2,668 this year was lower than the 2,775 last year, with a total of 329 people excluded from the list — the most exclusions in a single year since 2009.

“The tumultuous stock market contributed to sharp declines in the fortunes of many of the world’s richest. Still, more than 1,000 billionaires got wealthier over the past year. The top 20 richest alone are worth a combined US$2 trillion, up from US$1.8 trillion in 2021,” said Forbes assistant managing editor of wealth Kerry A Dolan in a statement.

Among the list of notable newcomers in 2022 were "Lord of the Rings" director Peter Jackson, OpenSea founders Devin Finzer and Alex Atallah, social media and e-commerce tycoon Miranda Qu, and pop star and cosmetics mogul Rihanna, said Forbes.