The 10 richest billionaires in the Philippines in 2024 – net worths, ranked: from Cebu Pacific’s Lance Gokongwei and Jollibee’s Tony Tan Caktiong, to the Sy siblings, Ramon Ang and Manuel Villar
- The crème de la crème of the Philippines’ richest include property developers Isidro Consunji and family, LT Group’s Lucio Tan, port-handling giant Enrique Razon Jr and SM Investments’ Sy siblings
- The Aboitiz family acquired Coca-Cola’s bottling facilities while Ang’s San Miguel Corp. is mainly making bank from energy and infrastructure today – and Villar’s wife and kids are in politics
Many Southeast Asian countries have been experiencing robust growth in the last two years since the pandemic. Despite rising interest rates, the Philippines is among those that have had a significant boost over the last 12 months and was described as “one of the most dynamic economies in East Asia and the Pacific region” by the World Bank.
Despite the aftermath of Covid-19, the country’s poverty rate declined by more than five points, from 23.3 per cent in 2015 to 18.1 per cent in 2021, according to the same World Bank report. Robust consumer demand also further lined pockets. Moguls with stakes in consumer goods, property and retail especially felt a lift from the country’s active labour market. The combined fortune of Forbes’ list of the 50 most affluent in the country grew by 11 per cent from US$72 billion to US$80 billion in 2023, too.
The old investment saying goes “never keep all your eggs in one basket”, and this seems to ring true among the elites in the Philippines, where half of the top 10 richest are involved in a diverse range of industries.
So who are the top 10 richest billionaires in the Philippines in 2024, according to Forbes at the time of writing?
10. Tony Tan Caktiong
Net worth: US$1.4 billion
Maybe you haven’t heard Tan Caktiong’s name before, but chances are you’ve sunk your teeth into some of his fried chicken. The founder of Jollibee, the country’s largest fast-food chain, has been rapidly growing its global presence over the past decade. Unfortunately though, that doesn’t appear to be reflected in Tan Caktiong’s net worth, as he lost US$1.8 billion since 2023, according to Forbes’ list from that year.
9. Lucio Tan
Net worth: US$2.6 billion
