“Eating is as important as the sky” goes a Chinese expression about the importance of food in life. At a time when mainland China enjoying some of its best prosperity ever, it’s fitting that the richest man from nearby Taiwan is making his fortune mainly by serving its 1.3 billion palates.
Want Want China Chairman Tsai Eng-Meng tops this year’s Forbes Taiwan Rich List with wealth of $10.6 billion, an increase of $2.6 billion from a year ago. His Hong Kong-traded shares have gained more than a fifth from a year ago on solid sales of snacks as well as drinks. Tsai also has interests in finance, media and hotels.
Click here for profiles of the 50 members of the 2013 Forbes Taiwan Rich List.
Mainland spending on food and beverages also helped this year’s No. 3: the Wei brothers of Tingyi Holding, the mainland’s biggest supplier of ready-to-drink tea. Besides drinks and instant noodles, the family, which partners with Pepsi in China, also invests in restaurants through its Dicos chicken chain and noodle shops. Family wealth this year totaled $6.7 billion.
Filling out the top five on this year’s list is No. 2, Tsai Wan-tsai, whose family controls financial services giant Fubon, with wealth of $8.1 billion; No. 4, Terry Gou, whose Apple supplier Hon Hai Precision has overcome numerous labor problems in the past year, with wealth of $4.8 billion (see related story about Apple suppliers here); and No. 5. Luo Jye, one of the world’s tire makers, with wealth of $4.6 billion.
Many of Taiwan’s rich grew their fortune from a year ago through ties the mainland, whose economic growth rate this year is expected to top 7%. Taiwan’s own economy is on track to expand only about 2%, economists say.
Among other closely watched businesspeople on this year’s list, Cher Wang and husband Wenchi Chen of smartphone maker HTC, who ranked No. 1 in 2011 with wealth of $8.8 billion, continued to fall in the ranks for a second year amid disappointing business at the company amid tough competition globally against Apple and Samsung. This year they rank No. 13 with wealth of $2.5 billion.
This year’s list for the first time includes 50 Taiwan entrepreneurs, up from 40 last year. Among the newcomers to make the list are No. 41, Lee Shih-Tsung, whose Lungyen Life Service is in the funeral services business. He debuts with projected wealth of $850 million. No. 47 is newcomer Tsai Kuo-chou, chairman of Ginko, a major contract lenses supplier in the mainland.
-- Follow me on Twitter @rflannerychina
