Only two businessmen from the Philippines made it to Forbes magazine's list of the world's billionaires: Henry Sy and Lucio Tan, Jr. Published last March 10, Forbes' list of “The World's Billionaires” estimated Sy and family's networth at $4.2 billion (about P192 billion), landing him on the 201st slot. Tan and family, on the other hand, landed on the 582nd slot with estimated net worth of $1.7 billion (about P78 billion). Since the magazine's list of The Philippines' Richest 40 published last August, 2009, Sy's wealth has increased 10 percent from $3.8 billion. Tan's wealth did not change. Jaime Zobel de Ayala was the third billionaire from the Philippines in the 2009 list, but he was not included in the 2010 cut-off The 2010 list named 937 billionaires all over the world, with Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim Helu, 70, beating Americans Bill Gates and Warren Buffet as the world wealthiest person on earth for the the first time. Slim's fortune was estimated at $53.5 billion, edging out Bill Gates' $53 billion and Buffett's $47 billion. Gates held the title of the world's richest in 14 of the past 15 years. Neither Sy nor Tan made it to Asia's top 25 billionaires whose wealth ranged from $29 billion to $7 billion. Of the 25 richest Asians, businessmen from Indians stood out as the region's richest. India has 10 out of the top 25, Hong Kong and Japan each have 5, while mainland China has just one. Businessmen from China, however, have passed India in terms of number of billionaires who made it to the global list Mukesh Ambani ($29 billion) is the richest in Asia and took the 4th slot in the world's richest list. He owns the conglomerate Reliance Industries, India's most valuable company. Sy beat Tan as the Forbes' richest man in the Philippines in 2009. In the 2008 list of world's billionaires, Forbes ranked Tan at 785th richest with a net worth of $1.5 billion, while Sy was at the 843rd slot with a net worth of $1.4 billion. Both are of Chinese descent with typical rags-to-riches stories. Sy started his fortune with a small shoe store in Manila and built it into one of the Philippines' largest retail groups. Sy's son, Hans, manages SM Prime, which is the Philippines largest shopping mall developer with 36 malls. Other assets of the Sy family are Banco de Oro Unibank, run by daughter Teresita Sy-Coson; and SM Investment. – ABS
