Who is the richest among Vietnam's four dollar billionaires?

Leading the top 5 richest billionaires on the stock exchange is still billionaire Pham Nhat Vuong, Chairman of Vingroup, with the total value of VIC shares he holds as of January 31st being VND 132,567 billion, equivalent to USD 5.84 billion.

The Chairman of Vingroup currently owns 1,541,476,532 VIC shares. Of these, he directly owns 723,969,134 shares, and indirectly owns 817,507,398 shares through his 93% stake in Vietnam Investment Group Joint Stock Company.

VIC's share price increased by 11% in January 2018, meaning that Mr. Pham Nhat Vuong's assets increased by 11% in just the first month of the year.

Second on this list is still the young billionaire Trinh Van Quyet, Chairman of FLC Group, with assets valued at VND 56,576 billion in shares, equivalent to USD 2.49 billion.

Mr. Trinh Van Quyet currently owns 2,630,000 ART shares of Artex Securities; 135,187,150 FLC shares; and 318,514,630 ROS shares. Compared to the end of 2017, Mr. Quyet's assets have decreased by 127 billion VND due to the sharp drop in ROS share price. However, ROS just had a spectacular price increase on the last trading day of January, reaching its ceiling price of 174,400 VND/share.

Third place remains unchanged with the familiar face of billionaire Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao. The Chairwoman of HDBank currently has 34,198 billion VND, equivalent to 1.50 billion USD. This figure has increased dramatically by 58% since the end of 2017.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao directly owns 35,961,580 HDBank shares and 39,559,095 VJC shares, and indirectly owns 128,950,134 VJC shares through her 100% ownership stake in Sunny Sunflower Investment Co., Ltd.

Meanwhile, the fourth richest person, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Hoa Phat Group, Tran Dinh Long, officially became the 4th dollar billionaire on the stock exchange with a total value of HPG shares he held as of January 31st reaching VND 23,771 billion (USD 1.048 billion). Mr. Long currently holds 381,557,138 HPG shares. With impressive business results in 2017, the share price has increased by 33% compared to the end of 2017, meaning Mr. Tran Dinh Long's assets increased by 33% in just one month.

Thus, Mr. Tran Dinh Long has far surpassed the person behind him in the top 5 richest people on the stock exchange, Mr. Ho Xuan Nang, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Vicostone JSC. As of January 31st, the total value of VCS shares held by the tycoon from Nam Dinh was VND 13,354 billion (USD 589 million), a decrease of 3% compared to the end of 2017.

Mr. Ho Xuan Nang holds 59,617,897 VCS shares, of which he indirectly holds 57,600,000 shares through his 90% ownership stake in Phuong Hoang Xanh A&A Group Joint Stock Company.

Mr. Ho Xuan Nang's fifth position may be replaced by Mr. Bui Thanh Nhon, Chairman of Nova Real Estate Company. With ownership of nearly 146 million NVL shares, this real estate tycoon's total assets currently stand at VND 11,701 billion (USD 516 million), a 23% increase since the end of 2017.

Meanwhile, Mr. Doan Nguyen Duc, who is mentioned in connection with the success of the Vietnamese U23 men's football team, ranks 23rd on the list of the richest people on the stock exchange with a total asset value (through holding HAG shares) of 2,663 billion VND.

However, the ranking of the richest people on the stock exchange does not accurately reflect the ranking of the richest people in Vietnam. For example, Mr. Nguyen Dang Quang, Chairman of Masan Group, despite holding only 10 MSN shares, is considered the third richest person in Vietnam after Mr. Pham Nhat Vuong and Ms. Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao.

Although he only holds 10 shares of Masan Group, Mr. Quang is still considered the true owner of the group, based on his position as the main shareholder of Masan Corporation (Masan Corp) - the company that directly and indirectly holds 50% of Masan Group's shares.