But now, one needs to have much more to be listed among the top billionaires.

Dang Thanh Tam, president of Kinh Bac Urban Development JSC (KBC) and Doan Nguyen Duc, president of Hoang Anh Gia Lai Group (HAG) were recognized as the richest persons in Vietnam 10 years ago.

Tran Dinh Long, president of Hoa Phat Group

2009 was considered the golden days of KBC as the share price soared from VND24,000 per share to VND48,500.

However, as a result of rapid expansion, the company faced difficulties and incurred a loss of VND430 billion in 2012. The bad business performance forced KBC prices down.

In 2009, when the VN Index soared from 324 points to the year's peak of 630 points, the richest stock billionaire had total assets worth over VND9 trillion. But now, one needs to have much more to be listed among the top billionaires.

KBC price hovers around VND14,950 per share. With 75 million KBC in hands, Tam now ranks 53rd on the list of top billionaires.

As for Duc, his HAGL share price also soared by more than 100 percent in 2009, reaching VND39,000 per shares in that year.

After a lot of ups and downs, HAG is now traded at VND4,110 per share and Duc is on the 51st position of the list.

While the two businessmen faced difficulties in the last 10 years, Pham Nhat Vuong, president of Vingroup (VIC), jumped from the third position 10 years ago to the No 1 position now.

In 2009, Vuong owned assets worth VND8.3 trillion. However, since the VIC price has been escalating steadily, traded at VND114.700 per share and Vingroup has become one of the enterprises with the highest capitalization value, Vuong’s assets have soared to VND213 trillion.

In 2009, Duc became the second richest billionaire with VND9 trillion. But in 2019, Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao, vice president and CEO of Vietjet Air (VJC) had VND30.9 trillion in the No 2 position.

Though Tran Dinh Long, president of Hoa Phat Group, has seen his asset value increase by several times over the last 10 years, from VND2.6 trillion to VND16.8 trillion, he still stays at fourth on the list of top billionaires.

The biggest change on the list was made by Nguyen Thi Kim Xuan, president of the Trade and Seafood JSC (ICF).

In 2009, ICF share price soared from VND6,000 to VND21,000, putting Xuan among top five stock billionaires.

However, Xuan’s company has been going downhill. It reported a loss of tens of billions of dong a year for 2016-2018. As ICF is traded at VND1,000 per share, Xuan has been weeded out of the list. 

Kim Chi

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